Sutherland Drives 82% Incident Reduction for Global E-Commerce Giant with SRE and Automation

Industry: Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods, Technology | Services: Digital Engineering Services

Client Overview

A global leader in e-commerce and digital payments, the client processes over $3 billion in transactions annually and operates across more than 220 markets worldwide. Renowned for its expansive reach and high transaction volumes, the organization relies on robust, scalable infrastructure to deliver seamless digital experiences to its customers.

The Challenge

The client was grappling with critical operational inefficiencies that compromised both system stability and service delivery. A high volume of incidents, compounded by excessive alert noise across disparate monitoring platforms, overwhelmed support teams and eroded service reliability. Patching and remediation efforts were largely reactive and inconsistent, introducing compliance vulnerabilities and prolonging resolution timelines.

Core infrastructure activities including SSL certificate renewals, DNS modifications, and system maintenance remained heavily manual, increasing the risk of human error and operational delays. Previous vendor engagements fell short due to inadequate tooling, poor scalability, and ineffective transition strategies.

Recognizing the need for transformative change, the client sought a trusted Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) partner capable of stabilizing operations, institutionalizing process rigor, and driving automation at scale across its complex infrastructure landscape.

Sutherland Solution

To address these challenges, Sutherland established a dedicated offshore Technical Operations Center (TOC) underpinned by a strong SRE foundation. The solution integrated real-time monitoring and diagnostics using a unified toolchain including Zabbix, Pingdom, ServiceNow, Grafana, and OpenSearch – to enhance incident detection, visibility, and root cause analysis.

Sutherland assumed ownership of Level 1 and Level 2 incident diagnosis and escalation, streamlining resolution workflows and alleviating the burden on Level 3 engineering teams. Monthly OS patching cycles and automated management of CName records, SSL certificates, and DNS configurations boosted operational efficiency, reduced human error, and ensured regulatory compliance.

To further strengthen reliability and deployment consistency, Jenkins-based CI/CD pipelines were developed across production and non-production environments. The team also introduced automated anomaly detection, audit-ready compliance tracking, and proactive remediation protocols to enhance system resilience.

A structured shadow and reverse-shadow transition model facilitated a seamless handover from incumbent teams, ensuring long-term operational continuity and stability.

The Outcome

Sutherland’s transformation initiative delivered measurable improvements in performance, reliability, and operational efficiency, along with compelling financial outcomes. Within six months, the client realized significant cost savings, underscoring the value of streamlined operations and intelligent automation.

Incident volumes were reduced by over 85%, dropping from more than 6,000 to just 850, driven by proactive alert tuning, automation, and optimized incident management. The team achieved 100% compliance in critical areas, including SSL certificate governance and operating system patching, thereby strengthening the client’s security posture and ensuring infrastructure integrity.

All SOC audit milestones were met on schedule, supported by a sustained vulnerability remediation framework. The maturity and effectiveness of the solution led to an expanded engagement, with the client awarding Sutherland a new CloudVista project.

Additionally, the transformation initiatives garnered positive stakeholder feedback, particularly for the quality of the handover process and the implementation of self-healing, automation-first operations, which enhanced both resilience and customer experience.