Azure Cloud selected and next action

Here’s a structured step-by-step approach you can take:

🔹 Step 1: Define Business Objectives & Success Criteria

• Understand why migration: cost reduction, scalability, resilience, modernization, regulatory compliance.

• Define KPIs: availability (e.g., 99.99%), latency reduction, TCO reduction, compliance adherence.

• Identify critical workloads: core banking, lending, payments, data analytics.

🔹 Step 2: Assess Current Landscape (AS-IS)

• Application portfolio: monoliths, microservices, 3rd-party systems.

• Infra: on-prem DC setup, VMs, databases, network topology.

• Data: structured (RDBMS), unstructured, big data.

• Security & compliance posture (GDPR, RBI, PCI-DSS, SOX).

• Dependencies (batch jobs, integrations, ESB, messaging).

👉 Deliverable: Application Assessment Matrix (Cloud readiness, Complexity, Criticality).

🔹 Step 3: Define Target State (TO-BE)

• Cloud landing zone on Azure (subscription model, resource groups, policies).

• Cloud architecture principles: microservices, containerization (AKS), event-driven, API-first.

• Security: Azure AD, RBAC, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud.

• Networking: VNET, NSG, WAF, Azure Firewall, ExpressRoute.

• Data: Azure SQL MI, CosmosDB, PostgreSQL Hyperscale, Data Lake.

• Resiliency: Active-active (South India ↔ Central India), Azure Traffic Manager/Front Door.

👉 Deliverable: High-Level Target Architecture Blueprint.

🔹 Step 4: Migration Strategy

Choose between:

1. Rehost (Lift & Shift) → For quick migration (VMs → Azure VMs).

2. Refactor → Move apps to Azure PaaS (App Service, AKS).

3. Rearchitect → Break monoliths into microservices.

4. Rebuild → Greenfield, cloud-native.

👉 Usually, digital lending platforms need mix of rehost + refactor + rearchitect.

🔹 Step 5: Data Migration & Compliance

• Ensure data residency rules → India data stays in India, US data stays in US.

• Azure Database Migration Service for live DB migration.

• Data masking, encryption at rest (TDE), in transit (TLS).

• Implement RPO/RTO objectives.

🔹 Step 6: DevSecOps & Automation

• Azure DevOps pipelines (CI/CD).

• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Bicep).

• Automated compliance checks (Azure Policy).

• Automated security scans (SonarQube, OWASP ZAP).

🔹 Step 7: Risk Identification & Mitigation

• Business: downtime risk → Mitigate via phased migration + rollback plan.

• Technology: app refactoring complexity → Mitigate via PoCs.

• Security: regulatory fines → Mitigate via Azure Policy, Encryption.

• Operations: skill gaps → Mitigate via cloud training.

• People: resistance → Change management program.

🔹 Step 8: Pilot & Phased Migration

• Start with non-critical workloads (HR apps, CRM).

• Validate cloud readiness, latency, cost.

• Expand to core lending workloads.

🔹 Step 9: Monitoring & Optimization

• Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights.

• Cost optimization via Azure Advisor.

• Continuous performance benchmarking.

✅ Final Deliverables as EA

• Cloud Strategy Document

• Migration Roadmap & Phasing

• Target State Architecture (Azure)

• Risk Register with Mitigation

• Governance & Compliance Framework

• TCO/ROI Analysis

Azure Migration Steps (Enterprise Architect View)

1. Business Alignment & Vision

• Meet with business stakeholders to understand drivers:

  • Cost reduction, scalability, agility, compliance, innovation.

• Define business outcomes & KPIs:

  • Uptime %, transaction latency, regulatory compliance, customer experience, TCO savings.

• Establish migration strategy (Rehost, Refactor, Rearchitect, Rebuild, Replace).

2. Current State Assessment

• Application Landscape

  • Inventory all applications, dependencies, DBs, integration points.

• Infrastructure & Workloads

  • On-prem servers, VMs, storage, networking.

• Data Landscape

  • DB size, performance, compliance restrictions (GDPR, RBI, SOX).

• Security & Compliance

  • Identity, RBAC, data residency, encryption.

• Use tools: Azure Migrate, Azure Discovery & Assessment.

3. Future State Target Architecture

• Landing Zone Design (Azure CAF aligned):

  • Subscription strategy, resource groups, management groups.

  • Hub-Spoke VNet, Firewall, NSGs, ExpressRoute/VPN.

• Microservices & Containerization:

  • Use Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for modern apps.

• Data Layer:

  • Choose between Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL, Data Lake.

• Integration:

  • Use Azure Service Bus / Event Hub / Kafka.

• Security & Compliance:

  • Azure AD, Conditional Access, Defender for Cloud.

• Resiliency & DR:

  • Multi-region active-active or active-passive setup.

4. Migration Planning

• Prioritize workloads:

  • Tier 1 (business critical), Tier 2 (supporting), Tier 3 (archival).

• Migration Waves:

  • Pilot → Non-critical apps → Critical apps.

• Data Migration:

  • Azure Database Migration Service, Storage Migration.

• Automation:

  • Terraform/Bicep/ARM templates for infra as code.

5. Execution & Transition

• Lift & Shift (Rehost) for quick wins.

• Refactor: Move middleware-heavy apps to containers (AKS).

• Rearchitect: Break monolith into microservices (DDD applied).

• Rebuild/Replace: Adopt SaaS (e.g., Azure AI, Dynamics 365).

6. Operations & Governance

• Monitoring & Observability:

  • Azure Monitor, App Insights, Log Analytics.

• Cost Governance:

  • Azure Cost Management + FinOps.

• Security Governance:

  • Policy-based controls, RBAC, Zero Trust.

• Automation:

  • CI/CD via Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.

7. Continuous Optimization

• Performance Tuning (cache, CDN, scaling policies).

• Resiliency Testing (chaos engineering).

• Compliance Audits (GDPR, RBI, SOX).

• AI/ML Integration for intelligent decision-making.

✅ Deliverables from EA:

• Migration Roadmap (6–12–24 months).

• Target State Architecture (Azure).

• Business Case (cost, ROI).

• Risk Register + Mitigation Plan.

• Governance Framework (Cloud Adoption Framework).

1. Business KPIs

• Cost Reduction % – Infra cost pre vs post migration (on-prem TCO vs Azure consumption).

• Time-to-Market – Deployment cycle time reduction after Azure adoption.

• Customer Experience – Page load times, app response times, downtime impact.

• Revenue Impact – Increase in digital channel adoption / loan disbursement speed.

• Service Availability – % uptime (measured against SLA, e.g., 99.99%).

2. Technology KPIs

• Application Performance – Avg response time, API latency.

• Scalability – # of transactions per second supported under load.

• Cloud Utilization Efficiency – % of over-provisioned vs right-sized workloads.

• Defect Density – Production defects pre vs post migration.

• CI/CD Velocity – Build, test, release frequency vs baseline.

3. Security & Compliance KPIs

• # of Security Incidents – Unauthorized access attempts, breaches.

• Vulnerability Patching SLA – % patched within defined SLA.

• Compliance Adherence – GDPR, RBI, PCI DSS audit pass rate.

• Identity & Access Management – MFA adoption rate, least-privilege enforcement %.

• Data Residency Compliance – % workloads aligned with regional regulations (India data stays in India, etc.).

4. Operations KPIs

• MTTR (Mean Time to Recovery) – How quickly workloads recover from failure.

• MTTD (Mean Time to Detect) – Time taken to detect issues.

• Incident Volume – # of Sev 1/Sev 2 incidents/month.

• Automation Coverage – % infra provisioned through IaC (Terraform, Bicep, ARM).

• Change Failure Rate – % of failed releases in pipeline.

5. People & Process KPIs

• Cloud Skills Uplift – % of workforce certified/trained in Azure.

• Adoption Rate – # of business units actively consuming Azure services.

• DevOps Adoption – % of projects using CI/CD pipelines.

• Team Productivity – Story points delivered per sprint post-migration.

• Collaboration Metrics – # of cross-team initiatives delivered successfully.