SHI’s tailored lift-and-shift strategy modernized the customer's operations with AWS

Challenge:

A leading provider of software solutions for specialty manufacturers and distributors needed to modernize and streamline their operations. An organization formed through the merger of multiple smaller companies, this customer sought to consolidate their workloads distributed across various global data centers. When a contract with their current colocation solutions partner was expiring, they ended up with a costly month-to-month arrangement. As they continued to expand, they also had an ongoing need to incorporate new acquisitions into their environment with standard governance. The customer aimed to reduce hosting expenses and minimize management overhead while also addressing their lack of internal bandwidth to complete the migrations.

Solution:

To address these challenges, SHI stepped in with a robust and comprehensive solution centered around AWS Cloud. The process began in July 2023. We started by doing an internally funded assessment phase and then leveraging the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) Rapid Migration Offering to ensure a structured and efficient migration process while maximizing AWS funding. SHI began by completing a detailed MAP assessment to gain a deep understanding of the customer's specific requirements. This assessment laid the groundwork for building a new AWS environment tailored to the customer's needs using the AWS Landing Zone offering.

We adopted a lift-and-shift strategy using EC2 deployments via CloudFormation for rapid infrastructure deployment and VM/AMI image import/exports. This flexibility ensured that the migration process was both swift and aligned with the customer's expectations.

A key component of the solution was the development and deployment of a network infrastructure that met the customer's specific requirements. SHI adhered to AWS Well Architected Best Practices, ensuring a secure and efficient environment. A comprehensive tagging strategy with enforcement policies was developed, incorporating standards based on MAP guidelines.

To further enhance security, SHI developed a Landing Zone and created accounts aligned with the AWS Security Reference Architecture using Account Factory. A robust backup solution was implemented using the AWS Backup service, and new Golden Image AMI pipelines were established. SHI also enforced encryption on EBS volumes to ensure data security.

For infrastructure monitoring, SHI set up a comprehensive solution using CloudWatch. We developed custom metrics based on the customer's key performance indicators (KPIs), providing advanced monitoring capabilities for their workloads. This ensured that the customer could maintain high performance and quickly address any issues that arose.

Outcome:

The customer now operates within a Well-Architected AWS environment, with their workloads securely managed in the cloud. SHI's ability to listen and adapt to the customer's needs resulted in a customized AWS infrastructure that aligns with the six AWS Well Architected Pillars. This transformation has not only modernized the customer's operations but also significantly reduced operational overhead, allowing their technical team to focus on innovation and growth.

Also, by redirecting resources to more critical tasks associated with rapidly growing their business, the customer did not need to incur additional resource costs and completed the migration project in May 2024.