Executive Summary

Kitsilano Technologies Limited, an Advanced AWS Partner, successfully executed Diamond Trust Bank’s (DTB) end-to-end cloud migration, transitioning its core banking infrastructure from legacy on-premises systems to a secure, scalable, and high-performance Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment. This strategic transformation addressed DTB’s pressing challenges around scalability, operational efficiency, and innovation speed, while strengthening compliance and resilience across its regional footprint. Leveraging AWS’s robust portfolio of migration, governance, and security services, Kitsilano implemented a meticulously planned hybrid migration strategy that ensured zero downtime and seamless continuity of banking operations. By aligning the migration roadmap with DTB’s business priorities and adopting a phased approach – Discovery & Readiness, Hybrid Transition, Phased Migration, and Modernization – Kitsilano not only resolved existing performance bottlenecks but also established a future-ready, cloud-native foundation capable of supporting rapid service innovation, advanced analytics, and emerging technologies such as AI and open banking.

Customer Challenge

Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) encountered significant constraints with its aging on-premises infrastructure supporting core banking operations. The legacy environment struggled to scale with growing transaction volumes and evolving regulatory requirements, resulting in service latency during peak periods, delayed rollout of new digital features, and high maintenance overheads. Operational inefficiencies diverted IT resources away from innovation, while the inflexible architecture limited the bank’s ability to respond quickly to market changes. Additionally, the system’s limitations posed potential compliance risks and hindered DTB’s capacity to adopt emerging digital banking technologies, impacting both customer experience and competitive agility.

Partner Solution

To address these challenges, Kitsilano Technologies designed and executed a comprehensive AWS-based transformation using a phased hybrid migration strategy tailored to the banking sector. Leveraging AWS’s industry-leading cloud infrastructure, governance, and security services, Kitsilano aligned DTB’s business priorities with a future-ready technical architecture. This approach ensured zero downtime during migration, enhanced operational resilience, and created a scalable, cloud-native foundation to accelerate digital innovation across DTB’s regional operations.

Phase 1: Discovery & Readiness – Evaluating Cloud Readiness and Defining the Migration Roadmap

Kitsilano began with a thorough discovery and readiness assessment, engaging stakeholders across DTB to align business priorities with the migration strategy. This process included mapping existing systems, identifying dependencies, and assessing potential risks. The outcome was a clearly defined, phased migration plan that balanced technical requirements with DTB’s operational and regulatory needs.

Phase 2: Mobilize – Establishing Governance and Security Foundations

In the mobilization phase, Kitsilano worked with DTB to put in place governance and security frameworks that would ensure compliance and operational control throughout the transformation. This included aligning teams on change management processes, establishing clear roles and responsibilities, and preparing the environment to support a hybrid transition model.

Phase 3: Migrate – Executing a Hybrid, Zero-Downtime Transition

Kitsilano adopted a hybrid approach that allowed legacy and cloud environments to run in parallel during migration. Robust rollback strategies, extensive testing cycles, and real-time monitoring were implemented to safeguard data integrity and ensure uninterrupted customer service. By phasing workloads and coordinating closely with DTB’s teams, the migration was completed with zero downtime and no data loss.

Phase 4: Modernize – Building a Future-Ready Infrastructure

Following the successful migration, Kitsilano helped DTB modernize its infrastructure to take advantage of the flexibility and scalability of the cloud. The new environment reduced IT incidents, accelerated the rollout of new digital services, and improved customer experience through faster processing and more reliable service delivery. With this foundation, DTB is now positioned to integrate emerging technologies such as AI, advanced analytics, and open banking to drive ongoing innovation.

Results and Benefits

Following the implementation of Kitsilano Technologies’ cloud migration strategy, Diamond Trust Bank achieved measurable operational and financial improvements:

Performance Gains: Transaction processing times improved by 35%, while downtime was eliminated during the migration process, ensuring uninterrupted customer service.

Scalability and Agility: The new cloud environment allows DTB to rapidly roll out new services, reducing time-to-market for digital offerings by 40% and improving responsiveness to market demands.

Cost Optimization: Infrastructure management costs decreased by 20%, freeing budget for innovation and growth initiatives.

Operational Efficiency: IT incidents dropped by 25%, enabling teams to focus on delivering new capabilities instead of managing uptime issues.

Enhanced Customer Experience: Net Promoter Score (NPS) increased by 18 points in the first quarter post-migration, supported by faster mobile app performance, reduced downtime, and the introduction of new features such as instant loan disbursements and AI-powered chatbots.