How Nikko Asset Management NZ drove seamless customer experiences with cloud

Powering up AWS

More than simply bedding in base infrastructure and platform-as-a-service capabilities for its website, Nikko AM required platform design to support continuous software deployment for new functions and fast fixes, delineated roles for software releases, and a robust security wrap to protect its AWS environment.

“We might be a small autonomous business in New Zealand, but we have a large Japanese parent. Governance is very important to us and our owners, so we’ve got to be confident of our capability. CCL’s practices and policies are their great strength,” said James Rogers, Chief Operating Officer, Nikko AM NZ.

Getting down to work, CCL’s public cloud experts – the core of a service called CloudCreator – architected AWS elastic container services (ECS) and AWS code pipeline to deploy underlying virtual machines.

Containerisation accelerates application redeployment, making short work of planned changes, and cushioning the potential impacts of unplanned incidents. Code pipeline automation and task allocation streamlines software development and release. In Nikko AM’s case, the approach delineates roles in the process, with application developers owning release deployments up to and including UAT, and CCL’s experts taking over once Nikko AM’s team is satisfied the release is ready for production.

As a financial services provider, Nikko AM applies heavy-duty security to its AWS environment. CCL’s experts designed and implemented multiple layers of security to meet Nikko AM’s global standards.

Keep the cloud engine humming

With a local IT team of one, and making no claims about public cloud expertise, Nikko AM uses CCL’s team to run its AWS cloud platform.

“Doing things right in the cloud is harder than it looks. We don’t pretend to have the expertise. Using local experts means you get specialist knowledge and expertise to get everything right and stay on top of new AWS functions and services,” said Rogers.

CCL provides service desk and support, billing, and ongoing management of Nikko AM’s AWS services. In the background, automated monitoring systems sniff out performance variabilities, alerting CCL’s experts and directing remedial action. Ongoing consultancy services ensure Nikko AM gets the best from AWS’s evolving capabilities.

CCL provides:

• 24/7 OS level monitoring and support, including CloudWatch security, patching, and backups
• AWS services optimisation
• Reports covering service performance and recommended activity to address looming capacity bottlenecks, service degradation, and security issues
• Road-mapping future services
• Billing individual AWS services