A regulated SaaS business in the defence sector was running on an ageing VMware estate with no cloud strategy, no FinOps discipline, and security controls that could not satisfy defence assurance requirements.
A regulated SaaS business operating in the defence sector was running on an ageing VMware estate with no coherent cloud strategy and no FinOps discipline. Cloud costs were drifting without visibility or control.
The security controls in place could not satisfy the defence assurance requirements of its key clients - threatening contract retention on business-critical relationships.
Engaged as Fractional CTO to lead the full VMware-to-Azure migration, establish Azure FinOps governance to bring cloud spend under control, and embed Secure-by-Design controls aligned to defence assurance frameworks.
The engagement operated at one to two days per week, with a time-boxed mandate and clear outcomes agreed upfront. Governance was built into the organisation so it would not be dependent on the consultant remaining engaged.
A 30-minute scoping call costs nothing and creates no obligation. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.
A defence-aligned SaaS business running on VMware infrastructure facing both cost pressure and modernisation requirements. The estate was over-provisioned in some areas, under-provisioned in others, and not positioned for the platform's growth trajectory.
Led the migration from VMware to Azure - target architecture, migration sequencing, supplier governance, and operational readiness. Worked alongside the internal engineering team to make the migration a capability uplift rather than just a lift-and-shift.
£500k of cloud cost savings on the migrated estate, sustained beyond the migration. Platform positioned for growth on a scalable architecture. Engineering capability uplifted to manage the Azure estate operationally.
Approximately eight months from architecture design through to full migration and stabilisation. The cutover was phased by workload to limit exposure and to allow learning between phases.
Treating the migration as an opportunity to right-size and to modernise architecture, rather than as a like-for-like rehost. The cost saving came from the architecture work, not from the platform change.