Case Study | Finance

In the nick of time.

With just 60 days on the clock, ASMGi implements Azure with a Fortune 500 client while maintaining security standards.

The Situation

A global financial services company committed to implementing Azure cloud servers for customer-facing applications and hosting of client data. The client team had made client commitments on getting the data into the Azure environment. But as the launch dates neared, the financial services team realized that not all the necessary foundational and security work had been completed.

The data was highly sensitive, and company risk policies and industry regulations dictated careful planning in order to ensure data protection.

The first deadline was only 60 days away.

ASMGi is a Tier 1 Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider for its work with Azure in its IT Services and Software Development divisions.

Creating A Custom Solution

ASMGi was brought in to complete policies, procedures and processes in addition to managing the implementation. In order to meet the deadlines, ASMGi needed to build a model for implementing Microsoft Azure that would be approved by the regulatory and information security departments.

An Azure solution is highly flexible, but that flexibility can be costly if not handled correctly. With thousands of implementation options, it’s vital to set the system up stragically to ensure optimal security and cost structures.

Ultimately, ASMGi’s plan met the company’s strict financial security standards, was completed in time to meet the firm’s commitment to its customers and provided the firm all of the benefits of migrating to the Cloud.

Post implementation, ASMGi is also responsible for managing and monitoring the environment to ensure policies and procedures are being followed, updating the systems in accordance with Microsoft recommendations for both QA and Production environments, and for performing application, data and instance security and access administration.

ASMGi is also audited on a regular basis by multiple entities to ensure compliance.

““We thrive on tight deadlines. Being agile while still being obsessive about security standards is an ASMGi hallmark.” -Steve Faykus, ASMGi CTO”
Steve Faykus

CTO, ASMGi

The Result

ASMGi was able to build a program that was approved by the global company’s Information Security department in less than 60 days, and in time to meet customer expectations.

ASMGi was also chosen to implement and provide ongoing management of the cloud infrastructure targeted to be the preferred model for customer-facing applications.The financial services company plans to utilize ASMGi to migrate many more data-center housed clients to an Azure environment, and will continue to use ASMGi’s defined policies and procedures.

► Project completed on time, in scope and under budget.

► Complied with all regulatory and internal risk thresholds.

► Trust in ASMGi led to an update of internal company policies.

► Increased flexibility for client needs.

► Faster scalability means the client can add incremental business more quickly.

The ASMGi Advantage

The policies and procedures developed by ASMGi as part of this project was adopted as a broader policy by the client, as other regions deploy Microsoft Azure.

It’s vital to ASMGi ensure our clients are able to leverage the efforts, data and learnings as broadly as possible. In addition, ASMGi is now fine-tuning the processes in order to maximize the financial efficiencies.

While storage in the Cloud does not necessarily net savings, a proper setup helps. For example, a sandbox for testing might normally require additional equipment or longer term investment. In an Azure environment, this can be turned and on and off quickly with minimal expense.

This customer often needs to scale up quickly for a large client. Instead of purchasing new equipment, the Azure solution will allow them to meet client needs with the push of a button — or a call to the ASMGi 24×7 service desk.