Navigating the cloud divide: Facilitating the Country Road Group and David Jones demerger
Country Road Group, a major Australian fashion retailer, faced a challenge following the acquisition of sister company David Jones by Anchorage Capital Partners, resulting in the need to separate AWS services. Cevo partnered with Country Road Group and David Jones to develop a comprehensive separation plan, starting with the establishment of a tailored, secure and scalable AWS landing zone for Country Road Group. The result is a foundation for operational independence, scalability, enhanced security, and efficient resource management during the demerger.
AWS Landing Zone
Development
Launch
Cevo NexusTM solution
Retail
Industry
Country Road Group is one of Australia’s largest specialty fashion retailers with a market leading position in the mid to upper tier of the segment. The group comprises five iconic brands: Country Road, Mimco, Trenery, Witchery and Politix. Country Road Group is part of the leading Southern Hemisphere retail group, Woolworths Holdings Limited (South Africa).
Business challenge
Country Road Group faced a significant challenge following the acquisition of David Jones in December 2022, with both organisations operating under the same entity and relying on AWS services from a shared AWS Organization. As a result, there was a need to separate AWS services between the two entities. To ensure a successful separation, a dedicated cloud environment supporting the separated entity was essential.
Given that Country Road Group had fewer resources requiring migration to the new account, incorporating it into the new environment was evaluated as the more cost-effective solution.
Cevo was engaged to assist both the Country Road Group and David Jones in successfully navigating this demerger process and setting up a landing zone in AWS. This landing zone will serve as a solid foundation, enabling future scalability for both entities.
Solution
Addressing the unique challenges faced by the organisations during the demerger, Cevo developed a comprehensive separation plan with five pivotal milestones, each strategically designed to facilitate a seamless separation process.
The first phase of this separation plan is the environment provisioning phase, where Cevo helped to build a robust, scalable and secure landing zone specifically tailored to manage AWS services for Country Road Group. This phase is an important milestone in the demerger process, as it sets the stage for Country Road Group’s independent AWS environment. This landing zone provides a secure and well-architected foundation, enabling future scalability and independent operation for Country Road Group.
To bolster security and compliance, Cevo seamlessly integrated the landing zone with essential AWS security services, including AWS Security Hub, Amazon Inspector, and Amazon GuardDuty. This proactive approach significantly enhances threat detection capabilities and mitigates potential risks.
Additionally, Cevo centralised all security findings by designating the AWS Control Tower audit account as the delegated administrator for auditing purposes. This strategic decision simplifies the management of security assessments and findings, providing a unified and centralised view of our security posture.
Furthermore, Cevo ensured that security findings are seamlessly pushed to Rapid7, which they use as their Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution. This integration enhances their real-time monitoring capabilities, allowing them to proactively respond to potential threats and vulnerabilities, thereby reinforcing their overall security and compliance measures.
Cevo implemented a GitOps approach to AWS account creation, empowering Country Road Group to efficiently provision AWS accounts using code. The structured codebase facilitates a self-service model for Country Road Group teams, streamlining the account creation process.
Cevo utilised BuildKite’s CI/CD pipeline to create the AWS accounts and deploy customisations such as BuildKite agents. The implementation also involved configuring a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to ensure seamless connectivity to on-premises systems. Importantly, the automation was designed in a flexible manner, enabling the easy addition of further customisations as needed.
“Cevo has been instrumental in our ongoing demerger and the implementation of the landing zone. Their careful planning, integration of security services, and streamlined AWS account creation have made our transition seamless.”
Sam Burgis
IT Manager, Country Road Group and David Jones
Outcomes
The environment provisioning phase is a critical step in the separation process, as it sets the stage for Country Road Group’s independent AWS environment.
The collaboration with Cevo yielded several significant benefits for Country Road Group:
- Establishment of a future-ready landing zone, providing a solid foundation for ongoing scalability, enabling Country Road Group to adapt and expand their AWS environment efficiently.
- Operational independence and autonomy through the separation of AWS services, allowing agile decision making and efficient resource management.
- Enhanced security and compliance via integration with AWS security services including AWS Security Hub, AWS Inspector, and AWS GuardDuty, ensuring proactive threat detection and compliance with industry standards.
- Streamlined processes with the implementation of GitOps for AWS account creation, which provides Country Road Group teams with a self-service model, reducing administrative overheads and accelerating the onboarding process for new projects.
- Implementation of Cevo’s tried and tested methodologies to support Country Road Group in navigating the demerger with confidence and efficiency.
“Cevo’s expertise has positioned us for independence, scalability, and cost savings, and we’re grateful for their invaluable support.”
Sam Burgis
IT Manager, Country Road Group and David Jones
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