Mezze Builds a Well-Architected Foundation for AI Innovation

The snapshot

Processing over £10M in orders annually, Mezze needed to modernise their food manufacturing SaaS platform infrastructure before implementing AI-enhanced EDI integration and data ingestion capabilities.

Devoteam conducted a comprehensive Well-Architected Framework Review and implemented targeted improvements including IAM Identity Centre, AWS GuardDuty, modern serverless architecture, and cost optimisation controls.

The transformation resulted in enhanced security posture, significant cost reductions through decreased third-party dependency, and a scalable foundation ready for AI innovation and continued growth.

About Mezze

Mezze provides a SaaS platform that digitises ordering processes for food manufacturers. Processing over £10M per year in orders, the platform replaces traditional phone and fax systems with a modern B2B experience similar to consumer e-commerce.

The company helps food manufacturing businesses improve operational efficiency, reduce customer service overhead, and optimise procurement processes. Mezze’s solution serves as a central hub for managing critical business interactions throughout the food manufacturing supply chain.

The challenge

In 2024, Mezze faced the critical task of modernising their infrastructure to support their evolving business strategy:

Having established themselves with a SaaS platform that replaced traditional phone and fax systems in food manufacturing, the company now planned to implement a new EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) integration platform enhanced with AI-based solutions for their data ingestion processes
As a platform processing over £10M per year in orders and serving as a business-critical component in their clients’ supply chain operations, Mezze couldn’t risk implementing advanced capabilities on potentially vulnerable infrastructure
Before proceeding with this significant evolution, they needed expert guidance to assess their cloud readiness, address any security and compliance concerns, and optimise costs to ensure a robust and secure foundation for their expanding digital capabilities

This initiative would strengthen Mezze’s position as a technology leader in food manufacturing while ensuring their platform could reliably support the enhanced functionality their clients required.

The solution

Mezze engaged Devoteam, an AWS Premier Partner, to enhance their cloud infrastructure through a well-defined, two-phase approach:

Assessment Phase

Devoteam conducted a thorough Well-Architected Framework Review across all six pillars in August 2024, applying their Cloud Maturity Lens to provide a holistic view of Mezze’s cloud journey. This assessment identified specific opportunities to apply best practices to their existing foundation—which already had sound security fundamentals in place.

Following the assessment, Devoteam collaborated with Mezze to design a target state architecture that would address the identified enhancement areas while accommodating their plans for AI-based data ingestion modernisation. The review highlighted valuable opportunities in:

Security and access management: Authentication improvements including MFA capabilities and SSO integration; network protection through private subnet implementation and web application firewalls; enhanced data protection through encryption and monitoring
Cost and resource optimisation: Financial governance through budget monitoring systems and spending controls; resource management through right-sizing methodologies and provisioning optimisation

Remediation Phase

Based on these findings, Devoteam implemented targeted improvements completed by October 2024:

Security implementation: Established robust identity management through IAM Identity Centre with MFA and SSO; deployed threat protection using AWS GuardDuty and WAF; implemented data protection through encryption and AWS Systems Manager
Infrastructure optimisation: Created intelligent cost management through AWS Budgets and IAM governance controls; deployed modern AWS services including Textract for document processing, S3 for storage, Lambda for serverless computing, and Transfer Family for file transfer

This comprehensive approach built upon Mezze’s existing foundation to prepare their infrastructure for their ambitious AI initiatives, enhancing security while optimising costs and expanding capabilities.

Key AWS Services

The transformation leveraged these essential AWS services:

AWS IAM Identity Centre and IAM Roles for secure access management
AWS GuardDuty and WAF for threat detection and protection
Amazon S3 for scalable, secure storage
AWS Lambda for serverless computing
Amazon Textract for advanced document processing
AWS Transfer Family for secure file transfer
AWS Systems Manager for operational management
AWS Budgets and Organizations for cost optimisation

The benefits & results

The Well-Architected assessment and subsequent remediation delivered transformative improvements to Mezze’s AWS environment, significantly advancing their cloud maturity.

Technical improvements

Comprehensive enhancement of security posture and cost optimisation practices (addressing the 36% of Security Pillar and 27% of Cost Optimisation areas identified initially)
Establishment of a modernised infrastructure with improved reliability, performance, and scalable architecture for AI-based data ingestion
Implementation of streamlined, repeatable processes that elevated cloud maturity across all Well-Architected pillars

Business impact

Significant reduction in operational costs through decreased dependency on third-party providers

Creation of a performant, scalable platform architecture with comprehensive security implementation

Well-architected solution foundation enabling continued innovation and growth through the new data ingestion platform

Following the successful remediation phase, Mezze approached Devoteam again to help implement an AI proof of concept based on the previously agreed design. This follow-on engagement demonstrates the successful partnership and Mezze’s commitment to continuous improvement.

“Devoteam’s Well-Architected Review was a game-changer for our security and cost management. They helped us not just address immediate vulnerabilities, but create a more robust infrastructure that positions us for future growth.

“Beyond their technical expertise, what really stood out was how collaborative and straightforward they were to work with. We felt like we were partnering with trusted advisors who genuinely cared about our success.”

George Evans
Technical Director at Mezze

AWS Well-Architected Framework Partner Program

When designing and building Cloud platforms on AWS, customers can benefit from the best practices derived from thousands of deployments and embodied in the Well-Architected Framework. As a Validated AWS Well-Architected Framework Partner, Devoteam provides expert Well-Architected Reviews and Remediation services to help customers optimise their AWS environments across the six pillars of the framework.

Why Devoteam?

Devoteam is a Premier AWS Partner specialising in helping organisations successfully navigate their AWS Cloud journey. With deep expertise in AWS migrations and modernisation, we focus on delivering solutions that align with AWS best practices while meeting specific business needs.

Our track record of successful migrations across various industries, combined with our AWS competencies including Migration and DevOps, ensures we can help organisations achieve their cloud transformation goals efficiently and effectively.