Supercharging a predictive retail operations platform for Autone

  • Customer
  • Industry
  • Service
  • Author
  • Autone
  • Retail & Analytics
  • Cloud Adoption
  • Jodie Rhodes
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At a glance

Autone is a SaaS operational platform that empowers retail and CPG businesses to make optimal decisions efficiently and with ease.

Challenge

As a startup, Autone faced challenges in building a SaaS platform from scratch, needing infrastructure, cloud enablement, scalability, resources, and data capabilities.

Solution

Firemind delivered a scalable cloud framework and Managed Services for support, security, and governance.

Services used
  • API Gateway
  • Amazon CloudFront 
  • AWS Amplify Hosting
  • Amazon DynamoDB
Outcomes
  • Secured €2M from Y Combinator in 2 weeks
  • Rapid traction with global brands for retail product
     
     
Business challenges

Building a scalable SaaS platform from the ground up

As with any startup, Autone were faced with the challenge of building a SaaS platform from the ground up. Exploring the necessary foundations of infrastructure, cloud enablement, resource and recruitment, scalability and a multitude of complex and data-orientated capabilities within their own technology.

They needed to be able to quickly take business ideation, and turn it into a live, visible product that could be taken to market as well as demonstrated to raise funding by VC and Angel investors. They also needed to work with a consultancy that could stick around after the initial setup, providing Managed Services that related to support, guidance, security and governance checks and much more.

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Solution

Building the framework

Autone’s project required a multi-level approach, beginning with the core best practices for adopting an AWS cloud environment, then delving into future applications of predictive technology. The platform had to cover topics including product pricing, inventory replenishment and re-ordering with the goal of covering all operational processes.

With Autone, we had to gain a thorough understanding of the many challenges that this project faced, in order to build on the following adoptive practices:

  • Best practice architecture – To ensure a secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure, we had to make sure we had the right tools in place. Otherwise, many of the costs, simplicity, and agility benefits of cloud applications would not have been achieved.
  • Cloud roadmap – As Autone was a startup, and therefore early doors in progression, a thorough cloud roadmap had to be created. This included aligning key objectives, developing a plan of action, preparing for execution stages, establishing governance whilst mitigating risks, optimising as the build was underway and ensuring collaboration across the team as they scaled. This roadmap formed a 6-9 month rigid timeline, merging both business and technical requirements.
  • Establish managed services – Building a production level environment meant having the foresight to incorporate resource optimisation, integration of 3rd party solutions, and define predictable spends in AWS storage.
  • Licensing and governance – In the past, organisations have had to choose between innovating faster and maintaining control over cost, compliance, and security. With Firemind and our use of AWS Management and Governance services, Autone didn’t have to choose between innovation and control — they could have both in-house access rights and visibility, as well as customer orientated dashboards.

In terms of AWS use, we began with the implementation of the core adoptive tools:

  • API Gateway – AWS service for creating, publishing, maintaining, monitoring and securing REST, HTTP and WebSocket APIs – at any scale.
  • Amazon CloudFront – A web service that speeds up distribution of static and dynamic web content, such as . html, .css, .js and image files, to multiple users.
  • AWS Amplify Hosting – A set of purpose-built tools and features that let frontend web and mobile developers quickly and easily build full-stack applications on AWS.
  • Amazon DynamoDB – Allows users the benefit of auto-scaling, in-memory caching, backup and restore options for all of their internet-scale applications using DynamoDB.
  • Amazon Simple Notification Service – A fully managed messaging service for both application-to-application (A2A) and application-to-person (A2P) communication.
  • Amazon Cognito – Lets you easily add user sign-up and authentication to your mobile and web apps.

 

Time to value

Within two weeks, Firemind helped Autone establish a framework for handling retail and CPG data, including AWS setup, governance, and cost optimisation, accelerating their time to market.

Y combinator funding

Having a defined platform in AWS to begin introducing customer data, meant a rapid move for investment and pre-seed funding. Autone were able to secure €2 million with Y Combinator backing the company as part of their S22 batch.

AI/ML readiness

Knowing that their platform would incorporate predictive analytics and future insight meant that Autone was in a strong position to continue working with Firemind for AI/ML integration. As they ingest a retailer’s data, recommendations are generated, allowing users to approve a given action.

We met with Technical Co-founder, Harry Cheslaw, of the SaaS provider Autone, to look at the cloud journey both Firemind and Autone have undertaken, in order to rapidly accelerate their cloud adoption as a startup.

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