Alliance Technical Group (Alliance TG) is a leader in providing innovative environmental monitoring solutions to industrial organizations such as refineries and chemical plants. Their mission is to help clients manage critical environmental data so they can readily comply with regulatory requirements, improve safety, and reduce their environmental footprint.

Alliance TG wanted to enhance their cloud infrastructure by transitioning to Microsoft Azure, focusing on four key areas:

1. Cost optimization: Alliance TG wanted to invest in infrastructure improvement, not waste budget on missteps or indecision.
2. Security: With competitive clients including innovative chemical plants, ensuring security is paramount to Alliance TG’s ability to build client relationships.
3. Fault tolerance: Correcting and avoiding any single point of failure would be essential to ensure Alliance TG could serve end clients continuously.
4. Scalability: Alliance TG’s ambitious growth goals require an infrastructure made for their future client load and service level agreements.

To ensure the Azure transition met the highest standards and aligned with industry best practices, Alliance TG engaged Altus Nova, a leading consultancy specializing in product strategy and technology implementation, for an in-depth assessment.

Altus Nova approached the project with a comprehensive, phased assessment that focused on aligning the Azure environment with Alliance TG’s strategic goals.

Discovery and Collaboration

Altus Nova worked closely with Alliance TG’s engineers to gain a deep understanding of their operational goals and the specific requirements of their clients.

To do it, Altus Nova conducted a series of environment "walk-throughs," to evaluate key services, application modules, and current configurations. This enabled the entire working team to identify areas of strength and potential gaps.

Deep Dive Analysis & Documentation

Following the initial Discovery phase, Altus Nova conducted a rigorous technical audit of the entire Azure environment, including networking, resources, and configurations. The audit was mapped against Microsoft's best practices and Altus Nova’s own implementation frameworks.

Microsoft's best practices and Altus Nova’s own implementation frameworks. Altus Nova documented key findings, providing clear feedback on:

• Elements of the Azure environment that were well-implemented.
• Gaps between the current setup and Microsoft’s best practices.
• Recommendations for aligning the infrastructure with cost optimization, security, fault tolerance, and scalability.

Recognizing Alliance TG’s resources and growth trajectory, Altus Nova developed a staged improvement roadmap that prioritized critical enhancements with the greatest impact.

In-Depth Walk-through and Knowledge Transfer

Altus Nova ensured that Alliance TG’s team fully understood the recommendations through detailed walk-throughs of findings. This was essential for empowering the team to take ownership of the roadmap and make strategic decisions that aligned with their operational and business objectives.

Following assessment delivery, Altus Nova remained available to the Alliance TG team to provide guidance and targeted support throughout the transition process.

Altus Nova played a pivotal role in helping Alliance TG align their Microsoft Azure infrastructure with best practices, providing the foundation for a scalable, secure, and cost-optimized cloud environment.

Collaborating with Altus Nova not only strengthened Alliance TG’s operations but also gave them a trusted advisor that could enable confident, strategic decision-making in a complex technological landscape. The Alliance TG team especially benefited from Altus Nova’s work in 4 key areas:

1. Confidence in Azure Implementation: Alliance TG gained confidence in their Azure infrastructure transition plan and it’s use of best practices, thereby creating real momentum towards improving business operations.
2. Prioritized Action Plan: Altus Nova’s assessment enabled Alliance TG to prioritize key improvement areas, ensuring their cloud environment is optimized for security, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and fault tolerance. security is paramount to Alliance TG’s ability to build client relationships.
3. Strategic Roadmap for Growth: With a clear, actionable roadmap, Alliance TG is now better positioned to scale their cloud operations to meet client demands while adhering to environmental monitoring regulations.
4. Executive-Level Validation: The assessment provided Alliance TG with the confidence and documentation needed to articulate and defend their cloud strategy to senior leadership and external stakeholders.