Merrill Corporation

Challenges

• Virtual machines were configured in an inconsistent manner and were unmanageable
• Needed to migrate critical workloads to the cloud, including application services, networking, security and storage
• The process for deploying Microsoft Azure subscriptions was slow and inefficient

Results

• Deployed infrastructure in a quicker and consistent manner, which allowed the team to focus on larger business objectives
• Expanded the business worldwide by building virtual data centers in Azure across the globe
• Launched a new solution that satisfied varying expectations between customers, developers and executives

Quickly Deploying Infrastructure to Focus on Larger Business Objectives

Merrill Corporation provides technology-enabled platforms for secure content sharing, regulated communications and disclosure services. The company did not have a consistent way to deploy infrastructure, which made maintaining virtual machines in multiple data centers across the globe challenging. This consumed a ton of resources, leaving Merrill Corporation with limited time to focus on larger business objectives and improving customer experiences.

With Puppet Enterprise, Merrill Corporation transformed its organization by adopting a consistent, repeatable way to configure and manage infrastructure, leveraging the benefits of infrastructure as code. “Puppet allowed us to ensure our current systems are configured correctly and easily see all configurations at a glance with a clearer view,” said Richard Lawson, cloud services engineer at Merrill Corporation.

After implementing Puppet Enterprise, Merrill Corporation saw an increase in efficiency, allowing more room to focus on larger business objectives. “With Puppet, we moved past the day-to-day emergencies and can now focus more on the other aspects of our jobs including planning, optimization and new technology evaluation,” said Lawson.

Building Cloud Infrastructure in Microsoft Azure

Merrill Corporation was rapidly expanding its business and building cloud infrastructure in Microsoft Azure all around the world. The challenge was that the company deployed new Azure subscriptions in an unwieldy and inconsistent manner. As a result, Merrill Corporation dealt with unmanageable subscriptions that became costly and difficult to resolve.

Puppet Enterprise allowed Merrill Corporation to design and deploy new Azure subscriptions in a quick and efficient manner. “Using Puppet, we can now hit the ground running when setting up a new environment,” said Lawson.

Merrill Corporation also used the Microsoft Azure module on the Puppet Forge to manage resource groups, network security groups, networks, storage accounts and app services. “The module made managing different Azure services a lot easier than before,” said Lawson. “Puppet helped streamline the process and make it less manual, preserving resources for our company.”

“The Microsoft Azure module found on Puppet Forge made managing different Azure services a lot easier than before. Puppet helped streamline the process and make it less manual, preserving resources for our company.”

Richard Lawson, cloud services engineer at Merrill Corporation

Successfully launching DatasiteOne with speed and agility

Merrill Corporation launched DatasiteOne app, a secure document sharing and collaboration tool used by companies that undergo mergers and acquisitions. The team maintaining the infrastructure for the product felt pressure from different directions: developers needed a stable yet flexible environment on which to develop; customers required good and consistent performance; and executives expected the team to anticipate and solve problems before any issues escalated.

With the help of Puppet Enterprise, Merrill Corporation quickly set up and deployed DatasiteOne in a timely and efficient manner. “Since we launched DatasiteOne in March 2018, it has been so wildly successful that we left our competitors in the dust,” said Lawson. “Puppet played a big part in bringing that new product forward.”

Top outcomes from using Puppet

• Deployed infrastructure quickly and consistently with minimal error
• Expanded Merrill Corporation’s business worldwide and helped launch cloud environments in Azure across the globe
• Launched DatasiteOne with speed, agility and praise from customers and internal stakeholders

With Puppet, we moved past the day-to-day emergencies and can now focus more on the other aspects of our jobs including planning, optimization and new technology evaluation.

Richard Lawson, cloud services engineer at Merrill Corporation

See for yourself what Puppet Enterprise can do for you.

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