Securing Digital Transformation through AWS Infrastructure

Bravanti leveraged AWS CloudFront to globally deliver content, enhancing reach to 1,500 consultants across 30 countries. This enabled swift mentoring of Fortune 500 Executives, optimizing career transitions.

Business Executive Consulting Services

Bravanti, a global consortium of experts in leadership, talent, and career transition, is based in Chicago, Illinois. With 1,500 consultants across 30 countries spanning Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the Americas, Bravanti mentors Fortune 500 Executives navigating career transitions.

CUSTOMER CHALLENGE

Bravanti mirrored the predicament of many established companies: a struggle to adapt to technological advancements due to reliance on longstanding internal processes. The classic "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" mindset was a hurdle, but the pressure for efficiency and technological modernization had become too pressing. And for most organizations, a Digital Transformation can be a massive disruption to daily operations if not carefully planned.

PROPOSED SOLUTION AND ARCHITECTURE

We proposed a solution leveraging key AWS services:

  • 1.
    AWS CloudFront: To deliver low latency and high-speed data transfer to users across the globe.
  • 2.
    AWS EC2: Virtual servers hosted the application, offering scalable compute capacity, that enabled us to build and deploy the application faster and more efficiently. In addition, we used EC2 Load Balancers to instantly switch to new versions on Blue/Green deployments.
  • 3.
    AWS EC2: Virtual servers hosted the application, offering scalable compute capacity, that enabled us to build and deploy the application faster and more efficiently. In addition, we used EC2 Load Balancers to instantly switch to new versions on Blue/Green deployments.
  • 4.
    AWS ECR: With ECR, Docker images were built and stored in a central repository which enabled rollbacks to any previous version of the software instantly with 0 downtime.
  • 5.
    AWS CodeDeploy: Upgrading versions of the software is fully automated using codedeploy, and rollbacks to previous version if an error is detected.
  • 6.
    AWS ElastiCache: ElastiCache was used for managing the message queue between the web application and the end-user processes to provide a high-performance, scalable, and cost-effective caching solution.
  • 7
    AWS RDS: Provided a scalable relational database, ensuring data consistency, durability, and availability. RDS allowed us to set up automatic backups and simple recovery.
  • 8.
    AWS S3: Securely stored the vast amount of client data, while ensuring high data durability, scalability, and cost-effective storage.
  • 9.
    Django Backend: Used for building the server-side of the application, Django offered a robust and secure framework that handles many common backend tasks.
  • 10.
    Angular Frontend: Angular's advanced features facilitated the creation of a dynamic and responsive user interface.
OUTCOMES OF PROJECTS & SUCCESS METRICS

While Bravanti had a functioning internal system, the potential for improvement through a digital transformation leveraging AWS infrastructure was undeniable. Over a span of three years, AppEvolve crafted a bespoke system for Bravanti. This consolidated their data management processes into a centralized platform, ensuring a seamless flow of data between the team members and their clients.  AppEvolve built the system in a methodical way, where development was done in small phases, while not disrupting other areas of the business. The system features secure web portals tailored to different user types, granting varying levels of access to data based on user permissions. Notably, the platform supports the firm's educational initiative by providing training courses for candidates, while enabling coaches to track their progress. Key functionalities include video conference integration, course and form builders, hardware management tools, custom email templates, universal announcements, file sharing, and custom reporting tools.

With the CloudFront implementation, the Bravanti application realized a 3x performance increase for static assets, and a 3% increase in performance for non-static.
LESSONS LEARNED

Embracing AWS infrastructure granted Bravanti crucial benefits such as:

  • 1.
    Security: AWS's robust security features assured the protection of sensitive client data.
  • 2.
    Low-latency: The use of AWS CloudFront enabled rapid, reliable data delivery to users worldwide, thus improving user experience.
  • 3.
    Scalability: Leveraging services such as AWS EC2 and AWS RDS allowed the system to grow in tandem with Bravanti's evolving needs without compromising performance.

In retrospect, the integration of AWS infrastructure was instrumental in driving Bravanti's digital transformation, by successfully aligning their legacy processes with modern, efficient, and secure systems.

Date Entered into Production

NOVEMBER 2017

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