About the Client

Sally Ann Creed is a prominent South African wellness and nutrition brand, offering a wide range of health supplements and wellness products. The company operates a dynamic e-commerce platform, serving thousands of health-conscious consumers with a commitment to quality, customer service, and innovation. Known for their emphasis on trusted products and education, Sally Ann Creed has built a loyal customer base both locally and internationally.

Client Challenge

As the demand for their products grew, Sally Ann Creed faced significant challenges in managing their AWS infrastructure, which hosted their online store and supporting systems. The primary issues were centered around operational inefficiencies and security risks:

• Manual, inconsistent patch management of production and development EC2 instances was time-consuming and increased the risk of security vulnerabilities.
• The reliance on traditional SSH for instance access created security risks and operational delays, especially during urgent troubleshooting.
• Manual execution of routine administrative tasks on each instance led to inconsistent command execution, higher risk of human error, and slower operations.

If not addressed, these challenges risked undermining the company’s ability to deliver a seamless customer experience and to scale their operations securely.

Partner Solution

Leveraging AWS Systems Manager best practices, the solution focused on securing, automating, and optimizing Sally Ann Creed’s AWS environment.

Key components included:

• Session Manager replaced SSH for secure, auditable administrative access without opening inbound ports.
• Patch Manager automated OS-level patching during defined maintenance windows, reducing manual effort and patch deployment times.
• Run Command standardized operational tasks across EC2 instances, improving task execution speed and consistency.
• Fleet Manager provided a consolidated view and management capabilities across the instance fleet.
• Inventory and Compliance were used to track patch status, configuration drift, and ensure operational visibility across environments.

All operations were secured with VPC endpoints, logged with AWS CloudTrail, and monitored through Amazon CloudWatch, ensuring governance, transparency, and resilience.

Results and Benefits

The implementation of AWS Systems Manager transformed the way Sally Ann Creed managed their AWS infrastructure:

• Security was significantly enhanced through the removal of SSH access and the introduction of secure, auditable remote sessions.
• Operational efficiency improved by 60%, as automation reduced the need for manual patching and maintenance.
• Patch compliance reached 100%, with all instances consistently up to date within defined maintenance windows.
• Routine administrative tasks that previously took hours were completed in minutes using Run Command.
• The IT team gained real-time visibility into system health and compliance, enabling proactive management and quicker resolution of issues.

With these improvements, Sally Ann Creed was able to focus more on delivering high-quality products and services to their customers, confident that their AWS environment was secure, compliant, and optimized for growth.

About the Partner

Dudobi is a forward-thinking technology solutions provider specialising in cloud-based solutions for businesses across various industries. With expertise in AWS services, Dudobi helps clients automate and optimise their infrastructure and workflows, delivering scalable, secure, and cost-efficient solutions. Our team of AWS-certified experts works closely with clients to drive innovation and improve operational efficiency, empowering them to achieve their business goals and improve customer experiences.