Application migration for a leading Canadian communication and media company
Streamlining application deployment with migration and consolidation of key applications onto AWS along with enhanced security.
A leading Canadian communications and media company partnered with HCLTech to migrate and consolidate key applications onto AWS. This initiative addressed deployment inconsistencies, security gaps and inefficient governance across multiple AWS accounts. By centralizing its environment into a unified account structure, the company significantly improved deployment speed, security and operational efficiency.
The Challenge
- Inconsistent deployments: The client faced inconsistencies in deploying applications across different environments due to varying tools used for AWS resource provisioning, CI/CD processes and code repositories
- Lack of standardization: There were gaps in implementing standardized deployment procedures and disaster recovery (DR) protocols, which impacted overall application management
- Security risks: Vulnerability scanning and quality checks were inadequately enforced
- Governance issues: Multiple AWS accounts were being used without proper governance, leading to a lack of consolidation and standardized IAM policy management across applications
The Objective
The goal was to streamline application management, ensure consistent deployments and enhance security and governance through a unified AWS environment.
- Evaluation: A comprehensive review of current application deployment processes and security practices identified inefficiencies and vulnerabilities
- Gap analysis: Pinpointed areas for improvement in CI/CD workflows, security scans and IAM governance
The Solution
HCLTech implemented a comprehensive solution to streamline operations and improve security:
- Automated application migration: HCLTech consolidated and migrated seven key applications from separate AWS accounts into a single unified account structure using a zero-human touch approach
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC): IaC principles were implemented using Terraform (TFE) with reusable modules to provision AWS resources across both production and non-production environments
- CI/CD standardization: HCLTech aligned the application CI/CD processes to standardized tools and created pipelines with proper quality gates and vulnerability scans
- Seamless communication and functionality: Integrated backend systems, such as TSYS and Adastra, ensuring seamless communication and functionality
- Access management streamlining: Implemented role-based access control across the newly consolidated AWS account structure
The Impact
- Enhanced operational efficiency: A standardized application deployment process (CI/CD) was established, ensuring consistency across all applications and environments
- Improved disaster recovery: Applications are now easier to recover in DR scenarios due to streamlined deployment and governance practices
- Seamless application delivery: The migration and provisioning processes were automated with a zero-human touch approach, improving the speed and accuracy of deployments
- Stronger Security and Compliance: Proper scans, quality gates, and consolidated AWS account management improved security and governance, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities.
AWS services used:
Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, AWS Lambda, AWS CloudFormation, AWS IAM, Terraform
