TokioMarineKiln (TMK), an international insurer operating in the Lloyd’s insurance market, engaged Digital Endeavours as part of a digital transformation programme to modernise their AWS claims management platform ahead of upcoming software end-of-life dates.
The project objective was to rebuild the infrastructure using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and automated deployment processes, implementing current AWS best practices to improve operational efficiency and position the business for future scalability.
Digital Endeavours delivered IaC through automated GitLab pipelines, implementing the architectural design with built-in validation and testing. Implementation decisions were handled autonomously, with architectural consultation on larger technical choices. High availability and resilience were assessed throughout, ensuring the platform met business-critical requirements.
The infrastructure utilised EC2-based clustered SQL Server for the database tier, with RDS supporting rapid development iteration. The application tier deployed on Auto Scaling Groups implementing immutable infrastructure principles - servers were replaced rather than patched, ensuring consistency across deployments. Scheduled scaling aligned infrastructure availability with business operating hours, optimising costs whilst maintaining service levels. Application configuration, including certificate management through JBOSS CLI, was automated within the deployment process.
During the upgrade process, troubleshooting complex application failures required analysing multi-component stack traces across large log files. AI-assisted analysis reduced root cause identification from hours of manual searching to minutes, accelerating problem resolution throughout the migration.
The application upgrade required database schema updates to maintain compatibility. Automated deployment processes ensured schema changes were applied consistently across all environments, eliminating manual intervention and preventing configuration drift.
The application required secure management of database and application credentials. HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager provided centralised secret management with automated rotation, eliminating hardcoded credentials and reducing security exposure.
Post-deployment support required BAU team handover, and the automated deployment approach represented a process enhancement for the wider business. Comprehensive documentation of operational procedures and deployment workflows enabled the client’s teams to maintain the platform independently and replicate the deployment approach across other projects.
Key Technologies
CI/CD & IaC: GitLab CI, Terraform, Ansible
Infrastructure: AWS (EC2, Auto Scaling Groups, RDS, Secrets Manager)
Security: HashiCorp Vault, OpenSSL
Application Platform: JBOSS, SQL Server
