Enterprise Cloud Migration for a Financial Services Provider

A leading North American financial services provider embarked on a strategic digital transformation journey to modernize its IT infrastructure by migrating core enterprise systems to Amazon Web Services (AWS). With a portfolio of offerings across banking, credit cards, auto loans, and home financing, the client aimed to enhance scalability, reduce operational costs, and drive innovation through cloud adoption.

ekSource partnered with the client to assess their complex on-premises environment, align internal teams, and execute a phased, secure migration strategy leveraging AWS’s global infrastructure and cost-effective, serverless capabilities. The result was a 74% reduction in operational costs, improved system performance, and a foundation for future-ready, scalable IT operations.

Business Challenge

The client’s legacy infrastructure was inflexible, costly, and unable to scale with increasing service demands. Migrating to the cloud presented opportunities—but also several critical challenges:

Key Challenges:

Limited Visibility into Current State: Years of infrastructure investment resulted in diverse systems with inconsistent documentation, making it difficult to assess readiness for migration.
Lack of Buy-In from Application Teams: Internal technology teams were hesitant to adopt cloud, requiring targeted engagement and support.
Regulatory Compliance Requirements: Operating in a heavily regulated sector, the client needed to comply with PCI DSS and ensure data confidentiality and integrity during and post-migration.
Complex Application Interdependencies: The environment included interconnected applications across business units, requiring careful mapping and phased migration planning.
Hybrid Integration with Legacy Systems: Existing integrations with on-premises platforms necessitated a hybrid strategy that preserved functionality during transition.
High Availability & Cutover Strategy: Some applications operated in high resiliency groups with zero tolerance for downtime, requiring a parallel run and synchronized cutover plan.

Solution

ekSource implemented a structured cloud migration framework, starting with comprehensive infrastructure assessment, data-driven dependency mapping, and phased deployment strategies tailored to the client’s operational needs and compliance requirements.

Key Solution Components:

Cloud Assessment & Planning: Conducted a thorough cloud readiness assessment, mapping on-premise inventory, estimating migration effort, and providing cost forecasts for post-migration operations.
Team Enablement & Migration Factory: Established a Migration Factory, equipping application teams with tools, technical support, and confidence to execute and sustain the migration process.
Data Security & Compliance Safeguards: Classified data by compliance category, implemented security controls to prevent leakage, and enabled robust monitoring/logging via AWS CloudWatch to detect anomalies in real time.
Application Dependency Mapping & Orchestration: Utilized data-driven insights to understand interdependencies and developed an Application Release Orchestration (ARO) solution for coordinated releases across multiple systems.
Hybrid Cloud Integration Strategy: Treated AWS as an extension of the existing environment, implementing dedicated connectivity (e.g., AWS Direct Connect), reverse DMS, and identity federation for seamless integration.
Phased Cutover Execution: Deployed a synchronized cutover strategy, running new and legacy environments in parallel to minimize downtime and ensure seamless service transition.

Benefits

The cloud migration initiative delivered measurable improvements across cost, performance, scalability, and customer satisfaction:

Cost Reduction: Achieved a 74% reduction in operational costs while improving system availability and reliability.
Elasticity and Scalability: Cloud services now auto-scale based on demand, ensuring optimal resource utilization.
Improved Customer Experience: Enhanced system performance boosted customer satisfaction scores by 17.4%.
Enhanced Security and Compliance: Leveraged AWS’s advanced security tools, reducing security incidents by 45% and supporting regulatory compliance.
Faster Data Processing & Decision-Making: Improved data processing speeds by 20%, enabling faster insights and operational agility.
Performance Gains: Internal reporting highlighted a 25% improvement in application performance over six months post-migration.

The successful enterprise cloud migration enabled the client to modernize its IT landscape, achieve significant cost savings, and enhance operational efficiency. The cloud now serves as a flexible, scalable foundation for future growth, supporting real-time data processing, automated workflows, and innovative service delivery.

ekSource’s structured, phased approach, combined with deep cloud expertise and stakeholder alignment, ensured a seamless transition with minimal disruption. The project underscores the value of comprehensive planning, security-first execution, and continuous optimization in achieving long-term digital transformation goals.

ekSource continues to support enterprises with cloud solutions that deliver agility, performance, and competitive advantage.