Transforming Financial Services: 50% Efficiency Gains with Infrastructure as Code - Altimetrik

Executive Summary

A global leader in financial services, known for its innovation and customer-centric approach, faced significant challenges in infrastructure management and provisioning. Lengthy lead times, fragmented workflows, and a lack of traceability hindered operational efficiency, leading to stakeholder dissatisfaction. To overcome these obstacles, the organization partnered with Altimetrik to implement an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) strategy using Terraform, aimed at streamlining processes and enhancing automation.

Background

The organization managed a sprawling infrastructure in on-premises data centers, relying on VMWare for virtualization. However, managing components like compute, storage, networking, and security posed complexities. Existing tools such as VMWare vRealize Automation (vRA) and vRealize Orchestration (vRO), while automating tasks, lacked scalability and flexibility needed for Code (IaC) methodologies.

Pain Point

Extended Lead Times
Infrastructure requests faced prolonged lead times, causing frustration among stakeholders, hindering agility.

Fragmented Workflows
Sequential engagement across multiple teams led to disjointed processes, hindering coordination and efficiency.

Operational Instability
Occasional system failures and scalability issues arose due to the fragmented approach to provisioning.

Lack of Traceability
A notable absence of traceability made it challenging to monitor and oversee infrastructure operations effectively.

Organizational Challenges
Siloed API development, lack of cohesive vision, and constrained tool selection further compounded operational inefficiencies.

Key Objectives

Streamlined Provisioning

Implement an IaC strategy to streamline infrastructure provisioning and configuration processes.

Enhanced Collaboration

Foster collaboration between teams and standardize interfaces to improve coordination and efficiency.

Policy Compliance

Ensure alignment with organizational policies through policy-as-code enforcement mechanisms.

Scalability and Automation

Enhance scalability and automation capabilities to support future growth and innovation.

Solution

Altimetrik embarked on a comprehensive engagement, focusing on several critical areas to address the organization’s challenges:

Infrastructure Automation Pipeline

Developing a streamlined pipeline for provisioning and configuring infrastructure to reduce manual intervention and improve efficiency.

Integration with DevOps Tools

Leveraging Bitbucket, Bamboo, and JFrog Artifactory to establish version control, CI/CD pipelines, and artifact management for seamless infrastructure deployment.

Policy-as-Code (OPA)

Deploying Open Policy Agent (OPA) to enforce policy compliance and ensure that infrastructurechanges adhere to organizational standards.

Self-Service Capabilities

Empowering users with a user-friendly, JSON-based self-service platform for structured infrastructure requests.

Business Outcomes

The implementation of the IaC strategy yielded significant business outcomes:

1. Efficient Provisioning
   Dramatic reductions inprovisioning time and resource utilization through automation.
2. Streamlined Workflows
   Improved collaboration and coordination between teams, leading to smoother operations.
3. Policy Compliance
   Enhanced adherence to organizational policies and standards, minimizing risks and ensuring governance.
4. Future Readiness
   Identification of areas for further improvement and optimization, paving the way for ongoing enhancements.

Through the strategic adoption of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in partnership with Altimetrik, our client, a leading financial services provider, has not only overcome significant operational challenges but has also achieved substantial improvements in efficiency, stability, and compliance. The implementation of streamlined provisioning processes, enhanced collaboration, and robust policy enforcement has paved the way for smoother operations and future scalability.

As we continue to optimize and innovate, we remain committed to driving excellence in cloud agility and efficiency, setting a new standard for financial innovation in the digital era.