Streamlined Global Visa Services Company's Database Infrastructure for Enhanced Performance and Cost Efficiency

The world's largest visa outsourcing and technology services company sought to modernize its database infrastructure. Minfy, the Applied Technology Architect, partnered with them to deliver a cost-effective and scalable solution on AWS. This collaboration resulted in improved performance, enhanced agility, and significant cost savings.
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Challenges

The company, reliant on on-premise data centers managed by a third-party vendor, faced:

• Limited Scalability: Server limitations caused performance issues during peak traffic periods, negatively impacting user experience. Scaling up with additional hardware was time-consuming and expensive.
• High Licensing Costs: Procuring additional database licenses, software assurances, and annual maintenance fees incurred significant costs.
• Vendor Lock-In: Perpetual licensing for Microsoft core technologies created a vendor lock-in situation, hindering cost-effective scaling.

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Solution

Minfy leveraged its expertise as the Applied Technology Architect to implement a comprehensive database modernization strategy:

• Cost-Optimized Database Management: Optimized license usage, right-sized databases, and consolidated instances for maximum cost efficiency.
• Scalable and Performant Cloud Migration: Migrated 10 COTS applications and their databases to AWS Relational Database Service (RDS) for MSSQL. This shift enabled scalability, fault tolerance, high performance, and pay-as-you-go pricing.
• Automated Migration Pipelines: Designed and automated custom SQL/AWS DMS native migration accelerators to ensure precision and consistency during database migration.
• Serverless Enhancements: Transitioned 5 complex SQL Store Procedures to AWS Lambda, increasing flexibility and reducing dependence on Windows OS.
• Compliance and Data Security: Mapped region-locked data to source regions and implemented role-based access controls (RBAC) for enhanced data sovereignty.
• Optimized Performance: Enhanced SQL queries for complex user-defined functions (UDFs), stored procedures, and resource-intensive queries, leading to improved database performance.
• Robust SRE Framework: Strengthened database reliability with a comprehensive Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) framework. Implemented performance metrics and dashboards for continuous monitoring.

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Technology Stack:

• Cloud Platform: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Database Migration: AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA)
• Cloud Database Service: Amazon RDS for MSSQL
• Serverless Computing: AWS Lambda
• Security: Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

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Results: A Successful Transformation

• 3x Cost Reduction: Achieved significant cost savings through optimized licensing, pay-as-you-go pricing model, and operational efficiencies associated with AWS.
• Enhanced Performance and Efficiency: Database right-sizing and query optimization resulted in improved application and database performance.
• Eliminated Vendor Lock-In: Transition to AWS RDS eliminated licensing lock-in and associated costs.
• Improved Compliance and Reliability: Rigorous adherence to regional data regulations and a robust SRE framework ensured data security and database uptime.

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Digital Transformation: A Growth Story

The cloud-based database modernization, facilitated by Minfy's expertise, empowers the Global Visa Services Company with an agile, scalable, and cost-effective foundation. This transformation enhances performance, reliability, and data security, positioning them for continued growth and innovation.

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Ready to Fuel Your Own Digital Transformation?

Contact Minfy today to discuss how our expertise as the Applied Technology Architect can help you achieve similar results:

• Cost-Effective and Scalable Database Infrastructure
• Improved Database Performance and Reliability
• Enhanced Data Security and Compliance
• Streamlined Database Operations and Management