About
CloudBees is a leading provider of enterprise software delivery solutions, helping organizations streamline and accelerate their DevOps processes. With a focus on continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), CloudBees offers a robust platform that enables developers to automate, manage, and optimize software delivery at scale.
Learn more about Cloudbees at https://www.cloudbees.com/.
Challenge
CloudBees faced significant challenges in delivering training, technical enablement, and certification programs for their employees, partners, and customers. Their prior solution, a custom AWS-based setup, lacked key functionalities and created inefficiencies:
- Resource Wastage: No lifecycle policies led to over-provisioned and orphaned environments, increasing cloud costs.
- Limited Security Controls: A lack of robust role-based access and single sign-on posed security risks.
- Manual Management: Instructors spent significant time manually setting up and auditing environments.
- Poor User Experience: Delays in provisioning environments hindered student engagement and led to higher support ticket volumes.
We needed a scalable, secure, and user-friendly solution to manage our lab environments effectively, while reducing the time and cost burdens on our teams.
Tammy Fox, AVP Product Operations and Education, CloudBees
Solution
CloudBees partnered with Heropa to modernize their technical enablement platform, leveraging Heropa’s comprehensive virtual lab solution to address their key challenges. The partnership focused on:
- Enhanced Security: Heropa’s robust role-based access control and SSO integration (via Okta) ensured secure access to lab environments.
- Lifecycle Management: Automated lifecycle policies reduced the risk of resource wastage by hibernating or deleting unused instances.
- Pre-Built Templates: Reusable base templates for Kubernetes, Docker, and Linux optimized resource use and reduced setup time.
- Global Scalability: Heropa’s multi-region support ensured a seamless experience for users worldwide.
- Improved User Experience: Environment pooling reduced provisioning times, while in-lab monitoring provided insights into student engagement.
How we helped
- Training & Certification: CloudBees University leveraged Heropa to deliver technical training and certifications globally. The platform enabled students to access ready-to-use lab environments aligned with course objectives.
- Cost Optimization: By introducing a virtual browser as a lightweight alternative to traditional jump boxes, CloudBees reduced the resources required per lab, significantly lowering costs.
- Professional Services Support: Heropa’s expert team provided bespoke advice on optimizing Kubernetes deployments, securing connections, and building scalable configurations.
- User Engagement Insights: Heropa’s monitoring capabilities allowed instructors to track active lab time, identify disengaged students, and proactively address issues.
Results
CloudBees achieved measurable improvements across its training and enablement programs with Heropa:
- Cost Savings: Reduced lab costs by 40% compared to self-managed AWS environments through resource optimizations and lifecycle management.
- Improved Engagement: Faster provisioning times and reduced friction increased course completion rates.
- Operational Efficiency: Instructors focused on course delivery and interaction rather than managing infrastructure.
- Enhanced Scalability: Supported a growing user base without compromising performance or increasing operational overhead.
Heropa’s flexibility and support have transformed our training programs, enabling us to deliver high-quality, engaging experiences at scale.
Tammy Fox
Outlook
CloudBees plans to deepen its partnership with Heropa by:
- Expanding Lab Use Cases: Integrating Heropa labs into demo and workshop environments for Sales Engineers and Professional Services teams.
- Leveraging Advanced Features: Exploring new Heropa features, such as split-screen interfaces and in-lab challenges, to enhance interactivity.
- Continued Optimization: Collaborating on further cost-saving measures, including advanced Kubernetes pod configurations and global resource pooling.
Infrastructure Costs Reduced by
40%
Faster Environment Provisioning
30%
Course Completion
Rates Improved by
20%
Global Reach &
Seamless Support
10/10
We view Heropa as a true partner, helping us deliver exceptional training and enablement solutions while continuously innovating to meet our evolving needs.
Tammy Fox
AVP, Product Operations and Education
