Propelis Group
Global operations in 30+ countries
Marketing Services
AWS (Amazon EC2, Amazon VPC, AWS IAM, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS Systems Manager), Terraform, infrastructure as code automation, QVDI automation framework
Propelis Group
Global operations in 30+ countries
Marketing Services
AWS (Amazon EC2, Amazon VPC, AWS IAM, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS Systems Manager), Terraform, infrastructure as code automation, QVDI automation framework
Propelis Group, a global marketing services company with more than 5,000 employees, was running across two very different IT worlds, a heavily manual legacy environment and a modern infrastructure as code landscape. The business needed to retire the legacy stack without disrupting day-to-day operations while scaling a new automated operating model. Avahi was engaged to stabilize and load balance legacy operational tickets, define a target state, and implement Terraform-based automation including QVDI automation. Beyond the initial transformation, Avahi continued as a long-term managed services partner, providing 24×7 incident response, recurring operational support, and structured weekly operations cadences to keep the environment stable and continuously improving. The result was a significant reduction in manual provisioning time, at least 100 hours saved per month, and a clear, scalable path from legacy operations to a modern automated AWS environment.
Propelis Group is a global marketing services organization that supports brands across 30+ countries with large-scale campaign execution, data-driven marketing operations, and digital production. With a workforce of more than 5,000 employees, Propelis depends on reliable, scalable, and secure cloud infrastructure to support internal teams and client-facing operations in a fast-moving, always-on industry
Propelis was operating in two parallel IT environments. The legacy environment relied on manual workflows, tribal knowledge, and inconsistent documentation. Provisioning, configuration, and change management often took hours, increased operational risk, and put pressure on support teams. In contrast, the newer environment was built on Terraform and infrastructure as code principles, with a goal of automation, repeatability, and high scalability.
The company wanted to fully retire the legacy environment and move all workloads and processes into the new automated landscape. However, this could not happen in a single cutover. Business-critical systems still ran in the legacy environment, and operational tickets continued to flow into legacy queues every day. Without a structured transition plan and an experienced partner to maintain day-to-day stability, Propelis risked ongoing inefficiencies, rising operational costs, and burnout within support teams.
Propelis needed a partner that could keep the lights on in the legacy environment, reduce ticket load, and at the same time design and implement a scalable modernization framework that moved the organization toward a fully automated, infrastructure as code-driven future, and who could remain embedded as a trusted operational partner for the long haul.
Propelis chose AWS as the foundation for its modern infrastructure because of AWS global reach, maturity, and strong compatibility with infrastructure as code tooling such as Terraform. AWS provided a robust platform for standardizing environments across regions, implementing automated pipelines, and integrating with security, monitoring, and operations tooling.
By standardizing on AWS, Propelis could use consistent patterns for compute, networking, and identity across all environments. This made it easier to codify infrastructure, build reusable modules, and reduce configuration drift, all of which were critical to moving away from manual, ticket-driven provisioning toward automated, pipeline-driven delivery.
Propelis engaged Avahi because of Avahi’s deep experience with AWS, DevOps, and infrastructure as code transformations combined with the ability to operate in complex hybrid states. Avahi was comfortable working within a dual environment model, simultaneously managing day-to-day operational tickets while designing and implementing a modern, automated target state.
Avahi brought a structured discovery approach, expertise in Terraform-based automation, and a strong focus on measurable outcomes such as time saved, staff productivity, and risk reduction. The customer also valued Avahi’s ability to identify and prioritize modernization opportunities so that early wins could be delivered quickly while building toward a sustainable long-term architecture. Equally important was Avahi’s capacity to sustain that momentum through an ongoing managed services relationship — providing the continuous support, monitoring, and operational rhythm that complex global infrastructure demands.
Avahi started by conducting a comprehensive assessment of both the legacy and modern environments. This included discovery of manual workflows, dependencies between systems, and gaps between the current manual operating model and the desired infrastructure as code-based future state. The team documented existing processes, standardized them where possible, and surfaced areas where automation would deliver the fastest impact.
Based on this discovery, Avahi defined a target state architecture that placed AWS at the center, with Terraform used to codify infrastructure and enforce consistent patterns. Standard modules and templates were designed so that repeatable environments could be provisioned quickly and reliably across multiple teams and regions. This target state included clear guidelines for networking, security, monitoring, and QVDI workloads so that future deployments would follow the same automated patterns.
To safeguard business continuity, Avahi implemented a dual-track execution model. One track focused on managing and load balancing operational tickets in the legacy environment so that existing services remained stable. The second track pushed modernization forward by migrating workflows into the Terraform-based environment, refactoring manual processes into code, and building automation pipelines that reduced hands-on effort for the customer teams. Woven throughout both tracks was a structured managed services layer, ensuring that Propelis always had expert support available, not just during the transformation, but as an ongoing operational capability.
That support includes 24×7 incident response, giving Propelis the confidence that critical issues are identified, escalated, and resolved around the clock regardless of geography or time zone. Incidents are triaged against defined SLAs, with Avahi engineers on call to diagnose root causes, coordinate remediation, and communicate status updates to stakeholders, minimizing business impact and preventing operational surprises. This always-on coverage is particularly critical for a global organization running client-facing operations across more than 30 countries.
In addition to incident response, Avahi runs a consistent weekly operational cadence that keeps the environment healthy and continuously improving. Each week, the team performs infrastructure health checks, reviews CloudWatch monitoring and alerting thresholds, evaluates patch and compliance status across managed systems, processes and triages the incoming ticket queue, and conducts a standing operational review with Propelis stakeholders. This recurring rhythm ensures that issues are caught early, priorities stay aligned, and the environment is never left to drift between major project milestones. Cost optimization reviews are also conducted regularly, identifying rightsizing opportunities and unused resources that can be reclaimed as the environment scales.
A key innovation within the engagement was the implementation of QVDI Automation. Previously, spinning up QVDIs took hours of manual work. Avahi built reusable automation modules so that up to 35 QVDIs could be provisioned in minutes. All changes are managed through version-controlled workflows with peer review, which reduces configuration drift and human error while making the process auditable and repeatable, and the Avahi managed services team maintains and continuously improves these modules over time.
Throughout the engagement, Avahi identified six high-impact modernization opportunities where automation, process redesign, and infrastructure as code would deliver immediate and long-term value. These ranged from ticket handling flows to infrastructure provisioning and environment consistency. Each opportunity was cataloged, prioritized, and tied back to concrete business outcomes such as time saved, reduced operational load, or risk reduction.
Underpinning the solution was a modern AWS environment leveraging AWS compute, networking, identity, and monitoring services alongside Terraform-driven infrastructure as code. This gave Propelis a framework for repeatable, automated deployments and a scalable path to fully retire legacy systems over time, backed by an Avahi managed services team that ensures that framework stays healthy, secure, and aligned with the evolving needs of the business.
By partnering with Avahi, Propelis significantly reduced the operational burden of its legacy environment while building a clear, automated path to the future state. Ticket handling became more efficient, manual provisioning steps were removed or greatly reduced, and teams could focus on modernization instead of repetitive maintenance work.
The QVDI Automation and infrastructure as code framework not only saved time but also lowered risk and improved team morale. With consistent, version-controlled automation in place, Propelis reduced human error, avoided configuration drift, and created a scalable foundation that supports ongoing growth across 30+ countries.
The ongoing managed services relationship with Avahi extends that impact well beyond the initial engagement. With 24×7 incident response in place, Propelis operates with the confidence that its global infrastructure is monitored and supported around the clock. The structured weekly operational cadence means that the environment stays healthy between major milestones, issues are surfaced and resolved proactively, and Propelis stakeholders always have clear visibility into the state of their infrastructure. Together, the transformation work and the continuous managed services model give Propelis not just a better environment, but a better way to run it.
Let’s explore your high-impact AI opportunities together in a complimentary session
Let’s explore your high-impact AI opportunities together in a complimentary session
Let’s explore your high-impact AI opportunities together in a complimentary half-day session
