ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
This global not-for-profit organisation operates across multiple regions, delivering critical services to vulnerable communities worldwide. With a mission-critical infrastructure supporting their operations, the organisation needed a secure, compliant, and efficiently managed cloud environment that would enable them to focus on their core mission rather than day-to-day infrastructure management.
THE CHALLENGE
The organisation faced several challenges with their AWS environment:
- Limited in-house AWS expertise to manage increasingly complex cloud infrastructure
- Security and compliance concerns requiring alignment with global frameworks and industry best practices
- Operational inefficiency due to manual provisioning and management of AWS resources across multiple accounts
- Need for 24×7 oversight to ensure continuous availability of mission-critical systems
- Resource constraints preventing the organisation from maintaining dedicated cloud operations staff
- Requirement for rapid response to security incidents and operational issues outside of business hours
Without comprehensive managed services support, the organisation risked security vulnerabilities, operational disruptions, and diverted attention from their primary mission.
THE SOLUTION
CirrusHQ was engaged to provide a comprehensive 24×7 Managed Services offering that would secure, optimise, and continuously manage the organisation’s entire AWS environment.
Phase 1: Security Hardening and Infrastructure Optimisation
CirrusHQ implemented an AWS Landing Zone Accelerator (LZA) to establish robust security and governance across all AWS accounts:
- AWS Control Tower implementation for automated account provisioning and centralised governance
- Multi-account architecture with security guardrails and compliance policies enforced across all environments
- Centralised security monitoring and logging using AWS CloudTrail, CloudWatch, and AWS Security Hub
- Enhanced access management with MFA enforcement and policy-based controls
- Cost management framework with centralised billing and budget controls
- Compliance alignment with multiple global regulatory frameworks
- Security posture assessment identifying and remediating vulnerabilities across the environment
Phase 2: 24×7 Managed Services Deployment
Following the security hardening phase, CirrusHQ transitioned the organisation to a fully managed model:
- 24×7 monitoring and incident response by AWS-certified engineers
- Proactive alerting and escalation for security, performance, and availability issues
- Continuous security monitoring with automated threat detection and response
- Regular health checks and optimisation reviews to ensure peak performance
- Patch management and maintenance across all managed services
- Cost optimisation reviews to identify and eliminate waste
- Monthly reporting on security posture, availability, performance, and costs
- On-demand support from dedicated AWS experts for architectural guidance and troubleshooting
AWS SERVICES UTILISED
- AWS Control Tower
- AWS Landing Zone Accelerator (LZA)
- AWS CloudTrail
- AWS CloudWatch
- AWS Security Hub
- AWS Config
- AWS Systems Manager
- AWS Organizations
- AWS IAM Identity Center
THE BENEFITS
Enhanced Security Posture
By implementing security best practices and continuous monitoring, the organisation significantly improved their security posture, mitigating potential risks and avoiding costly data breaches or regulatory fines.
24×7 Peace of Mind
With CirrusHQ’s fully managed service, the organisation gained round-the-clock protection and support from AWS experts, ensuring their critical systems remain secure and available at all times.
Operational Efficiency
Automated provisioning, centralised governance, and streamlined operations enabled faster deployment of applications and services, reducing manual effort and increasing productivity.
Cost Optimisation
Through centralised cost management, regular optimisation reviews, and elimination of wasted resources, the organisation realised significant cost savings that could be redirected towards their core mission.
Scalability and Agility
With a well-architected, managed environment, the organisation can quickly provision and scale AWS resources as needed, responding rapidly to changing demands or growth opportunities.
Focus on Core Mission
By outsourcing complex AWS operations management to CirrusHQ, internal teams can focus entirely on delivering their organisational mission rather than managing infrastructure.
Centralised Governance
AWS Control Tower and LZA facilitated centralised governance across multiple AWS accounts, enabling better oversight, improved decision-making, and more effective resource allocation across global operations.
CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL
“CirrusHQ helped us introduce AWS Control Tower and LZA to ensure our account management is streamlined, that our deployed resources are optimised and compliant with our security objectives and that these are consistently applied across our environments. This saves us time and brings peace of mind that our accounts and deployed resources are being managed according to industry best practice. Very happy with the results“
Head of Infrastructure and Operations
Not-for-Profit Organisation
