Reducing Costs and Time-To-Market for Smoothwall’s Innovative Cloud Solutions.

THE CLIENT:

Smoothwall, established in 2000, is a leading provider of digital safeguarding solutions, trusted by over 10,000 schools and 40% of educational organisations across the UK. Every day, one in three schools in the UK depend on them to help safeguard tens of thousands of children. Their cloud-based solutions ensure children’s safety online while supporting dynamic learning environments.  

THE CHALLENGE:

Smoothwall needed to accelerate the development of its products - such as real-time monitoring, web filtering, and classroom management tools - while maintaining the highest standards of security and usability. With the increasing demand for remote learning tools and digital safety in schools, timely delivery was crucial to ensure both teacher efficiency and student safety.   

THE SOLUTION:

Abstract deployed expert teams to work on Smoothwall’s suite of products, focusing on scalability, usability, and security. Solutions were designed to address challenges such as real-time monitoring of student activity and advanced classroom controls like screen locking and tab monitoring, whilst ensuring seamless integration with platforms like Google Classroom.   

Key measures included:   

- Developing low-latency, peer-to-peer architectures to minimise bandwidth usage.   

- Implementing robust real-time monitoring and filtering tools to protect students from harmful content.   

- Ensuring scalability and cross-platform compatibility to meet the diverse needs of schools and students.   

- Creating features like evidencing tools, tab management, and dynamic session controls to empower teachers and improve learning outcome.