Preserve your software investment
Extend the commercial life of an application that already works, already sells, and already carries decades of domain knowledge.
Cloud delivery for software companies
Your software has already proven itself. Now transform how you deliver it.
Vela Cloud helps established software companies deliver proven Windows applications as modern, professionally managed cloud services — without the cost, risk, and disruption of a complete SaaS rewrite.
Backed by Think Smart Group Inc.
Built on more than 25 years of cloud and technology experience.
Vela Cloud is the independent software vendor platform of Think Smart Group Inc., which has provided cloud and technology services since 2000. Vela is a new brand, not a new capability.
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Operating since 2000
Think Smart Group Inc. has delivered cloud and technology services continuously for more than two decades.
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Windows line-of-business depth
Long experience running the Windows client/server applications that specialised industries actually depend on.
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Vendors and their customers
Direct experience working with software vendors and supporting the customers who use their applications every day.
The dilemma
Your customers want SaaS. That doesn’t mean you need to rewrite your software.
A complete browser-native rewrite is a multi-year programme that competes directly with the roadmap your customers are already paying for. There is another route to the same commercial outcome.
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Customers are asking
Buyers increasingly expect remote access, managed security and a subscription option as a condition of renewal.
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Rewrites are expensive
Rebuilding a mature application as browser-native SaaS can take years and consume the budget your roadmap needs.
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Infrastructure is a burden
Servers, patching, backups and uptime pull engineering attention away from the product that earns the revenue.
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Revenue is shifting
Perpetual licence models are giving way to recurring subscriptions, and valuation follows the revenue model.
Fit
Built for established software companies.
Vela is a specialised platform, not a general hosting service. It is worth knowing quickly whether your company is the kind we are built for.
Vela is built for you if
Strong fit- You have a mature Windows client/server application that has been earning revenue for years.
- You have an established installed base of customers who depend on it daily.
- Those customers are asking for cloud access, remote work support, or a hosted option.
- Your application depends on Windows technologies, databases, printers, scanners, peripherals or integrations.
- You want to build or expand recurring revenue without pausing your product roadmap.
- You would rather not be in the business of running servers and cloud infrastructure.
Vela is probably not the right fit if
Different need- Your product is already a fully web-native SaaS application.
- You are comparing providers primarily on the price of a virtual server.
- You need website hosting, general cloud consulting, or a managed service provider.
- Your application is a consumer product or a single-user utility.
These are good businesses with real needs — they are simply better served by a different kind of provider. Vela is deliberately built around one problem, and that focus is what makes it work.
The model
A clear division of responsibility.
You keep everything that makes your company valuable. Vela takes on the operational layer that stands between your software and your customers.
01 — You
Your software
You continue to own, develop, market, price and sell your application. Your roadmap, your customer relationships, your brand.
- Product ownership
- Development
- Sales & pricing
02 — Vela
Vela Cloud
Vela operates the managed cloud environment, application delivery, security, backups, access management and supporting services.
- Cloud operations
- Security & backups
- Support & onboarding
03 — Them
Your customers
Customers use your software as a reliable, professionally managed cloud service — with the peripherals and integrations they already rely on.
- Access anywhere
- Managed reliability
- Your branding
Outcomes
Cloud delivery is a business decision, not an infrastructure project.
The reason to move is commercial. The infrastructure is simply how it gets done.
Create recurring revenue
Add a cloud delivery model that can support predictable subscription revenue alongside your existing licensing.
Meet modern expectations
Give customers secure, reliable access from wherever they work, without asking them to change how they use your software.
Reduce infrastructure complexity
Hand the cloud layer to a team that operates it professionally, and return your engineers to the product roadmap.
Scale with confidence
Grow from your first cloud customers to your installed base on a delivery model designed to expand with you.
Strengthen the customer experience
Bring infrastructure, onboarding, support, backups and application access together into one managed experience.
Beyond infrastructure
Cloud infrastructure is only part of the solution.
Virtual machines are straightforward. What is difficult is everything around them — the operational detail that determines whether a real Windows business application works properly for a real customer on a Tuesday morning.
- 01Managed Windows environmentsBuilt, patched and operated for line-of-business applications.
- 02Application deliveryYour existing Windows application, delivered to remote users.
- 03Data hostingDatabases and application data hosted in the managed environment.
- 04BackupsProtection and recovery for customer data as an operated service.
- 05CybersecuritySecurity controls applied to the environment your software runs in.
- 06Access managementCustomer user administration, provisioning and access control.
- 07PrintingLocal and network printing that behaves the way users expect.
- 08Scanning & peripheralsScanner and device support for document-driven workflows.
- 09Onboarding & offboardingMoving your customers into the cloud service, and out cleanly.
- 10Technical supportSupport for the cloud environment your customers are working in.
- 11ISV escalationA direct path between your team and the people running the platform.
- 12Application integrationsThe third-party connections your application depends on.
Vela can also support white-label or ISV-branded customer experiences and flexible billing options, so the cloud service reaches your customers as your offering.
Why Vela
Why software companies trust Vela with the cloud layer.
Handing over the environment your customers work in every day is not a decision made on price. It is made on whether the people operating it understand what your application actually needs.
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Continuous operation since 2000
Think Smart Group Inc. has provided cloud and technology services for more than 25 years. Vela is a focused brand built on an established operation.
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Windows client/server expertise
Deep, practical experience with the technologies mature business applications are built on — not a generalist cloud practice learning them on your account.
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Experience on both sides
Work with software vendors and with the customers who use their applications, which is where the operational requirements actually surface.
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Operations, not just architecture
Infrastructure expertise combined with the support capability to keep an environment running well after the migration is finished.
Common questions
Questions software companies ask first.
Do we have to rewrite our software to use Vela Cloud?
No. That is the point of the platform. Vela Cloud is designed specifically so that established Windows applications can be delivered as cloud services without being rebuilt as browser-native SaaS. Your existing application runs in a professionally managed cloud environment operated by Vela.
Does the ISV continue to own and control its software?
Yes. You continue to own, develop, market, sell and support your application. You set the roadmap and the pricing, and you keep the customer relationship. Vela operates the cloud layer that delivers your software — nothing about ownership or control changes.
Is Vela Cloud the same as hosting our application on AWS or Azure?
No. Raw infrastructure is one component of a cloud offering, not the offering itself. Vela provides the operating layer around it: Windows application delivery, data hosting, backups, security, user administration, customer onboarding and offboarding, printing, scanning and peripheral support, integrations, technical support, and escalation into your team.
Put differently — a cloud provider gives you servers. Vela gives you a cloud service you can sell.
Can Vela work with software we already host ourselves?
Yes. Many software companies already run some form of hosted or private cloud offering and have reached the point where managing it internally is a distraction or a constraint. Vela can take over operation of that cloud layer so your team can step back from infrastructure.
Can our cloud offering retain our company’s branding?
Yes. Vela supports white-label and ISV-branded customer experiences. The cloud service can be presented to your customers as your offering, under your name.
What types of Windows applications are a good fit for Vela Cloud?
Mature Windows client/server business applications with an established customer base. These are typically vertical-market products serving specialised industries — healthcare, professional services, manufacturing, retail, distribution, automotive, financial services and similar sectors.
Applications that depend on Windows technologies, databases, printers, scanners, peripherals or third-party integrations tend to be a particularly strong fit, because those requirements are exactly what generic cloud hosting handles poorly.
Let’s talk
Your software doesn’t need to be rewritten to have a cloud future.
Tell us about your application, your current environment, your customer base and what you are trying to achieve. We will tell you honestly whether Vela is the right way to get there.
A conversation, not a sales process