Cloud advisory
Turn an Azure estate assessment into a prioritized technical roadmap.
We assess a defined estate against business constraints and Azure guidance, then document findings, target options, dependencies, cost assumptions, and sequenced actions.
Assessment path
Inputs
- Inventory and topology
- Cost and usage
- Incidents and recovery
- Code and delivery paths
Outputs
- Target architecture
- Risk and exception register
- Sequenced roadmap
- Acceptance criteria
- Boundary
- Agreed estateSubscriptions, workloads, regions, and assessment themes are named.
- Sources
- Azure telemetryTool output is combined with configuration and stakeholder input.
- Result
- Prioritized roadmapActions include rationale, dependency, effort range, and owner role.
Assessment lenses
The assessment inspects architecture, risk, cost, and change readiness.
Automated findings are validated against workload context before recommendations are written.
Estate baseline
Use Azure Resource Graph and configuration exports to map subscriptions, resources, regions, tags, dependencies, and ownership gaps.
- Azure Resource Graph
- Azure Migrate
Architecture quality
Apply relevant Well-Architected Framework pillars and Azure Advisor recommendations without treating generic guidance as a workload requirement.
- Azure Well-Architected Framework
- Azure Advisor
Control and exposure
Inspect Policy assignments, exemptions, Defender for Cloud posture, identity boundaries, and management coverage.
- Azure Policy
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Consumption
Review Cost Management data, allocation quality, commitment coverage, and workload growth assumptions.
- Microsoft Cost Management
Method
A bounded assessment moves from questions to sequenced action.
Scope and confidence are visible throughout the work.
- 01
Frame
Name subscriptions, workloads, business goals, stakeholder roles, themes, and date range.
- 02
Collect
Run approved queries and exports, inspect architecture materials, and interview service owners.
- 03
Analyze
Validate findings, identify dependencies and constraints, compare target options, and estimate implementation ranges.
- 04
Sequence
Group prerequisites and improvements into a roadmap with acceptance criteria and ownership roles.
Assessment boundaries
Coverage and depth are agreed before collection begins.
This prevents a discovery exercise from being mistaken for implementation or assurance.
| Area | Included | Conditional | Not included by default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure estate | Named subscriptions and services | Sampling for very large estates | Unlisted tenants or subscriptions |
| Workloads | Agreed architecture and configuration | Source-code review when scoped | Application remediation or migration |
| Security | Configuration and posture observations | Control mapping when scoped | Penetration testing, certification, or legal opinion |
| Cost | Historical consumption and scenario assumptions | License inputs supplied by customer | Guaranteed savings or licensing authority |
Outputs
Assessment outputs are specific enough to fund and assign.
Formats are agreed for architecture, engineering, security, finance, and leadership audiences.
- 01
Estate baseline
Scoped inventory, topology, ownership gaps, source list, date range, and known data limitations.
- 02
Findings register
Condition, impact, affected scope, confidence, recommendation, and relevant Azure reference.
- 03
Target options
Architecture alternatives, constraints, dependencies, cost factors, risks, and preferred direction.
- 04
Sequenced roadmap
Prerequisites, work items, effort ranges, owner roles, acceptance criteria, and unresolved assumptions.
Commercial fit
Use advisory when the question and estate boundary can be named.
Implementation can follow under a separate scope after findings are accepted.
Best suited to
- Cloud strategy refreshes
- Pre-migration baselines
- Landing-zone or governance health checks
Needed to begin
- Read access approved for the named scope
- Architecture, cost, and service contacts available
Customer responsibilities
- Validate inventory and business criticality
- Supply licensing and contract assumptions
Not included by default
- Implementation, remediation, or production change
- Certification, legal advice, penetration testing, or managed SOC