What is Modernization on AWS?
AWS has significantly evolved over the years, continuously releasing new services and capabilities that allow its customers to do more and more on the cloud. For customers to take advantage of this, meet the demands of modern technology, and maintain a competitive edge in the market, the need to modernize IT infrastructure and applications is paramount.
Modernizing on AWS refers to migrating and transforming traditional applications, workloads, and infrastructure to leverage the benefits of cloud computing and AWS services. This involves updating existing systems to take advantage of modern cloud-native architectures, technologies, and best practices, which always follow the six Pillars of AWS Well Architecture Framework: Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, and Sustainability.
Companies are modernizing the cloud through various strategies and approaches.
Xebia has vast experience supporting customers in assessing their existing infrastructure and aligning on the best approach for their modernization journey. This, of course, takes into consideration the organization’s strategy, business and technical goals, security, and compliance requirements.
Migration:
Many companies start their cloud modernization journey by migrating existing applications and workloads to the cloud. This could involve lifting and shifting applications as-is to cloud infrastructure or refactoring them to take advantage of cloud-native features and services.
Refactoring:
Refactoring involves redesigning and optimizing applications to utilize cloud-native features and services better. This may include breaking monolithic applications into microservices, containerizing applications using Docker and Kubernetes, or adopting serverless computing with AWS Lambda.
Automation:
Modernization typically involves automating processes for deployment, scaling, monitoring, and management using AWS services like CloudFormation, Elastic Beanstalk, OpsWorks, and CodePipeline. Automation improves efficiency, reliability, and agility in the cloud.
Adoption of Cloud-Native Technologies:
Companies embrace cloud-native technologies such as containers, serverless computing, and microservices architecture. Containers enable consistent deployment and management of applications across different environments, while serverless computing allows developers to focus on writing code without worrying about infrastructure management.
Containerization:
Containerization simplifies container orchestration and management and enables consistent deployment and management of applications across different environments. Organizations utilize managed services such as Container Service (ECS) and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) for running containers, along with services like Fargate for serverless container management.
Serverless Computing:
Serverless computing allows developers to focus on writing code without worrying about infrastructure management. AWS Lambda enables running code in response to events without provisioning or managing servers, while the API Gateway provides a scalable and fully managed API gateway for serverless applications.
Microservices:
Modernizing with microservices involves breaking down large, monolithic applications into smaller, independent services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled individually.
Data Modernization:
Modernizing data infrastructure involves migrating and optimizing databases, data warehouses, data lakes, and analytics solutions. Companies are leveraging cloud-based data services such as managed databases, data lakes, and analytics platforms to gain insights from their data more effectively.
DevOps and Automation:
DevOps practices and automation play a crucial role in modernizing applications in the cloud. Companies are adopting CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (IaC), and automated testing to streamline cloud applications’ development, deployment, and operation.
Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Strategies:
Hybrid and multi-cloud strategies to modernize the IT infrastructure involve running workloads across on-premises data centers and multiple cloud providers to leverage the unique capabilities of each environment while maintaining flexibility and avoiding vendor lock-in.
Modernizing your AWS infrastructure and applications offers several advantages.
- Faster Release Cycles: Moving from semi-annual releases to on-demand, no-downtime releases have provided the necessary agility to meet business needs promptly.
- Improved TCO & Sustainability: Breaking down the system into smaller, manageable microservices has not only reduced infrastructure requirements but also lowered the total cost of ownership (TCO) and carbon footprint.
- Improved Scalability and Availability: Leveraging serverless AWS infrastructure, particularly AWS Lambda, has enhanced system capacity, scalability, and availability, resulting in a better end-user experience.
- Agility in Development and Deployment: Continuous deployment and adoption of market changes have enabled the product to go live in shorter timeframes, facilitating rapid responses to evolving market demands.
- Digital Transformation: The creation of Greenfield Microservice APIs and migration to cloud technology mark significant milestones in the client’s digital transformation journey, enabling greater agility and innovation.
- Real-Time Customer Insights: Access to real-time customer feedback has empowered better decision-making, allowing the team to respond promptly to customer needs and preferences.
- Efficiency Gains: By avoiding re-work and streamlining the analysis process, the project has saved significant man-hours, enabling resources to be allocated more effectively.
- Enhanced Product Placement: With better insights and understanding of market dynamics, the project has facilitated improved product placement and identification of areas for enhancement.
- Flexible and Reusable Projects: The incorporation of drag-and-drop features for easy customization has made projects more flexible and reusable, enabling rapid iteration and adaptation.
- Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: Individual efforts have transformed into collaborative endeavors, fostering better knowledge-sharing and cross-functional collaboration within the team.
- Automated Development Processes: Automation of the application development process has improved reliability and speed of deployment, reducing manual effort and potential errors.
- Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: The introduction of cutting-edge features has contributed to enhanced customer satisfaction, driving loyalty and retention.
- Improved System Stability: Reduced incidents in production by 80% and doubled network reliability which directly impacted the stability and performance of the system and customer experience.
- Faster Deployment: Single-click deployment streamlined the process of launching new services or updates. This agility enabled prompt response to customer needs and market demands by rolling out new features or fixes quickly.
- Increased Promo Bookings: By providing real-time promo pricing across all platforms, the platform saw a notable increase in promo bookings, resulting in a 20% boost in bookings within a quarter after release.
- Real-Time Performance: Real-time results are now served in microseconds, a significant improvement from previous response times that took hours. This drastic reduction in latency enhances the user experience and enables users, customer service representatives, and agents to access up-to-date information instantly.
- Enhanced User Behavior Tracking: The platform’s increased user behavior tracking by 60% provides valuable insights into user interactions and preferences, enabling more informed decision-making and targeted marketing strategies.
- Security and Maintenance: The system is now secure and easy to maintain, ensuring the integrity of user data and minimizing downtime due to maintenance activities. This reliability fosters trust among users and reduces operational overhead for administrators.
- Cost-Effective Data Analysis: The introduction of a new data lake has facilitated cheaper, faster, and more secure data analysis, enabling the derivation of valuable insights and data-driven decisions without incurring excessive costs.
- Infrastructure Optimization: The adoption of serverless and fully infrastructure-as-code based design has resulted in a faster and more scalable environment, which allows adaptation to changing demands and innovation more rapidly.
Modernizing on AWS with Xebia
Xebia is an AWS Premier partner and, specifically, a modernization partner; Xebia’s modernization partnership with AWS provides customers with a comprehensive suite of services and support to facilitate a smooth and successful transition to modernized IT infrastructure on the AWS cloud platform. As a modernization partner, Xebia is well-equipped to assist customers in modernizing their applications and workloads on AWS. This includes assessing current IT infrastructure, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing modernization strategies to align with business goals. Xebia leverages various AWS funding programs available to partners to support customers in their modernization efforts. These programs can provide financial assistance and incentives to offset the costs associated with modernization projects. Xebia offers resources, including skilled professionals, workshops, and documentation, to support customers at every stage of the modernization process. This ensures that customers have access to the necessary expertise and guidance to successfully navigate their modernization journey.
By partnering with Xebia, customers can mitigate risks, overcome challenges, and accelerate their journey toward modernization on the AWS cloud platform. Xebia’s support and guidance enable customers to rapidly and efficiently achieve their modernization goals, ultimately driving business objectives forward.
