A Bold Transformation: Al Wathba Insurance’s Successful AWS Migration
Bespin Global’s Drive Towards Future Readiness
A Bold Transformation: Al Wathba Insurance’s Successful AWS Migration
REGION
United Arab Emirates
COMPANY TYPE
Insurance Provider
INDUSTRY
Insurance
CLOUD SOLUTION
Bespin team took the lead in handling every aspect of the migration with absolute precision, with a comprehensive focus on infrastructure mapping, cost optimization, and stringent security implementations. This comprehensive approach ensured that each phase was managed smoothly and professionally, giving us confidence throughout the process
THE CUSTOMER
Al Wathba Insurance, a frontrunner in the insurance industry, is celebrated for its comprehensive insurance plans, exceptional customer experience, advanced digital systems and a robust IT infrastructure. Known for its customer-first approach, Al Wathba Insurance offers innovative solutions that cater to the evolving needs of individuals and businesses alike. Through seamless processes, robust coverage options, and a commitment to excellence, Al Wathba Insurance has built a reputation for reliability and trust. Its focus on delivering a superior, hassle-free experience has solidified its position as a preferred choice in the market, continuously setting benchmarks for quality and service.
THE CHALLENGE
When Al Wathba Insurance decided to move from on premise to cloud, they faced a monumental challenge. “We had to migrate multiple applications, legacy systems and database servers within just 100 days,” says Muralikrishnan R., CFO at Al Wathba Insurance. “The timeline was tight, so everything had to be planned down to the last detail to avoid any disruption to our operations.”
One of the most pressing challenges was ensuring minimal downtime during the migration. “For an insurance company, even a few hours of downtime could cause significant customer dissatisfaction and financial losses,” Muralikrishnan adds. Additionally, the company had to comply with strict regulations, including implementing a backup and disaster recovery solution with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of just 15 minutes.
“Some of our critical applications also needed to retain their IP addresses, which made the process even more complex,” he explains. With UAE data locality laws in place, certain data had to remain within the country, which further complicated the migration. “Choosing the right cloud platform wasn’t just about this project—it was about securing our operations, scalability, and long-term success,” says Muralikrishnan.
THE SOLUTION
After careful consideration, Al Wathba Insurance chose to partner with Bespin Global, an e& enterprise company, to navigate this complex migration. Multiple public clouds were evaluated but, in the end, AWS was selected, owing to its extensive range of services, global reach, and proven reliability. The partnership with Bespin Global ensured that the migration would be handled by experts who understood the intricacies of both AWS and the unique needs of Al Wathba Insurance.
Transitioning using the Right Strategy
“We kicked off the migration with a thorough assessment under AWS’s Migration Acceleration Program (MAP). Utilizing the Cloudamize tool, we mapped Al Wathba Insurance’s existing infrastructure to AWS configurations, giving us crucial insights into the current environment. This allowed us to anticipate potential challenges and calculate the costs of the cloud migration accurately,” says Alexander Franzhiya, AWS Solutions Lead at Bespin Global.
“Our strategy was clear from the beginning—adopt a lift-and-shift approach for the application servers to expedite the migration process and reduce the complexity. For the large databases critical to their operations, we migrated them to Amazon RDS, a managed database service, ensuring reliability and freeing Al Wathba Insurance from the burden of maintaining them. We even upgraded their Oracle database, conducting comprehensive testing before the final transition,” adds Franzhiya.
With meticulous planning and a strong strategy in place, Bespin’s team was able to navigate the migration efficiently, keeping Al Wathba Insurance’s services running smoothly without disruptions.
Seamless Transition in Waves
“The execution phase of the migration is where planning turns into reality,” states Franzhiya, emphasizing how careful preparation ensures success. Bespin Global began by setting up a multi-account scalable and secure Landing Zone, crucial for smooth operations. By incorporating 3rd-party perimeter firewalls, they established a site-to-site VPN connection, allowing secure data replication between the data center and AWS. Once the AWS MGN agent was installed across the servers, synchronization between the on-premises infrastructure and AWS ensured data was up to date for migration.
Using communication reports generated by the Cloudamize tool, Bespin Global identified the interdependencies between various applications and used this information to split and plan the migration in multiple waves, ensuring they started with the less critical workloads. Applications with dependencies were moved together, and workloads requiring static IP addresses were handled with special care. This minimized disruption and ensured smooth migration.
Strategic Support Beyond Migration
As Franzhiya highlights, “Ensuring continuity post-migration is essential.” Bespin established an agreement that after each production wave, the Managed Services team would take over, providing support beyond regular hours and on weekends. Before the first production wave, an onboarding session was held to onboard them to Bespin Global Managed Services.
Cutovers for production servers were scheduled during 4–8-hour windows on Saturdays to minimize the impact on daily business operations. For every wave transitioned to Managed Services, standard procedures such as health checks, monitoring tool implementations, and thorough documentation were completed. Additionally, risk assessments, training sessions, and resource inclusion in the CMDB ensured everything was operating smoothly.
Ensuring Resiliency, Elevating Security
To enhance application resilience, AWS Application Load Balancers (ALB) were deployed to distribute traffic across multiple availability zones, reducing downtime risks. “High availability is paramount to business continuity,” adds Franzhiya. AWS Backup was used for compliance, backing up servers, and RDS instances. For disaster recovery, AWS DRS was configured, providing an RPO of 10 minutes or less for critical data recovery in case of incidents.
Security was also a top priority, with Bespin Global deploying Fortinet firewalls to manage internal and external traffic. Additionally, AWS security services such as AWS SecurityHub, AWS Secrets Manager, and AWS Config were used to ensure comprehensive security monitoring, management, and compliance, safeguarding the entire infrastructure during and after the migration process.
RESULTS & BENEFITS
“The success of Al Wathba Insurance’s migration hinged on meticulous planning and flawless execution,” says Franzhiya, highlighting the importance of careful coordination. The entire process was completed within a tight three-month timeframe, with minimal downtime and extensive testing conducted to ensure all applications functioned correctly. Franzhiya notes, “Our approach ensured that Al Wathba could continue to deliver exceptional service to its customers, even during the transition.”
Partnership with Bespin Global: A Strategic Advantage
Partnering with Bespin Global proved invaluable for Al Wathba Insurance. “As an AWS Premier Partner, Bespin Global brought unparalleled expertise and experience to the project,” Muralikrishnan emphasizes. “Bespin team took the lead in handling every aspect of the migration with absolute precision,” he notes, highlighting the comprehensive focus on infrastructure mapping, cost optimization, and stringent security implementations. “Their comprehensive approach ensured that each phase was managed smoothly and professionally, giving us confidence throughout the entire process.”
Future-Ready with AWS Benefits
Moving to AWS provided Al Wathba Insurance with several key benefits. The scalability of AWS allows the company to easily expand its infrastructure as its business grows, without the need for significant capital investment. The cost efficiency of AWS was also a major advantage, as the company was able to optimize its resource usage and reduce its overall IT expenses. Furthermore, the enhanced security provided by AWS services, along with the robust disaster recovery setup, ensures that Al Wathba Insurance’s data is protected and that the company is well-prepared to handle any potential disruptions.
Having Bespin’s dedicated managed services team with extensive experience in cloud environments to manage the migrated workloads ensured optimization for performance, cost, and security. This proactive monitoring and maintenance minimized downtime and improved performance, enabling Al Wathba to concentrate on their core business rather than IT management.
This all-encompassing support not only mitigated operational risks but also enhanced cost efficiency by optimizing cloud usage and avoiding unnecessary expenses, ultimately fostering greater business agility and innovation.
In conclusion, the successful migration of Al Wathba Insurance’s infrastructure to AWS not only met the immediate challenge of relocating to a new headquarters but also positioned the company for future growth and innovation. The careful planning, expert execution, and strategic partnership with Bespin Global ensured that the migration was a success, delivering significant benefits to Al Wathba Insurance and its customers.
About Bespin Global, an e& enterprise company:
Bespin Global established a joint venture with & enterprise, making it the largest public cloud managed and professional service provider in the Middle East. We serve as your strategic ally in the digital landscape, adeptly navigating complexities and unlocking opportunities with precision and foresight.
Our services encompass cloud migration, integration, and management, empowering businesses to scale efficiently and adapt dynamically in an ever-evolving market.
Bespin delivers the tools, expertise, and support needed to ensure a sustained future.
Bespin is committed to elevating the clients’ technological capabilities, emphasizing continuous improvement and proactive engagement. Our holistic, customer-centric approach ensures that every solution not only meets but exceeds expectations.
Bespin forges lasting partnerships and creates enduring value. It is the go-to partner for expert cloud integration and strategic guidance.
Address: The Offices 4, #138-139, One Central, Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC)
Telephone: 800 BESPIN (237746)
P.O. Box: 340729
