BMC Launches SaaS BMC Helix Control-M on AWS Using AWS Well-Architected Framework

Counting 84 percent of the Forbes Global 100 among its clients, BMC Software (BMC) delivers innovative solutions to common enterprise problems. BMC’s on-premises Control-M solution integrates, automates, and orchestrates application and data workflows and has successfully served clients for decades. However, BMC recognized that its customers’ migrations to the cloud and growing preferences for software-as-a-service (SaaS) architectures created an opportunity to better meet its clients’ needs and expand its reach.

Seeking to build a SaaS version of Control-M, the company turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for guidance and discovered the AWS Well-Architected Framework, which helps organizations build secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructures for their applications and workloads. With the help of AllCloud, an AWS Premier Consulting Partner, BMC applied AWS Well-Architected Framework best practices to build BMC Helix Control-M.

Founded in 1980, BMC delivers software solutions to more than 10,000 customers. Its Control-M solution makes it simple to build, define, schedule, manage, and monitor production workflows. The solution serves global companies in multiple industries, including financial services, retail, manufacturing, energy, and telecommunications. “Control-M helps central application and data processes work in an automated and efficient way while staying in compliance with applicable regulations,” says Gur Steif, president of digital business automation at BMC.

BMC’s customers report high satisfaction with Control-M, which has seen high retention rates because of its continued development to meet evolving customer needs. Control-M has long supported cloud architectures, enabling customers to run workloads in the cloud and on premises. In 2017, BMC enabled Control-M to run on a cloud-native infrastructure. However, BMC’s customers sought even greater flexibility—which a SaaS solution could provide. In response to this feedback, BMC built BMC Helix Control-M using SaaS architecture, launching the solution in December 2020.

Because BMC is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner and has been a member of the AWS Partner Network since 2013, it already had experience building on the cloud. After decades in the application workflow orchestration business, the company took a thoughtful approach to developing its SaaS offering. “Developing this solution wasn’t just about writing code,” says Steif. “We needed to make sure that the product had the right architecture so that we could deliver the reliability, performance, and resiliency our customers expect.”

After evaluating potential vendors, BMC chose AWS because of the breadth and depth of AWS services and the trust BMC had developed while receiving support from the AWS Enterprise Support team, a concierge-like service that provides 24/7 technical support. Knowing that BMC’s Control-M development team was in Tel Aviv, the AWS team introduced BMC to AllCloud—an Israel-based company that helps build solutions on top of AWS services—to further support the project. As the development teams sought to understand the necessary requirements to build and maintain a secure, reliable SaaS solution, BMC and AllCloud used the best practices of the AWS Well-Architected Framework to review the system architecture and document any risks found in workloads and applications. With the support of AllCloud, BMC developed BMC Helix Control-M as an agile, scalable, and highly available SaaS solution with the deep enterprise-level operation and production capabilities that BMC’s customers expect.

BMC and AllCloud relied heavily on the AWS Well-Architected Framework while developing the BMC Helix Control-M solution. AllCloud, which is a member of the AWS Well-Architected Partner Program, analyzed each component of the BMC Helix Control-M architecture so that it would comply with the five pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization. This practice aided BMC in creating an architecture consistent with those pillars. “The expertise of the AllCloud team was very beneficial to the development process,” says Steif. “The AllCloud team not only helped us build a strong architecture from the beginning but also helped us identify the roadblocks we might run into in future development and create plans to address them.”

BMC and AllCloud built BMC Helix Control-M using Amazon Aurora, a MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud. The companies also used additional AWS services including Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK), a fully managed service that makes it simple to build and run applications that use Apache Kafka to process streaming data, and Amazon Cognito, a tool that provides user sign-up, sign-in, and access control to web and mobile apps. BMC also participated in the AWS SaaS Factory Program, which provides direct access to technical and business content, best practices, solutions architects, and SaaS experts to guide and accelerate the delivery of SaaS solutions on AWS. “Using the design and architectural principles we learned, we created an innovative solution that would truly delight our customers,” says Steif.

With increased SaaS skills and a well-developed architecture that uses the best practices of the AWS Well-Architected Framework, BMC can now expand its business to include new customers and departments. “On AWS, we can reach a bigger market because we’re able to deliver our solutions in ways that better match our customers’ preferences,” says Steif. “We can now sell to additional business units that prefer a SaaS consumption model versus a traditional on-premises solution, even if the company is already an existing Control-M customer.”

BMC customers can derive value from BMC Helix Control-M immediately and experience significant implementation time savings compared to the on-premises solution. Within the first 4 months of BMC Helix Control-M’s release, new and existing BMC customers reported overwhelmingly positive feedback, resulting in high demand for the product. “We needed a solution that solves business challenges, delivers value, and offers a delightful customer experience,” says Steif. “Taking the strengths that we’ve developed with Control-M, the principles from the AWS SaaS Factory Program, and the lessons from building an AWS Well-Architected solution, we have the best of all worlds and have created something our customers truly appreciate.”

Using a SaaS solution built with the best practices of the AWS Well-Architected Framework, BMC is driving growth in new areas of business and facilitating its customers’ digital transformations. BMC exceeded its internal goals for BMC Helix Control-M through the support of the AWS team. “Doing things right takes time,” says Steif. “Making sure that you’re getting the right architecture from the start is important to delivering the project on time and at the level of reliability, scalability, and performance that our customers need.”