Navigating cloud transformation: Building an enterprise-grade landing zone for leading financial firm
Cevo partnered with a leading financial services provider to transition its on-premises infrastructure to the AWS cloud with the build of an enterprise-grade landing zone, fostering innovation and modernisation. Through the implementation of cloud-native practices and automation frameworks, the firm accelerated its development process, reduced testing times and enhanced operational efficiently, while establishing a foundation for ongoing growth and innovation.
98% reduction
in provisioning time
70% improvement
in product development speed
Financial Services
Industry
This customer is one of Australia’s leading full service Australian stockbroking and financial advisory firms, offering a full range of services to private, corporate and institutional clients.
Business challenge
The firm faced critical operational challenges stemming from its reliance on an on-premises data centre infrastructure. This traditional setup limited their ability to scale efficiently and meant an overreliance on individual expertise in operating the existing systems. While the firm boasted a talented workforce well-versed in managing on-premises infrastructure, their proficiency in cloud operations was less developed.
Recognising the need for transformation, the firm sought to leverage AWS cloud solutions with three primary objectives. First, they aimed to modernise their systems to enable new capabilities. Second, they wanted to accelerate speed-to-market for international expansion. Finally, they aimed to boost overall productivity and quality of their applications. The firm also aspired to foster a culture of innovation by empowering its teams to build, experiment and iterate on new product ideas with the support of various cloud applications. Successfully navigating this challenge needed a strategic approach to seamlessly integrate cloud solutions into their existing operations.
Solution
Cevo and our sibling business, D6 Consulting, partnered with the financial firm to build an enterprise-scale AWS cloud platform to facilitate a smooth transition to the AWS cloud, while laying the groundwork for future growth and innovation.
Firstly, Cevo and D6 conducted in-depth consultations to identify priority areas and develop a migration roadmap tailored to the customer’s needs. This roadmap expedited the migration process, mitigating risks associated with change management and ensuring a smooth transition to the cloud environment.
Cevo then implemented an enterprise-grade landing zone with a focus on security and compliance, cost management and scalability, serving as the foundation for the firm’s cloud footprint. Leveraging the AWS solution Landing Zone Accelerator (LZA), this well-architected infrastructure not only helps to facilitate the migration process but also paves the way for future expansion and scalability within the cloud environment. The platform provided the organisation with governance and compliance controls with strong alignment to the Well-Architected pillars of excellence and best practices.
In addition to building the Landing Zone platform, Cevo helped to establish the financial organisation’s cloud operating model, prescriptive guidance, operating procedures and guidelines. Cevo provided guidance on integrating FinOps processes and enable the team to build a continuous improvement flywheel using the AWS Well-Architected Framework by embedding this thinking into business processes and solution design frameworks.
To support the objective of rapid market entry and global deployment for growth, Cevo implemented development pipelines, automation frameworks and scaling techniques to accelerate software delivery. By automating deployment processes, the firm can quickly respond to the needs of its global customers, enhancing agility and operational efficiency.
We also deployed discovery tools such as AWS Migration Evaluator and testing pipelines streamline data collection and clarify on-premises costs. Meanwhile, a sandbox environment was built to provide a secure space for innovation proof-of-concepts development.
By instilling a cloud-native mindset and implementing scalable infrastructure, we enabled the financial firm to develop robust applications spanning development, testing and production environments. This transformation reduced testing times from weeks or months to just one day, allowing the customer to iterate and experiment quickly.
Finally, recognising the importance of upskilling the financial firm’s team, we integrated learning opportunities into the project framework. Through tailored training programs and knowledge sharing sessions, we equipped on-premises team with essential cloud skills, enabling them to thrive in cloud-native environments and can support the organisation’s ongoing growth and migration efforts.
With project management support from D6, Cevo ensured open and transparent communication channels were established to foster collaboration and ensure that all stakeholders remained informed and engaged throughout the entire project lifecycle.
Outcomes
This partnership has established a robust foundation for the financial firm’s migration to the cloud, enabling a smooth transition and paving the way for future modernisation and cloud adoption. Key outcomes include:
- Accelerated environment provision time from 7 weeks to 1 day, facilitating rapid prototyping and innovation.
- Fostered a culture of innovation and experimentation by providing a sandbox environment for creating proof-of-concepts and testing new ideas.
- Enabled a more than 70% improvement in the efficiency of transitioning a new product from the conceptual phase to a fully operational state.
- Improved the customer’s operational efficiency by almost 15% by reducing the time spent on allocating resources and increasing effectiveness using blueprints.
- Attained a competitive advantage by leveraging modern cloud solutions and infrastructure, positioning the financial firm as an industry leader.
- Facilitated change management and upskilling initiatives, fostering a shift in attitudes towards the cloud across the entire organisation.
- Streamlined development processes and improved productivity through the implementation of development pipelines and automation frameworks.
- Enabled scalability to global markets by establishing scalable infrastructure and deployment pipelines.
- Increased operational efficiency and cost savings through optimised cloud resource management and utilisation.
- Enhanced recovery times and bug fixes achieved through the adoption of cloud observability and shorter feedback loops, ensuring greater operational resilience.
- Increased application quality and reduced failure rates by implementing more frequent automated test cycles, bolstering overall software reliability.
- Increased adoption of AWS cloud-native technologies within the teams to 80%, demonstrating a significant uptake of cloud-native solutions.
- Positioned the financial firm for future growth and expansion by establishing a foundation for ongoing modernisation and innovation within the AWS cloud environment.
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