Transforming legacy systems with scalable cloud solutions

The client, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology sought to modernize their IT infrastructure on AWS. Operating in a competitive industry, their objective was to enhance efficiency, scalability and customer service by transitioning from a traditional data center to a secure and scalable cloud environment.

The Challenge

Scalability and performance constraints: Legacy systems limited the ability to scale resources on demand, leading to performance bottlenecks and delays during peak periods
High operational costs: Maintaining on-premises infrastructure required significant capital and operational expenditures, including hardware maintenance, energy costs and staffing
Security and compliance risks: Outdated systems struggled to meet stringent security and compliance requirements, posing potential legal and reputational risks
Operational complexity: Managing traditional infrastructure involved complex, time-consuming processes, which reduced agility and hampered innovation
Legacy technology limitations: Older applications were not cloud-compatible, requiring significant modernization efforts to unlock the benefits of cloud-native features

The Objective

The goal was to modernize infrastructure through AWS cloud solutions to reduce operational costs, improve scalability and meet regulatory compliance standards.

System review: Comprehensive analysis of legacy systems and IT requirements identified key challenges and areas for improvement
Cloud strategy: Developed a phased migration plan to ensure a smooth transition and reduce operational disruptions

The Solution

HCLTech designed and executed a seamless migration and modernization strategy leveraging AWS’s robust cloud platform. The approach incorporated best practices to address the client’s unique challenges and deliver transformative results:

Thorough assessment and planning: Conducted a comprehensive evaluation of legacy systems to identify dependencies and complexities and developed a phased migration strategy with detailed risk assessments and application prioritization to ensure a streamlined process
Data migration tools and techniques: Utilized AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) and AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to ensure accurate data transfer with minimal downtime and implemented robust validation techniques to verify data integrity before and after the migration
Phased migration approach: Adopted a phased strategy to migrate less critical applications first, minimizing disruptions to essential services and incorporated learnings from initial migrations to optimize subsequent phases
Comprehensive testing and validation: Established a rigorous testing framework, validating application performance, security and functionality in the AWS environment before go-live
Focus on security and compliance: Leveraged AWS’s built-in security features, including Identity and Access Management (IAM), encryption and Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and conducted regular audits to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements and industry standards
Training and skill development: Delivered training programs for internal teams to bridge skill gaps and enable the workforce to manage AWS technologies effectively and collaborated with AWS consultants to bring in expertise for complex tasks
Change management strategies: Engaged stakeholders early, communicated the benefits of cloud migration and addressed concerns to ensure smooth adoption
Cost management practices: Used AWS cost management tools, such as AWS Cost Explorer, to monitor and control expenses throughout the migration process

The Impact

Cost efficiency: Reduced operational costs by 30-50% through AWS's serverless model and pay-as-you-go pricing and optimized database costs by 20-30% with managed solutions like Amazon RDS for Oracle and PostgreSQL
Enhanced performance: Improved application response times by up to 40% with dynamic scaling on AWS ECS Fargate and achieved 50% faster transaction processing through RDS’s built-in replication and failover features
Operational efficiency: Accelerated data processing and analytics by 30–70% using AWS Data Lake and EMR and streamlined IT operations with automated scaling and monitoring
Strengthened security and compliance: Mitigated risks with AWS’s robust security framework, including encryption and fine-grained access controls and maintained compliance with industry regulations through AWS’s global certifications
Scalability and agility: Enabled seamless scaling to handle peak loads and increased traffic with AWS Fargate and supported global operations with low-latency access enabled by AWS Route 53

AWS services used:

Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, AWS Lambda, AWS CloudFormation, Amazon S3, AWS IAM