Streamlining operations through data center consolidation in the cloud

Cloud Automation — A Global Publishing Leader

Case Study

Media

PiServe uses the cloud advantage to reinvent IT operations for a global media giant, ensuring high agility and faster time-to-market

About the client

Located in Asia, the client occupies an apex position in the media industry of the continent and worldwide. For decades the organization has been a trusted source of information and an opinion-building platform with global coverage. The company features a robust readership that runs into millions and maintains a formidable presence across physical and online formats.

Abstract

The client intended to explore the feasibility of moving its business processes and applications to the cloud to keep up with the latest industry trends and operational practices. While the approach has its undeniable cost benefits, the company also visualized the relevance of “as-a-service” (XaaS) digital models to make its deliveries seamless and more available to the readers.

However, considering the potential risks involved in handling live data and business applications, the client was looking for an experienced technology partner to assess, ideate, and reinvent its operations in the cloud.

Business challenges

The company decided to modernize and consolidate its IT operations to bring them up to speed with the needs of the digital era. The organization wanted to determine whether moving its business processes, applications, and data to the cloud could transform operations and simplify content distribution for its readers. However, undertaking such assessments and interventions without enough expertise in the subject matter may lead to unplanned outages of mission-critical functions, disrupting business.

Therefore, the client must find a reliable cloud transformation partner with enough perspective and skills to deliver on its key demands like:

Pinpointing potential cost savings opportunities and performance improvements in its existing data center operations
Building agile capabilities to diversify its business interests and optimize the time-to-market for its offerings to thrive in highly competitive markets
Ensuring a secured delivery of its products and services from the cloud

Our approach

PiServe consultants and cloud engineers, having engaged with global media customers, are well versed with the domain and the typical requirements of organizations looking to succeed amidst it. The team used PiServe’s Cloud Steps Transformation Framework to conduct an in-depth cloud suitability and migration feasibility analysis covering over 100 applications, 50 servers, and five business units across nine locations.

Based on the study, came up with a series of target state recommendations and a phased migration plan to shift approximately 60% of the current workloads to the AWS IaaS cloud and move the rest to a new data center. As per the roadmap:

PiServe engineers smoothly migrated the identified applications to a combination of Amazon Web Services and a VMware-based off-premise co-location data center.

The team automated the enforcement of standards across the delivery process and infrastructure. It ensured Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance and eliminated standalone or redundant systems, processes, and workloads.

Remarkably smooth and non-intrusive migration with hardly any cascading impact or unplanned outages.

The result

The PiServe team delivered as per the client’s expectations, reliably bringing the cloud advantage to transform its operations. The engagement led to:

Improved efficiency

The migration allowed the organization to leverage XaaS solutions to reduce operational expenses, boost productivity, and make its content available on-demand.

Robust security

PiServe implemented a comprehensive security and compliance framework and installed multiple layers of disaster recovery and backups as part of the engagement.

Reduced time-to-market

The automation, standardization, and rationalization undertaken as part of engagement significantly shortened the release cycles for the client’s products and services.

High scalability

PiServe’s approach to realigning the business databases across AWS IaaS and an off-premise data center dramatically reduced the in-house data center footprint. The new architecture is highly flexible for meeting variable business demands.