From pilot to platform – choosing a UK based Azure DevOps partner for scalable CI/CD

You’ve proved the concept. A few pipelines ship code. Now you need something that scales across teams, services and environments without chaos. This guide shows what to look for in a UK based Azure DevOps partner, the questions to ask in an RFP, and why Growcreate is a safe pair of hands.

Azure DevOps Services

What scalable CI/CD on Azure really means

Scalability is more than “faster builds”. At platform level it means:

• Standardised PR, CI and CD stages with quality gates, approvals and rollback so changes move from code to production predictably. Microsoft’s reference workflow sets a clear pattern for PR checks, integration tests in CI and staged releases with manual validation in CD.
• Templates and re‑usable YAML across repos so teams share the same rules without copy‑paste debt.
• The right mix of Microsoft‑hosted and self‑hosted agents so you can parallelise builds and deploy into private networks. Every Azure DevOps organisation includes 1 Microsoft‑hosted job with 1,800 minutes a month and 1 self‑hosted job with unlimited minutes, with paid options for more concurrency.
• Environments with approvals, gates and policies so production stays protected while delivery stays quick.
• Built‑in observability using Application Insights and Azure Monitor so releases are measured, not guessed.

Selecting a partner – the criteria that matter

Use these practical checks to separate a good DevOps shop from a great platform partner.

Architecture for scale

• Microservices and containers – ask how they handle multi‑service releases, versioning and rollbacks on AKS. Look for GitOps patterns so clusters pull their desired state from git and self‑heal.
• Hybrid and on‑prem – for line‑of‑business systems that can’t leave the data centre, confirm experience with self‑hosted agents and Azure Arc so you can manage on‑prem and cloud clusters from one control plane.

Pipeline performance and concurrency

• Ask how they right‑size parallel jobs and agent pools. A partner should explain when to stay on Microsoft‑hosted agents and when to add self‑hosted pools for private networking and high‑throughput builds.
• Expect clear guidance on service limits and how to avoid surprises as you scale projects, teams and dashboards.

Security built in

• Secrets live in Key Vault, policies are code, changes flow only through pipelines and access follows least‑privilege. These are table stakes.

Observability and SLOs

• Look for proactive monitoring, incident playbooks and SLOs for pipeline and platform health. Azure Monitor and Application Insights should be wired in from day one.

Cost control

• Your partner should explain what drives cost in agents, artefacts and environments, plus how to tune concurrency, caching and retention to avoid waste.

UK specific considerations

• Data residency – many organisations need UK hosted data. Azure provides UK South and UK West regions, so confirm environments, backups and logs stay in‑region. (Source: Microsoft Learn)
• UK GDPR and DPA 2018 – make sure the partner understands controller vs processor duties, cross‑border transfers and record‑keeping.
• Cyber Essentials – especially for public sector and supply chains, ask whether the partner is certified and whether pipelines align with the control set.
• ISO/IEC 27001 – check for an ISMS aligned to the 2022 standard across hosting, deployment and support.
• Buying routes – if you buy through Crown Commercial Service, confirm the partner’s route on current frameworks.

RFP checklist for scalable Azure DevOps and CI/CD

Ask for short, specific answers to these.

Architecture and environments

• Describe your standard PR, CI and CD stages and where you run integration, acceptance and smoke tests.
• How do you template pipelines and apply changes across repos without breaking teams?
• How do you separate non‑prod and prod with approvals and policies?

Agents, concurrency and performance

• What is your approach to Microsoft‑hosted vs self‑hosted agents, including private networking?
• How do you size parallel jobs today, and how will that change as our team and repos grow?
• How do you manage runner images, caching and warm pools to cut build time?

Microservices and AKS

• How do you handle multi‑service rollouts, canary or blue‑green releases and rollbacks on AKS?
• Do you use GitOps for cluster state and app deployments? Which Flux policies do you enforce?
• How do you secure secrets, service connections and supply chain for containers?

Hybrid and regulated workloads

• What’s your pattern for deploying into private networks or on‑prem via self‑hosted agents?
• How would you operate hybrid Kubernetes with Azure Arc if we keep clusters on‑prem?
• Security, compliance and evidence

How do pipelines integrate with Key Vault, Entra ID and Policy?

• What evidence can you provide for UK GDPR, Cyber Essentials and ISO/IEC 27001 controls?
• Operate and improve
• What SLOs do you propose for uptime, incident response and recovery?
• How do you tune pipelines over time to reduce cost and lead time?

Why Growcreate is a strong choice for UK based, scalable CI/CD

• Azure DevOps services – we build and run managed DevOps with automated deployments, monitoring and round‑the‑clock support so your team can focus on product, not plumbing.
• Azure platform experience – our engineers design, migrate and optimise Azure environments, with CI/CD and infrastructure as code baked in.
• GitOps by default – we use Git‑centred automation to keep environments consistent and prevent drift across Azure platforms.
• Always‑on monitoring – our IntelligentMonitor watches your platforms and flags issues early so incidents are dealt with before users notice.
• Proven in finance and membership – we’ve introduced DevOps practices for London‑based financial services with scalable Azure hosting, automation and monitoring.How we scale you from pilot to platform

Support – stabilise what you have

• Baseline your repos, pipelines and environments
• Add observability with Application Insights and Azure Monitor
• Fix flaky builds and remove manual steps that slow you down

Enhance – standardise and speed up

• Template PR, CI and CD stages across teams
• Right‑size agent pools and parallel jobs for current demand
• Move secrets to Key Vault and enforce approvals in environments

Evolve – prepare for the future

• Introduce GitOps for AKS and platform config
• Add hybrid options with Azure Arc if needed for on‑prem or multi‑cloud
• Review usage patterns quarterly to trim cost and improve lead time to production

Key patterns we’ll bring to your platform

• Re‑usable YAML – one template for PR and CI with parameters so teams inherit the same quality checks.
• Environments with approvals – pre‑prod holds manual validation before production, with smoke tests and planned rollback.
• Smart agent strategy – combine Microsoft‑hosted for bursty workloads with self‑hosted where you need speed, special tooling or private network access.
• Hybrid‑ready – manage on‑prem clusters alongside AKS through Azure Arc for consistent policy and monitoring.

Ready to scale

If you want pipelines that grow with your business and stay tidy under pressure, let’s talk. We’ll map your current setup, show the quick wins and outline a plan that fits your risk, budget and timelines.

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