Building a custom SFTP Gateway solution for a support ticket system

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One of the benefits of using SFTP Gateway for cloud storage access is that it gives you the ability to customize your solution. This can include the addition of add-ons, like PGP decryption, checksum validation, email notifications, virus scanning or a near infinite number of custom SFTP Gateway solutions for whatever business challenges you might face.

When a $3.2B multinational enterprise software company needed to upgrade their customer support ticket system, they partnered with Thorn Technologies to develop a custom SFTP Gateway solution. 

The problems with the client’s old support ticket system

With thousands of customers around the globe, the client needed a system where any customer could easily create a support ticket and attach related files, such as a screenshot of an error message. Unfortunately, the old ticketing system was unable to accomplish this easily.

Once files were uploaded by a customer, the files needed to show up in the ticketing system when the support staff accessed it. In the old system, there was not an easy way for the support team to access those files without exiting the support system application. This slowed things down and created frustration for both the client and their customers. 

Finally, the files needed to be uploaded securely and saved to a cloud storage bucket in the same region as the customer. The files would never touch the client’s network, reducing their GDPR responsibilities. 

Thorn Technologies custom solution using SFTP Gateway

After a thorough review of the old ticketing system, the Thorn Technologies team developed a solution using SFTP Gateway and custom development. Utilizing a current feature of SFTP Gateway, the ticketing system connects to it via an API and generates a new SFTP account when a ticket is created. 

The ticketing system is then able to relay those newly created SFTP account credentials to the customer via email. Then, when a customer needs to upload a file, they use the SFTP account credentials and connect to SFTP Gateway. 

The customer is able to upload a file via SFTP and the file is automatically moved to Amazon S3. Similar solutions could be configured to deliver those files to Azure Blob Storage or Google Cloud Storage. SFTP Gateway works with any of those cloud platforms.

Next, the custom development work by the Thorn Technologies team came into play. The files in S3 needed to show up in the ticketing system for the support team to view, but without any security vulnerabilities.

The solution was to develop a secure download Lambda with the appropriate custom logic that would allow the ticketing system to automatically determine what files reside on Amazon S3 for a particular ticket. The Lambda includes a secure download link to access the file using a security token and the link expires after a predetermined amount of time.

The results of the simple, secure and affordable Thorn solution

After final Quality Assurance, Thorn Technologies delivered a solution that allowed customers to finally have the ability to upload, download and view files within the support ticketing system.

The new ticketing system has shown to be a timesaver, as customers no longer have to use multiple platforms for creating a ticket and sharing related files. And with added security, both the client and its customers can feel confident their data is secure.

The Thorn team also kept the process simple for the client, working with their internal team to develop and implement the custom SFTP Gateway solution. The client team was made up of a project manager and key stakeholders, including system administrators and developers from multiple departments. Everyone was involved at the requirements-gathering stage and kept updated throughout the development and testing process, so there were no surprises – just a simple, secure and affordable solution that delivered on what was promised. 

Get a custom SFTP Gateway solution for your organization

Want to learn how easy it is for your organization to work with Thorn Technologies to develop a custom SFTP Gateway solution? Just reach out to us and we’ll set up a quick call to discuss things.

SFTP Gateway gives users real-time access to cloud storage locations, such as Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage and Google Cloud Storage, through any SFTP client. Servers can talk to cloud storage locations via SFTP, just like they’re any other server, without the need for expensive and time-consuming solutions. Try it out for yourself in the Amazon, Azure or Google Cloud Platform marketplaces.

Would you like to see your company highlighted in an SFTP Gateway Success Story? Just fill out this short survey telling us how your organization uses the product. 

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