Relying on AWS services to automate and simplify its dev and test environments, lululemon can decrease its development time. “Instead of taking two days to build a new production account, we can do it in minutes using AWS CloudFormation templates and AWS CodePipeline,” says Keen. “That means we can launch small-scale projects that cost very little and take very little time to set up. With that agility, we can experiment and get to the best solutions, rather than having to settle for what we have resources for. Using AWS, we can push out new features and applications much faster than we could previously.”

With a simplified development approach containing few manual steps, lululemon has also enhanced the manageability of its environment. “Because all infrastructure is defined by AWS CloudFormation, we have a single source of truth. An infrastructure change only needs to occur in one place, and we can see the potential impact of that change,” says Keen. “Also, because the CloudFormation templates are in source control, we gain that aspect of change control. The value that AWS CloudFormation brings to our developers is huge.”

lululemon also has improved its development system transparency. “We get a very simple visualization of the pipeline using AWS,” says Keen. “Any continuous integration and deployment pipeline should be automated, easy to manage, and discoverable, and that’s exactly what we get using AWS. We get a level of simplicity and transparency we simply couldn’t have using our previous on-premises environment.”

By basing the services supporting its mobile app on AWS, the company is building digital tools to enable lululemon to better engage local communities. “As a result, lululemon employees can more easily build dynamic content that best aligns with consumers’ interests. Based on the success we’ve seen so far, we plan to create and run additional new applications on AWS. Moving to AWS was a great decision for our business.”