About Me

I am a Microsoft certified Azure Solutions Architect with over 25 years' experience in the Microsoft Space offering Azure consulting services in South Africa and internationally.
I have a BSc(hons) degree in Computer Science from Rhodes University and currently working full time as a Software Developer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
My Azure consulting services are very much a part-time endeveur at the moment but I am working towards building a full time Azure consulting company.

Azure credentials

Microsoft Certification
Dashboard
Microsoft Certification
Dashboard
Microsoft Certification
Dashboard
Microsoft Certification
Dashboard

Services I offer


Migrations

Do you want to migrate some or all of your existing infrastructure to Azure?

I make use ofthe Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework to help you plan and manage every step of your migration journey. The Cloud Adoption Framework is proven guidance that’s designed to help you create andimplement the business and technology strategies necessary for your organization to succeed in the cloud. It provides best practices, documentation, and tools that cloud architects, IT professionals, and business decision makers need to successfully achieve their short- and long-term objectives.



Cloud First Deployments

Starting a new business in the cloud?

If you’re looking to integrate the cloud into your business strategy, the best time to start is right now. The most comprehensive way to do this is to adopt something known as a Cloud-First Strategy.
A cloud-first strategy has the power of tools and services working together to get the job done with ease. It allows you to work from anywhere, and in the wake of the recent pandemic, cloud-first strategies and cloud computing have created a work-from-home space for employees where you can access data, tools, and storage access from anywhere in the world.
One of the greatest benefits of adopting a cloud first strategy is cost savings. Building and managing your own hardware to host your applications takes time, money and resources. There’s always something that needs to be updated, replaced, or repaired, and with that upkeep comes equipment and employee costs. While moving to a third-party provider incurs a monthly fee, this fee is usually less than all of the hours and resources spent managing applications and servers internally. Because of this, businesses who take a cloud first strategy see a reduction in hosting costs, equipment, licensing and labor costs. As businesses grow and data volumes increase, there becomes an increasing need to scale. Having the ability to scale differentiates a thriving business, from one that is overwhelmed and underprepared for growth. However, when data and applications are managed internally,scaling can be complicated, time-intensive, and expensive. Between equipment purchases and growing your infrastructure design, scaling from the inside is a large undertaking for your IT department and your budget.
I make use of the Well-Architected Framework—a set of proven best practices , to ensure that running high-performing Azure workloads continuously achieve business value over time with the in a secure and cost-efficient manner.



Administration


Already have existing Azure deployments?


An Azure Administrator implements, manages, and monitors identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment. The Azure Administrator will provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources as appropriate. An Azure administrator often serves as part of a larger team dedicated to implementing an organization's cloud infrastructure. Azure administrators also coordinate with other roles to deliver Azure networking, security, database, application development, and DevOps solutions.
Some examples of Azure infrastructure I can manage on your behalf:

  • Virtual Machines
  • Kubernetes Clusters
  • Azure AD
  • Point to Site and Site to Site VPNs
  • Virtual networks
  • Backup and recovery
  • SQL Server
  • Cosmos DB
  • Web Apps and App Services

Development Consulting


Need help migrating your custom developed in-house solutions to Azure?

When considering app modernization (or migration), I can identify and recommend the best strategy to support your move to the cloud. Existing architecture, system dependencies, size and a host of business factors (opportunity, cost drivers etc.) will all factor to define the best approach.

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  • Rehost: Commonly known as “lift and shift”, this option lets you migrate your existing applications to Azure quickly without the risks or costs of making code changes.
  • Refactor: Is a cloud migration strategy that calls for only minimum new code and configuration changes necessary to leverage Azure PaaS and take advantage of the cloud.
  • Rearchitect: Sometimes called redesign or re-platform, this modernization approach extends an application's code base to optimize the application architecture for cloud scale.
  • Rebuild or Replace: This approach suggests starting from scratch using cloud native technologies (i.e., PaaS)

contact: chris@azure-migrations.co.za