Client background:

Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLB Chicago) is a government-sponsored enterprise that provides secured loans and other support services to about 760 members throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. With over 300 million in revenue in 2019, FHLB Chicago is one of the first financial services companies to migrate to AWS/cloud.

Business challenge: 

Being one of the first financial institutions to go all in on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2015, FHLBC embraced public cloud computing early on. However, as they continued to innovate and leverage more advanced technologies, it was time to take a step back and re-evaluate the security, governance, and cost optimization of their current environment. 

The Baker Tilly approach: 

Baker Tilly worked with FHLBC to perform a comprehensive IT audit focusing on security and highlighting any identified risks. With their IT infrastructure on AWS, there was opportunity to engage the BT team to look beyond the scope of the audit and assess overall performance utilizing the well-architected framework. The framework consists of 5 core pillars including, operational excellence, security, performance efficiency, reliability, and cost optimization. Recognizing that FHLBC was further along in their cloud journey, Baker Tilly adapted the approach to hone in on the areas that would drive the highest value. In doing so, Baker Tilly provided recommendations rooted in best practices but tailored to FHLBC’s current stage of migration. These include the following:

• Successfully stand up a Cloud Center of Excellence using hub and spoke model and implementing policy as code to effectively govern service adoption
• Centrally govern AWS accounts using a multi-account structure to provide transparency in where costs are being incurred and consolidate billing
• Optimize AWS spending by right-sizing EC2 instances based on current capacity needs and assessing the impact of hidden data transfer costs

The business impact:

Through the assessment of current state, identification of high-value areas, and alignment to AWS best practices, Baker Tilly uncovered opportunities for FHLBC to optimize their costs and allow for continued innovation as they scale. As FHLBC outlined their business growth plan, their technical priorities were made clear in how they can improve their AWS environment to meet the innovation needs of the business at the lowest cost.