Take control of third-party programs with proprietary AWS platform solution

July 31, 2020
Kevin Muldoon
Director, Cloud Transformation

With so much business being conducted through mobile and web applications, many forward-thinking enterprises are relying on specialized programs that facilitate transactions and give end-users the tools to customize their products and services.

In many cases, these applications are hosted by third-party entities on exterior platforms. This allows organizations to operate an application while reducing the burden on the rest of its developers. However, the benefits of a proprietary application hosted on a first-party Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform solution are also becoming apparent.

Choosing quality over convenience

Fischer Homes, a home builder founded in 1980 and based in Kentucky, was one such organization that decided to take direct control of a proprietary application using a first-party AWS environment.

As an extensive enterprise that has experienced substantial growth over the last 20 years and has amassed a portfolio of more than 20,000 homes built in five states, Fischer Homes found itself in need of a technology solution that provides its customers with a value-added service. This solution took the form of Sapphire, a third-party application that allows customers to calculate costs, source materials, and plan out the design and construction of their homes. Originally, this application was hosted on an exterior AWS platform managed by the software vendor that managed Sapphire.

Eventually, Fischer Homes made the call to take more direct control of the hosting and management of its Sapphire application by migrating it to a first-party AWS environment. This required the careful examination of the proper network architecture that would be needed to ensure the application performed at peak efficiency and remained accessible to customers.

CBTS and AWS, partnering for success

To facilitate a successful transition to a first-party AWS platform, Fischer Homes turned to the experts at CBTS for assistance. Their goals were to solve the issue of slow performance, minimize dependence on cloud computing, reduce the total cost of ownership, and strengthen network security.

As an Advanced Consulting AWS partner, with over 50 AWS certifications, CBTS is your trusted partner to ensure your journey to the public cloud is a success.
 
 

CBTS went about meeting these goals by launching a site audit to diagnose the cause of Sapphire’s connection and performance bottlenecks. CBTS also reviewed the current architecture of Fischer Homes’ AWS environment to design a Well-Architected Framework (WAF), outline best practices for security, and establish a roadmap for the building of Fischer’s new environment.

CBTS assessed potential risk exposure during the planning phase, configured private subnets that limited exposure of private IP addresses, and deployed proactive and automated network protection measures—providing a window of visibility and real-time insights into the operational health of the network.

As a result, CBTS determined that the performance bottlenecks were related to the central processing units of end-users, the size of which directly affected application performance. To solve this issue, CBTS proposed the implementation of a managed remote desktop service, which would make up the difference in processing power when users with weaker CPUs could still access the Sapphire application with minimal loss of performance.

The case of Fischer Homes and its Sapphire application demonstrates that hosting an application through a third party to save on operation costs doesn’t always lead to favorable client outcomes. When an AWS solution is purpose-built for your organization, you can see the benefits in greater control over connection quality and a better user experience for your customers.

Contact CBTS for more information on how a customized AWS platform can deliver better performance for your applications.

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