A prominent pharmaceutical company partnered with Airo to tackle a significant challenge: modernizing their outdated demo portal to improve operational efficiency, enhance security, and deliver a superior user experience. This portal was crucial for sales representatives and business partners, as it allowed them to book and manage demo resources showcasing product capabilities to potential customers. However, the existing system was plagued with inefficiencies and security risks, necessitating a comprehensive overhaul.

• Outdated Technology Stack: The client’s demo portal was built on an antiquated technology stack, operating within a non-standard production environment. This not only made the system difficult to maintain but also hindered its scalability and performance.
• Labor-Intensive User Management: The process of adding users to the portal was manual, requiring significant administrative effort and time. This method was prone to errors and inefficiencies, leading to potential delays and operational bottlenecks.
• Inadequate Content Management: The portal lacked a streamlined content management system, causing difficulties for sales representatives who needed accurate, up-to-date information to effectively engage with potential clients. This often led to incomplete or outdated data being presented during demos.
• Weak Access Controls: The legacy system had insufficient Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), resulting in unauthorized access to sensitive information. This posed a serious security risk and compromised the integrity of the portal.
• Complex Lab Management: The process of booking lab servers for demos was cumbersome and inefficient. Multiple users could not access the lab servers simultaneously without pre-booking their slots, causing delays and potentially losing leads due to scheduling conflicts.

Goals

Airo aimed to achieve several key objectives through this project:

1. Application Modernization: Transition the demo portal to a microservices architecture, ensuring better scalability, flexibility, and maintainability.
2. Accelerated Service Deployment: Enable faster deployment cycles to support future growth and minimize downtime.
3. Enhanced User and Access Management: Integrate Single Sign-On (SSO) and LDAP to streamline user management and improve security.
4. Real-Time User Communication: Implement systems to facilitate instant communication between users and administrators, enhancing overall responsiveness.
5. Continuous Integration and Deployment: Establish robust CI/CD pipelines to ensure seamless updates and continuous improvements.

To address the challenges and achieve the set goals, Airo implemented a multifaceted approach:

• Comprehensive Technology Upgrade: The portal’s technology stack was upgraded to Java Microservices and React, with microservices deployed in Kubernetes pods. This modern infrastructure provided the foundation for improved scalability and performance.
• SSO and LDAP Integration: SSO was integrated to simplify user logins and manage Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) access, reducing the burden of manual user management. LDAP was also integrated to enhance demo resource management.
• Automated Resource Scheduling: Implemented a system for automated resource assignment during demos, preventing scheduling conflicts and ensuring dedicated environments for each session. This automation eliminated the risk of double-booking and optimized resource utilization.
• Enhanced Access Controls: Developed a granular RBAC system at the application level, providing fine-grained control over user access and actions. This enhanced security and ensured that sensitive information was accessible only to authorized users.
• Real-Time Notifications and Alerts: Deployed a notification system using Kafka to deliver real-time email and push notifications. This kept users informed about their demo sessions and system updates, improving overall communication and responsiveness.
• Robust CI/CD Pipelines: Built comprehensive CI/CD pipelines to automate the deployment process. This ensured minimal downtime during updates and allowed for continuous integration and delivery of new features and improvements.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Utilized Firebase for analytics and reporting, providing detailed insights into system usage and performance. This improved decision-making and reduced reporting time by one day.

The modernization efforts led to remarkable improvements:

• Significant Reduction in Provisioning Time: The demo provisioning timeframe was reduced from four hours to just 15 minutes, dramatically increasing operational efficiency and enabling quicker turnaround times for demo setups.
• 24/7 Global Availability: The cloud-native design ensured the system was accessible around the clock, globally. This enhanced user convenience and system reliability, supporting the client’s international operations.
• Dynamic User Management: The system now dynamically manages 3,000 active users, eliminating the need for manual processes and significantly reducing administrative workload.
• Faster and More Accurate Reporting: Reporting time was cut by one day, providing quicker access to critical data and enabling more timely decision-making.
• Elastic and Cost-Effective Infrastructure: The containerized architecture optimized resource utilization, balancing availability and cost, and ensuring the system could scale efficiently with demand.

Airo’s cloud modernization solution for the pharmaceutical industry not only addressed the client’s immediate challenges but also positioned them for sustained growth and success. By adopting a cloud-native approach and integrating advanced technologies, Airo delivered a robust, scalable, and efficient system that meets the evolving needs of the client and their users. This project highlights Airo’s commitment to excellence and innovation in cloud services, demonstrating their ability to transform complex legacy systems into modern, high-performing solutions.