Case Study: Wellsphere

Scale a business without breaking the bank

Stanford business school classmates Ron Gutman and Dave Kashen launched Wellsphere.com to help people live healthier lives by creating an online community for sharing personal tips and stories on health and wellness. After its launch in January of 2007, Wellsphere grew quickly, presenting Ron with a happy problem: he needed a scalable way to maintain the records for his burgeoning user base, and to create internal documentation on the evolution of Wellsphere to help manage growth and educate new hires.

Growing without straining IT resources

Given its startup status, Wellsphere needed a flexible database system that required a) little training for staff and b) no IT maintenance. Rather than spend large amounts of money on complicated software and the hardware required to run it, Wellsphere decided to implement its collaborative online work space using PBworks. The PBworks service offered a simple way to share information without requiring a steep learning curve or an IT department.

PBworks had the flexibility to allow Wellsphere to create an information sharing system unique to its individual needs, but simple enough for everyone on the team to post and find information. Using the wiki, the Wellsphere team created a comprehensive site to track user data, record vendor information, analyze focus group results, and provide a continuous history of company activity.

A secure system for managing all operations

With so much of Wellsphere's critical data and business processes stored and documented on PBworks, security and reliability is critical. The wiki is mission-critical. That's why Wellsphere relies on PBworks' strong data protection and robust safety settings to protect its internal documents and ensure that company information stays secure.

When Wellsphere needed a secure, reliable system to effectively manage information and streamline operations during a period of hypergrowth, it turned to PBworks. PBworkss on-demand solution gave Wellsphere an easy-to-use wiki that didn't require any hardware, software, or staff training, and yet still provided mission-critical security and reliability. And as Wellsphere continues to grow in 2008 and beyond, PBworks will have the scalability to match that growth and help Wellsphere achieve its vision of a healthier, happier community.