Ipsos is an innovative, client-centric organization that provides research services to clients worldwide. Ipsos's professional services are delivered through five globally recognized brands across all major markets:
Ipsos Connect — Media and brand expression research specialists
Ipsos Marketing — Innovation and brand strategy specialists
Ipsos Public Affairs — Social research and corporate reputation specialists
Ipsos Loyalty — Customer and employee research specialists
Ipsos Observer — Survey management, data collection and delivery specialists
Challenges
Ipsos has significant business growth potential in China. To enhance the experience for Chinese clients, deploying Ipsos's international platforms directly in the China region was the most effective approach. The challenge was determining which solution could achieve this goal quickly and efficiently.
Another challenge was how to provide efficient operations for the Ipsos China regional sites once they were established.
Why AWS
Ipsos has built business systems on AWS or GCP public cloud platforms in Europe and the Americas. Since AWS currently offers public cloud services in China while GCP has not yet launched public cloud services there, deploying AWS Global business systems directly to the AWS China region — or migrating GCP business systems to AWS China — is undoubtedly one of the preferred approaches for achieving low cost and high efficiency in both technical architecture and business management. After in-depth discussions with AWS Partner UltraPower, Ipsos recognized UltraPower's technical capabilities and ultimately decided to use the AWS China region to build its business systems in China.
MSP Service Solution
UltraPower recommended deploying Ipsos's multiple project sites in the AWS Ningxia region. After fully understanding client requirements, UltraPower provided comprehensive network planning and system architecture design for the entire Ipsos China business system. Recommendations included high-availability infrastructure, managed databases, CI/CD continuous integration, automated deployment, and various other solutions to help Ipsos rapidly launch its business systems in the AWS China Ningxia region.
After the Ipsos China business systems went live, UltraPower continued to provide MSP managed services. Service scope includes:
Linux operating system service support
Windows operating system service support
Database and common middleware service support
Cloud high-availability services, focusing on AWS China region Availability Zone (AZ) resources, using ELB, managed services, clustering, Auto Scaling and other best practices to optimize high-availability environments
Cloud security services, establishing security baselines; monitoring and periodic auditing of IAM user information, security group configurations, log auditing, S3 access control policies, and user access logs based on SecurityHub
Monitoring and backup services, checking alert conditions, load levels, and health status of cloud resources. Analyzing business scenarios and historical incidents from a monitoring perspective, combined with AWS operational best practices, to provide effective monitoring recommendations; defining backup strategies as needed, and conducting regular recovery drills
Cost optimization services, analyzing monthly cloud resource costs, and providing cost optimization recommendations for RI purchases, instance optimization, disk/EIP/traffic, and other areas
Monthly service level reports, regularly collecting and summarizing operational data, and submitting service level reports to users
Ipsos established 3 business systems in the China region, including: Harmoni, Askia, and PanelOne. Each business system uses an independent AWS account. To meet service level commitments, UltraPower built the necessary monitoring centers for each business system.
UltraPower leveraged multiple AWS products and development services to implement monitoring requirements for the business systems. This includes: monitoring EC2 status, CPU/memory/disk utilization through AWS CloudWatch; custom development via SSM for Windows service status monitoring; developing Lambda functions to monitor web service availability; and sending alert emails through AWS SNS. Below is the monitoring architecture for Harmoni.
Harmoni Monitoring Architecture
Results
With support from AWS Partner UltraPower, Ipsos established business systems serving Chinese clients in the AWS China Ningxia region. By introducing the technical architecture from European and American regional business platforms, unified technical architecture was achieved between the Global region and China region, reducing the costs and risks associated with maintaining multiple technical architectures for business system development and operations. Ipsos achieved multiple results in both business and technology in China:
Established Ipsos business systems in the China Ningxia region, achieving business operations and IT cost control and optimization.
Improved the timeliness of data processing and analysis for Ipsos China clients, making data an important engine driving business growth.
Provided high-quality 7×24 operations services through MSP services, addressing the shortage of personnel with AWS operational experience in the Ipsos China region.
Monthly AWS operational service levels consistently met targets (above 99.9%), providing effective operational support to clients.
Looking ahead, as Ipsos's business in China grows, the scalability and powerful technical capabilities of the AWS platform will continue to deliver superior services for Ipsos.
About UltraPower
Beijing UltraPower Software Co., Ltd. (referred to as "UltraPower") was established in 2001 and is among the first batch of companies listed on China's ChiNext board (stock code: 300002). UltraPower has long adhered to its core values of "thinking of righteousness amid profit, finding peace of mind through hard work, growing stronger together, and developing collectively" and its development philosophy of "delivering value, persisting in the long run, and striving collectively," aspiring to become a world-class software and services enterprise that uses information technology to drive industry development and social progress.
UltraPower has been dedicated to providing professional consulting and technical support services for AWS, including cloud consulting, migration, billing services, CDN services, cloud managed services, and enterprise global expansion services. UltraPower provides professional solutions for manufacturing, media, gaming, e-commerce, and other industries, delivering quality services to clients with a value-delivery mindset.
UltraPower is an AWS Global Distributor and Advanced Consulting Partner. UltraPower has earned 4 AWS competencies, including: 1 Solution competency, 2 Service Delivery competencies, and 1 AWS Service Validation.
