Enterprise Cloud Migration for Financial Services

Challenge

Our client, a mid-sized financial services firm, was facing significant challenges with their aging on-premises infrastructure:

• High operational costs from maintaining physical data centers
• Limited scalability during peak trading hours
• Compliance concerns with evolving regulatory requirements
• Disaster recovery limitations
• Slow deployment cycles hampering innovation

Solution

We designed and executed a comprehensive cloud migration strategy to Azure:

Phase 1: Assessment & Planning

• Conducted thorough infrastructure audit
• Identified migration priorities based on business impact
• Designed target cloud architecture
• Developed detailed migration playbooks

Phase 2: Foundation Setup

• Established Azure landing zones
• Implemented identity management with Azure AD
• Set up network architecture with VNets and ExpressRoute
• Configured security controls and compliance frameworks

Phase 3: Migration Execution

• Migrated non-critical applications first (10 applications)
• Moved critical trading platforms with zero downtime
• Migrated databases to Azure SQL Database and Cosmos DB
• Established hybrid connectivity for gradual transition

Phase 4: Optimization

• Implemented autoscaling for variable workloads
• Optimized database performance
• Set up comprehensive monitoring and alerting
• Conducted cost optimization review

Technologies Used

• Azure Services: Virtual Machines, Azure SQL Database, Cosmos DB, App Services, Azure Functions
• Networking: ExpressRoute, Application Gateway, Azure Firewall
• Security: Azure AD, Key Vault, Security Center
• DevOps: Azure DevOps, Terraform, ARM Templates
• Monitoring: Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights

Results

The migration delivered significant improvements:

• 40% cost reduction in infrastructure expenses
• 99.99% uptime achieved for critical applications
• 3x faster deployment cycles
• Improved compliance posture with automated auditing
• Enhanced disaster recovery with cross-region replication

Client Testimonial

"Fraser Technical Solutions made our cloud migration seamless. Their expertise in Azure and understanding of financial services compliance requirements gave us confidence throughout the process. The results have exceeded our expectations."

Key Learnings

1. Start with governance - Establish policies and controls before migration
2. Automate everything - Infrastructure as code is essential
3. Incremental approach - Don't try to move everything at once
4. Train your team - Cloud skills are different from on-premises

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Interested in cloud migration? Contact us to discuss how we can help your organization.