IT Service Management Company
We efficiently manage Managed Services.
Overview
THE CHALLENGE
When this managed services company migrated its SaaS application from its internal data center to AWS, it lacked the internal IT operations management expertise required to manage it. They needed sophisticated IT operations management expertise to monitor and measure customer applications and execute repeatable tasks like to build and deploy, provisioning, moving workloads, and creating and managing test and demo environments.
THE SOLUTION
We fulfilled the Network Operations Center (NOC) role for the company, optimized their AWS cost usage, and standardized and deployed operational tasks, saving them over $100,000 monthly.
THE OUTCOME
Important to the company was the constant ability to know about any issues before a customer does. Ollion brought that peace of mind to the table by being proactive about watching the site and minimizing performance issues and downtime
About the Business
This managed services company delivers cloud-based recurring revenue management solutions to companies around the world, helping them drive growth through the company’s comprehensive data management, analytics, automation, and services capabilities. The company manages $14.5 billion in recurring revenue for the world's largest and most respected technology and B2B companies and sells both managed services and a SaaS product, used by major brands including Dell, IBM, and Blackboard, Inc.
AWS Needs
In 2010, the company chose to launch its SaaS offering on AWS, instead of hosting the new application on its internal data center. The move was part of a broader strategy to outsource select expertise and services, enabling the company to better focus on core business activities such as development and R&D. The company realized the need for sophisticated IT operations management expertise that didn’t exist internally. Specifically, it needed help with monitoring and measuring customer applications and executing a variety of repeatable tasks such as build and deploy, provisioning, moving workloads, and creating and managing test and demo environments. AWS referred to the services of cloud management and monitoring provider Ollion.
Ollion Partnership
Ollion’s first order of business was to analyze and optimize the company’s cost and usage on AWS and to take over performance monitoring in order to set up proactive alerts to know of issues before a customer called. Ollion essentially fulfilled the NOC (network operations center) role for the organization.
Ollion also helped in standardizing and deploying operational tasks, which included applying and managing top IT automation and change management tools such as Chef, Puppet, and AWS CloudFormation.
Results with Ollion
Cost savings
Through its proven capacity planning and management practices, usage monitoring, and recommendations on AWS configuration and utilization, Ollion was a pivotal player in hefty cloud cost savings achieved by the company. The organization has realized monthly savings on AWS of more than $100,000, a figure predicted to continue to increase. The company’s team is also getting much better at managing its AWS footprint for cost-effectiveness.
Responsiveness
The company also points to the highly professional and responsive staff at Ollion, when problems or questions arose that needed quick attention. For instance, the organization wanted to take advantage of the AWS Auto Scale “self-correcting” features in the AWS infrastructure design, an effort that Ollion had ample experience developing for other clients. The company relied upon the expertise of Ollion to design, implement and manage the environment on Amazon.
Stability
Important to the company was the constant ability to know about any issues before a customer does. Ollion brought that peace of mind to the table by being proactive about watching the site and minimizing performance issues and downtime.
