A few years ago, many customers viewed cloud as a destination, move everything there, reduce costs and modernise. Today, the conversation is much broader. Businesses are asking where each workload should run, how cloud fits with their existing estate, and how they can maintain security, control and predictable costs.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that moving to the cloud automatically makes everything cheaper and easier. Cloud offers enormous flexibility, but without the right design, governance and ongoing management, costs and complexity can quickly grow. The real value comes from treating cloud as an operating model, not simply another place to host servers.
This makes now a particularly interesting time to revisit cloud and hybrid strategy. AI workloads are creating new infrastructure demands, security and regulatory expectations continue to evolve, and organisations are under pressure to demonstrate value from every technology investment. Many businesses are therefore reviewing decisions made during their first wave of cloud adoption and looking for a more conscious long-term approach.
My experience with cloud and hybrid environments
As a Solutions Architect at Storm, I help customers translate business requirements into practical, secure and scalable technology designs. I’ve worked across cloud and hybrid environments, helping organisations assess their existing estates, establish strong foundations and plan migrations that minimise disruption.
One engagement that stands out involved an international law firm whose Azure environment had grown across multiple regions without a consistent structure. We helped bring the estate in line with Microsoft best practices, improving governance, security and visibility while identifying opportunities to reduce costs. It was a good example of how cloud optimisation is often as important as the original migration.
Another project involved a solutions provider that traditionally shipped physical servers to customers so they could run its software. We designed an enterprise grade cloud landing zone that allowed the company to deploy its solution securely, establish private connections and give customers predictable operating costs. That fundamentally changed how the organisation could deliver and scale its service.
What I enjoy most about designing cloud and hybrid solutions is finding the right balance. The best architecture is rarely the one that uses the most technology, it’s the one that solves the customer’s real problem while remaining secure, manageable and ready to evolve.
The benefits beyond cost savings
Beyond potential cost savings, the three benefits customers most often realise are agility, resilience and access to modern capabilities. Cloud allows organisations to deploy and adapt services much faster, build recovery into their architecture and take advantage of managed platforms, automation, analytics and AI without having to create everything themselves.
I describe cloud as running workloads and consuming services through a public cloud platform such as AWS or Azure. Hybrid cloud connects those services with infrastructure that remains on premises, in a data centre or at the edge, creating a coordinated environment rather than two isolated estates. Hybrid is often the smarter choice when a customer has workloads that cannot or should not move entirely to the public cloud.
The drivers for hybrid vary. Some applications need to remain close to users or equipment because of latency; some data is subject to sovereignty, residency or regulatory requirements; and some legacy systems are too tightly integrated or too costly to migrate immediately. Hybrid architectures can also support disaster recovery, phased modernisation and business continuity without forcing an all or nothing decision.
Where organisations often go wrong is moving too quickly without first establishing the foundations. Workloads get migrated before identity, networking, governance, security, monitoring and cost controls have been properly designed. That may deliver an early result, but it usually creates technical debt that becomes harder and more expensive to correct later.
Why offering both AWS and Azure matters
Storm’s ability to transact both AWS including through AWS Marketplace and Azure gives customers genuine choice. They can work with one trusted partner while selecting the platform and commercial model that best suit their applications, existing investments and strategic goals.
Choosing between AWS, Azure and a multi-cloud approach should begin with requirements rather than preference. We look at the customer’s current skills, application architecture, Microsoft or AWS investments, security and compliance needs, data requirements, commercial agreements and future roadmap. Multi-cloud can be valuable where there is a clear business or technical reason, but using multiple platforms without a defined purpose can simply add operational complexity.
AWS Marketplace can also unlock more than customers initially expect. It provides a streamlined way to discover and procure third-party software and services, often using existing AWS commercial commitments and consolidated billing. This can shorten procurement cycles, simplify supplier management and help customers gain more value from their existing cloud investment.
How Storm supports customers
Storm can support the complete lifecycle of a cloud or hybrid project, from initial discovery and architecture through migration, implementation and ongoing optimisation. We help customers understand their current position, define the desired outcome and create a realistic roadmap that accounts for security, operations, cost and organisational readiness.
Our professional services capability is particularly valuable for organisations that do not have the specialist skills or simply the time to complete this work internally. We can provide focused expertise for a specific stage of a project or operate as an extension of the customer’s team throughout the engagement. The aim is to add capability and momentum while ensuring the customer understands and can use the resulting environment.
A typical engagement might begin with a cloud or hybrid design and health check. We review the existing environment, speak to stakeholders and assess areas such as identity, connectivity, security, resilience, governance and cost management. The output is a clear view of risks and opportunities, supported by prioritised, practical recommendations.
For an Azure Landing Zone engagement, we use Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework as the foundation and tailor it to each customer. This can include subscription structure, identity, networking, policy, security, monitoring and cost controls, as well as the automation needed to make future deployments consistent. Rather than producing a theoretical design, we create a governed platform that teams can use with confidence.
What differentiates Storm is our vendor agnostic, outcome focused approach. We are not trying to force every workload into the same platform or sell cloud for its own sake. We start with what the customer needs to achieve and recommend the architecture, services and migration path that make the most sense.
Where to begin
If a business is unsure where to start, my advice is simple: begin with discovery. Understand what you have, how it supports the organisation, what it costs and what constraints apply before deciding where it should run. A focused assessment or health check can often reveal quick improvements while creating the evidence needed for a longer-term strategy.
Over the next few years, I expect cloud and hybrid strategies to become even more workload driven. AI will increase demand for flexible compute and data platforms, while costs, governance, sustainability and regulatory control will become central architectural considerations. Automation will also play a greater role in keeping increasingly complex environments secure, consistent and financially accountable.
If you would like to review your current environment, build a cloud or hybrid roadmap, or discuss a specific workload, get in touch with the Storm team. We can help identify the right starting point and turn it into a practical, achievable plan.
