A business requirements first approach to Azure consulting in the UK

Cloud projects go wrong when teams jump to architecture before agreeing what the business needs. At Growcreate we start with your objectives, write down the non‑negotiables, then validate requirements before we design anything in Azure. That means every technical decision earns its place, and your stakeholders see clear outcomes from day one. We align our work with Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework and the Azure Well‑Architected Framework to keep business value front and centre.

Azure Consulting Services

What a requirements‑first Azure engagement looks like

We turn business goals into clear, testable requirements, then map those to Azure services and operating practices.

• Agree outcomes – revenue protection, customer experience, compliance, speed to market.
• Capture constraints – budgeting windows, data residency, release schedules, skills.
• Quantify resilience – RTO, RPO and maximum tolerable outage drive availability design.
• Validate trade‑offs – cost vs performance, speed vs governance, simplicity vs scale, always framed by the five Well‑Architected pillars: reliability, security, cost optimisation, operational excellence and performance efficiency.

If a requirement doesn’t support an objective, it doesn’t make the cut. Simple.

How we run your Azure requirements programme

1. Discovery and alignment – a focused workshop with business, product and technical leads to define success criteria, risks and must‑haves. We structure this with Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework so strategy and delivery stay in sync.
2. Requirements and validation – translate objectives into measurable requirements, confirm acceptance criteria and dependencies, then test assumptions with a quick technical spike where useful.
3. Options and impact – 2–3 credible architecture options, each scored against cost, risk, delivery time and how well it meets the stated requirements. We reference the Well‑Architected Framework to make trade‑offs visible and agreed upfront.
4. Landing zone and guardrails – design or uplift your Azure landing zone so identity, networking, management and security are in place before workloads move. We follow Microsoft’s landing zone design areas so foundations match your governance model.
5. Value test – a thin slice to prove the riskiest assumptions, validate the non‑functionals and confirm costs. Think real telemetry, not slideware.
6. Operate and improve – we keep score with Well‑Architected reviews, Azure Advisor and clear SLOs so improvements are continuous, not once‑a‑year.

From business objective to Azure design

Good availability design is based on requirements. For example, two or more VMs in an availability set help meet the 99.95% VM SLA – and zones can raise that further where supported (Source: Microsoft Learn). When residency matters, UK South and UK West give you regional choice inside the United Kingdom (Source: Microsoft Learn).

Why choose Growcreate for Azure consulting

• We start with business requirements, not pet architectures. Our Azure consulting service is built to translate goals into roadmaps, governance and delivery you can run with (Source: Growcreate).
• We build things that grow with you – from first workload to scaled operations – using Microsoft’s proven frameworks so your platform stays aligned to the Well‑Architected pillars over time (Source: Microsoft Learn).
• We host and operate production platforms with clear targets like 99.95%+ availability where appropriate, backed by practical monitoring and runbooks (Source: Growcreate).
• We add proactive monitoring through IntelligentMonitor so issues are found early and fixed fast (Source: Growcreate).
• We support regulated sectors including finance, membership, healthcare and professional services, where uptime, governance and evidence matter most (Source: Growcreate).

What you get as standard

Support – run with confidence

• SLA‑backed support with clear escalation, change control and incident comms.
• SLOs agreed per workload with dashboards non‑tech leaders can read.

Enhance – keep improving what works

• Monthly improvements from Well‑Architected reviews and Advisor findings, prioritised by business impact.
• Cost reviews tied to usage and new discounts so spend tracks value, not hope.

Evolve – be ready for what’s next

• Landing zone enhancements as teams, data and security needs grow.
• Clear roadmap for modernisation so you can move from lift‑and‑shift to managed PaaS when the numbers work.

Example deliverables in week one

• Business objectives and concerns captured in a short, human readout.
• Requirements backlog with acceptance criteria and test notes.
• Architecture options paper with cost bands and trade‑offs.
• Risk register and first mitigation actions.
• Draft landing zone plan with identity, network and management baselines.

Ready to put business requirements first

If you want Azure consulting services that prioritise understanding business requirements – and you want decisions backed by data, not guesswork – let’s talk.

Let's talk Azure

Or start with a quick review and options paper to see where value lands fastest.

Useful links

• Azure consulting services – discovery, strategy and architecture with measurable outcomes
• Azure hosting and operations – SLA‑backed, cost‑controlled and monitored