Azure cloud architecture
Lemraj engineers Microsoft Azure platforms that operations teams can run as a production environment — landing zones, well-architected workloads, identity, infrastructure as code, and FinOps.
Who it's for
This service is for organisations carrying one or more of the following:
- An Azure subscription that grew organically — multiple subscriptions, inconsistent governance, no clear landing-zone design, and a security and cost posture that nobody can fully describe.
- A modernization or build programme that needs a defensible Azure target before delivery starts.
- An existing Azure estate that runs but is hard to operate — manual deployments, inconsistent identity, observability gaps, unpredictable cost.
- A regulated environment where Azure has to defend itself in front of compliance, internal audit, or a national supervisor.
We work with CTOs, IT directors, enterprise architects, and platform teams in insurance and financial services, in Dutch and EU public-sector programmes, and in enterprises with substantial Azure footprints.
What's included
An Azure engagement at Lemraj usually includes some combination of:
- Landing zone design. Subscription topology, network architecture, identity model, policy framework, and management-group hierarchy aligned to Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework — adapted to the organisation, not applied as a template.
- Well-architected workload design. Workload-level design against the five Azure Well-Architected pillars, with explicit trade-offs documented rather than averaged out.
- Infrastructure as code. Bicep or Terraform implementation of the landing zone and workloads, designed for change rather than for one-time deployment.
- Identity and access. Microsoft Entra ID design — workforce identity, workload identity, conditional access, privileged identity management.
- Platform engineering. Reusable platform components (CI/CD, observability, secrets, networking) that workload teams can consume without re-deriving them.
- FinOps. Tagging, cost allocation, reservation and savings-plan strategy, and the operational rhythm to keep cost predictable.
We do not build Azure platforms that are not operated by anyone. We do not write infrastructure code we cannot hand off.
How we engage
- Typical timing: 2–4 week paid discovery, then 3–6 months for a defined Azure scope, or 6–12 months for larger platform programmes in phased releases.
- Team shape: Lead architect plus a senior engineer for code-heavy delivery phases. Most Azure platform engagements need at least one architect plus one senior engineer working in parallel.
- Contracting: Time and materials with defined scope and milestones. Fixed-fee discovery for the entry-point engagement.
- Engagement size: From €25,000.
Outcomes
A typical Azure engagement produces:
- A documented landing-zone or workload architecture and a phased delivery plan owned by the client.
- A working Azure platform — landing zone, identity, networking, platform services — that workload teams can use without bespoke onboarding.
- Infrastructure code, deployment pipelines, and operational documentation that an in-house platform team can run and extend.
- A FinOps baseline that makes cost legible and changes in cost attributable.
Specific outcomes — workload counts, deployment frequency, cost variance, identity-related incidents — are available on request, subject to the relevant client NDA.