Perpetual simplifies dynamic image optimization using solutions on AWS

Founded in 2012, Perpetual is a cross-functional user experience, product design, and software development company. The company has a wide-ranging portfolio of clients—including media corporations, financial services, universities, nonprofits, and startups—and has been using Solutions on AWS for the past 10 years. Perpetual values the flexibility and ease of use of these solutions, as well as the robust documentation and support available for the implementation of different services.

When faced with its sports startup client’s image management challenge, Perpetual researched several tools. The client’s main hurdle was working with proprietary images for its coaching portal. Some of these images needed to be edited due to irrelevant information or branding issues, but because they were proprietary, the client could not host them externally. As a result, the client found itself in a laborious cycle: downloading images, performing manual updates like cropping and resizing, storing the same image in multiple formats and sizes, and then uploading them. The client needed a dynamic image manipulation tool to streamline this process so that the images could be made available for use in its portal with minimal effort.

A lower-cost option than externally hosted tools, Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront has the added benefit of helping the client achieve its compliance goals for proprietary images. This AWS Solution ensured 100% audit traceability and zero compliance violations, making it easier for the client to meet its regulatory requirements. For a startup like Perpetual’s client, using Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront made the most sense as it offered an affordable pricing structure, with the flexibility to grow with the client as it expanded its launch campaigns into new markets. By reducing costs, the client was able to save up to 30% in staff hours dedicated to image management and 40% in infrastructure and storage costs.

The architecture of this solution combines AWS Services with sharp’s open-source image processing software and provides image handling that maintains high-quality images on web and mobile. “Dynamic Image Transformation on Amazon CloudFront offered security and scalability,” says Yash Mestry, DevOps & Security Engineer at Perpetual. Additionally, it was quick for Perpetual to implement. “This was a faster turnaround that essentially cut the client’s image management lead time by 50 percent,” says Mestry.

 

The setup, supported by a straightforward AWS CloudFormation template, was seamless for Perpetual’s client, which was able to begin testing within days. The solution was fully implemented within 8 weeks, with more than 90 percent adoption within the first month. The efficiency and ease of use provided by Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront were key requirements for the client, as its complex campaigns featured at least 50 images each. “Without this solution, it would have taken the client at least 3 months to launch six campaigns. But because of the automation and the ease of image editing gained by using Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront, the launch of six campaigns was accomplished in 6 weeks,” says Vishal Gandhi, managing partner at Perpetual. For the fast-growing sports startup client, quickly implementing multiple campaigns was central to growth. Perpetual’s implementation of the AWS Solution helped the client meet its goal of launching all six campaigns during its first year as it expanded into new states.

 

Another benefit gained from the client’s use of Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront was that the client no longer needed to externally host data in different systems. The client had started out using another system to set up the portal, but after discussions with Perpetual, the client realized that using the AWS tool kit offered the most flexibility. The solution uses AWS Services such as Amazon CloudFront, a content delivery network service built for high performance, security, and developer convenience for the distribution of the images. For storage buckets, it uses Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), an object storage service offering industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.

Perpetual envisions long-term benefits from implementing this AWS Solution. “We’ve gained familiarity with Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront,” says Mestry. “Now, we have the ability to implement a similar solution for future clients and projects where it makes sense. Anytime that we can do that, it’s valuable for us, because we’re able to work more quickly and more efficiently to implement those solutions for clients.” And Perpetual’s clients benefit from these additional solutions. “It’s a much more cohesive solution that’s been vetted by our team,” Gandhi says. “It increases confidence and also helps us accelerate our implementation and architecture planning.”

As Perpetual continues to expand and develop its client base, the company is happy to add to its AWS resources. “Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront has proven it can scale globally while keeping availability high and image delivery efficient,” says Gandhi. “For us, it’s been a complete solution for handling image optimization and delivery.”