StoreBoost: AWS Well-Architected Framework Review

About StoreBoost

StoreBoost is a proximity and real-time marketing specialist that bridges the world of brand and shopper marketing using automation and data to help solve the biggest problem on the high street today, footfall. The platform helps retailers drive footfall to their physical stores using proximity media in environments such as malls, airports and the high street. The StoreBoost platform uses various datasets to uniquely activate programmatic advertising campaigns giving clients the control to advertise at the optimum moment based on footfall, time of day and other data inputs.

StoreBoost have developed their own software solution, utilising IoT technology to record data at several touchpoints. The platform has been built from the ground up on AWS to embrace the Cloud-native principles and give room to scale in the future.

The Challenge

StoreBoost engaged Devoteam Consulting to make sure their platform aligned with AWS best practice. With a new market entry on the horizon, StoreBoost sought an independent audit of their architecture in order to assess its efficiency, operating cost, and ability to scale to meet the increased future demand.

The Solution

The engagement began with a Well-Architected Review of StoreBoost’s AWS environment.

Taking an in-depth look at the architecture, Devoteam Consulting worked closely with the development team to assess the workload against the 6 pillars of the Well-Architected Framework: Security, Cost Optimisation, Performance Efficiency, Reliability, Operational Excellence and Sustainability.

Using the AWS Well-Architected Tool, Devoteam Consulting produced a written report for StoreBoost, highlighting areas of opportunity for short, medium and long-term improvement, walking through the findings with Greg, Lead Developer at StoreBoost.

Devoteam Consulting then began remediation work, which focused on producing an Infrastructure as Code template to enable the business to quickly and efficiently deploy into new regions. This included a Well-Architected template covering:

• VPC design with subnets and NAT gateway
• Logging and compliance features
• SQS
• Security including GuardDuty
• AWS Backup options

Additionally, Devoteam Consulting helped StoreBoost look into alternative options for Load Balancing and tested using an Application Load Balancer in a dev environment, leading to a more scalable and better performing solution.

The Benefits

Following the Well-Architected Review, StoreBoost were provided with an in-depth report into their solution on AWS, along with practical and actionable advice on how they could further meet AWS best practice. Having a third-party opinion was important to the team. They found the review easy and straightforward, helping them create a goal for a stronger system design.

Along with the take-away insights and actionable recommendations, the work carried out by Devoteam Consulting in the resulting remediation means that StoreBoost now have a more secure solution with added governance features. With a new CloudFormation template created by Devoteam Consulting, StoreBoost are now able to deploy new environments quickly, securely and efficiently, enabling them to scale and expand into new markets when the need arises.