Software Architecture & Technical Consulting
Technology Consultancy · From £1,700
Software Architecture & Technical Consulting
Technology Consultancy · Service 08
Cloud Strategy & Migration Consultancy
A realistic view of what should move to the cloud, what it will cost to run, and how to get there without a disruptive cutover.
Diagram produced for this page — it describes how the work is actually structured.
Business problems we solve
The situations that bring people to this service
If more than two of these describe your organisation, the conversation is usually worth having.
Ageing on-premises hardware approaching replacementA costed comparison of replacement, migration and managed alternatives
Cloud costs already higher than expected and hard to explainCost broken down by workload with specific optimisation actions
Pressure to move everything, with no phasingA sequenced plan starting with low-risk, high-benefit workloads
Uncertainty about data location and continuity obligationsDocumented data residency, backup and recovery arrangements
Systems lifted unchanged and now performing poorlyWorkloads re-shaped where it matters and left alone where it does not
No agreed recovery objectivesStated recovery time and recovery point targets, and a tested route to meet them
Common use cases
Where this work typically applies
Practical examples rather than industry categories — the pattern matters more than the sector.
- 01Hardware refresh decision
Comparing another round of on-premises investment against cloud alternatives on a like-for-like basis.
- 02Cloud cost review
Establishing where an existing cloud bill is actually going and what can be reduced without harming service.
- 03Application migration
Planning the move of a specific business system, including data, integrations, identity and cutover.
- 04Resilience improvement
Meeting recovery objectives that the current arrangement cannot support.
- 05Growth and scale planning
Designing for demand that varies by season, campaign or contract without permanently paying for the peak.
- 06Exit and portability review
Understanding how tied a given design would make you, and what it would take to move again.
What we can deliver
Deliverables for this service
Not every engagement includes every item. Your quotation lists exactly what is in scope and what is not.
- 01Infrastructure and workload inventory
What runs where, on what, at what cost, with what dependencies and support arrangements.
- 02Workload disposition
A per-workload decision: retain, re-host, re-platform, replace with a managed service, or retire — each with reasoning.
- 03Cost model
Projected monthly running cost by workload, compared with current cost, including the items commonly overlooked such as data transfer, backup and support.
- 04Target architecture
Networking, identity, environments, storage and security design appropriate to the size of your organisation.
- 05Migration plan
Sequenced waves with dependencies, downtime expectations, rollback routes and success criteria for each.
- 06Security and access design
Identity, least-privilege access, key and secret management, logging and monitoring.
- 07Resilience and recovery plan
Backup approach, recovery objectives and a documented, testable restore procedure.
- 08Governance and cost control
Tagging, budgets, alerting and review routine so spend stays visible and accountable.
Our approach
How we work on this specifically
- 01Inventory before strategy
You cannot plan a migration from an incomplete picture. We establish what actually runs, including the things nobody has mentioned.
- 02Decide workload by workload
All-or-nothing cloud positions are usually wrong. Each workload gets its own decision on its own merits.
- 03Model the running cost honestly
Including the awkward parts: egress, inter-zone traffic, backup retention, licensing, support plans and the cost of idle capacity.
- 04Sequence to reduce exposure
Start with workloads that carry low risk and clear benefit. Build confidence and capability before touching the systems the business cannot lose.
- 05Plan for the return journey
Every design decision that increases lock-in is identified explicitly, so the trade-off is made knowingly.
Strategic capabilities
What we bring to this work
Capability relevant to this service. We do not list technology we would not actually recommend.
Assessment
- Workload and dependency inventory
- Current cost baseline
- Performance and capacity review
- Data residency and continuity review
- Licensing implications
- Readiness and skills assessment
Design
- Cloud target architecture
- Network and identity design
- Environment and deployment strategy
- Storage and database selection
- Security and key management
- Resilience and recovery design
Planning
- Wave-based migration planning
- Cutover and rollback procedures
- Cost modelling and forecasting
- Governance and tagging standards
- Monitoring and alerting design
- Post-migration optimisation plan
Project stages
The sequence from enquiry to delivery
Each stage has a defined output and a review point. You always know where the work stands.
01
Inventory
Workloads, dependencies, costs, contracts and constraints established.
02
Assess
Per-workload disposition decided, with cost and risk for each option.
03
Design
Target architecture, security model and environment strategy documented.
04
Plan
Migration waves, cutover approach, rollback and success criteria agreed.
05
Support
Advisory support during execution and a post-migration cost and performance review.
Who this service is for
Typical clients for this work
We work with B2B companies, organisations and private clients. The requirement matters more than the size of the buyer.
Businesses
- Organisations facing an on-premises hardware refresh
- Companies whose cloud bill has grown without explanation
- Businesses with seasonal or variable demand
- Firms needing better resilience than they currently have
Organisations
- Bodies with data residency or continuity obligations
- Charities seeking to reduce fixed infrastructure cost
- Providers required to evidence recovery capability
Private clients
- Individuals running a product on infrastructure they have outgrown
- Professionals needing dependable hosting and backup
Related services
Often commissioned alongside this
IT Consultancy & Technology Strategy
Technology Consultancy · From £1,500
IT Consultancy & Technology Strategy
Legacy Software Modernisation
Software Development · From £2,300
Legacy Software Modernisation
Service FAQ
Questions we are asked about this service
It depends on your workloads, existing licensing, in-house skills and data requirements. We evaluate the mainstream providers against your circumstances rather than starting from a preference. We hold no partner status with any of them.
Sometimes, but it should not be assumed. Cloud usually improves flexibility, resilience and speed of provisioning; direct cost savings depend heavily on workload shape and how well the environment is managed. We model both sides and show you the honest comparison.
No, and most organisations should not. A hybrid position where some workloads remain where they are is a perfectly reasonable long-term answer. The plan should reflect what benefits from moving, not an ambition to empty a server room.
Less so when it is phased. Most workloads can be migrated with a short planned window, and some with none. The disruptive migrations are the ones attempted in a single weekend with no rollback plan, which is precisely what wave planning avoids.
Yes, and it is one of the most frequently requested engagements. A review typically identifies over-provisioned resources, forgotten environments, inefficient storage tiers, unused reservations and data transfer patterns that can be redesigned.
Have a project in mind?
Tell us what you are trying to achieve and we will come back with a clear view of the scope, the approach and the cost.