Cloudnexa’s Well Architected Framework Review Sets Up SurePrep for Long-Term Success on AWS

The leadership team at Sureprep, pushed to move toward Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a means to increase overall operational efficiency. The main challenges the company wanted to solve were ensuring that computer resources are allocated correctly to meet minimum system requirements as possible, maintaining the efficiency as SurePrep continues to scale and experience new technology changes, and leveraging AWS to its full potential while securing sensitive customer data against insider and outsider threats. As a Private Equity-backed company, SurePrep also wanted a solution that would remain cost competitive, this was a key differentiator that drove the decision to team up with Cloudnexa.

To expedite digital adoption, SurePrep partnered with Cloudnexa, an AWS Partner. Unlike many of the other options that SurePrep considered, Cloudnexa offered a customized engagement as opposed to an a la carte setup. Cloudnexa also committed to a specific cost structure that fit SurePrep’s budget with no surprise fees.

Cloudnexa performed a Well Architected Framework Review (WAFR) for SurePrep. During the review, Cloudnexa leveraged AWS funding to understand SurePrep’s long-term vision for their environment. Cloudnexa then ranked SurePrep’s progress on each of the five pillars that comprise a Well Architected Framework Review- Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency and Cost Optimization.

Next, Cloudnexa generated a list of action items that SurePrep could apply to align their infrastructure with AWS best practices. They also helped uncover immediate opportunities for improvement and long-term ways to optimize SurePrep’s AWS platform use.

The leadership team at SurePrep found that the cost-benefit analysis of working with Cloudnexa was easy to understand. Partnering with Cloudnexa cost a fraction of what it would take to hire a full-time engineer. Furthermore, Cloudnexa provided insights into SurePrep’s resource readiness and outlined how many dedicated roles SurePrep needs to maximize ongoing AWS efficiency. This foresight enabled SurePrep to be budget-conscious while strategically growing the team.

More importantly, the Well-Architected Framework Review addressed all of SurePrep’s needs and sets them up for success as they continue to scale. The WAFR’s action items enabled SurePrep to optimize workloads, making them faster and more cost-effective. And its comprehensive risk assessments and mitigation strategies ensure that SurePrep can continue to offer a secure environment to current and future customers.

By teaming up with Cloudnexa, SurePrep realized an 80% cost savings vs. hiring a full-time employee. When SurePrep hired a full-time senior cloud architect, they had immediate paths for process improvements through a multi-year plan for long term architectural improvement to support growth goals. Cloudnexa’s WAFR helped SurePrep achieve operational excellence, data security, system reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization.