Azure Cloud Re-Architecture and Security Modernization for a North American Financial Services Organization

Executive Summary

A North American financial services organization partnered with atQor to modernize and re-architect its Azure environment to support scalability, security, regulatory compliance, and long-term operational resilience. The organization had already adopted Azure but was operating on a legacy, single-subscription model that limited governance, increased risk, and constrained growth.

atQor delivered a fully implemented Azure re-architecture, aligned with Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and Well-Architected Framework (WAF). The engagement transformed the customer’s Azure estate into a secure, hub-and-spoke, enterprise-ready landing zone with enhanced networking, governance, disaster recovery, and security operations—positioning the organization for future digital growth and regulatory confidence.

The customer is a North American financial services organization operating in a highly regulated environment, supporting mission-critical banking workloads, internal productivity platforms, and customer-facing systems.

Their Azure environment hosted:

Core infrastructure services (identity, messaging, application servers)
Hybrid connectivity with on-premises systems
Security and monitoring tooling
Multiple production and non-production workloads

As cloud adoption accelerated, leadership recognized the need to move from an initial Azure footprint to a fully governed, enterprise-scale architecture.

Industry Financial Services
Region Canada

Business Challenges

Key challenges driving the re-architecture initiative included:

Single Subscription Constraint
Production, non-production, and development workloads were hosted together, limiting isolation, governance, and cost transparency.
Network Complexity and Scalability Risks
Growing workloads strained existing VNet peering and VPN-based connectivity.
Security and Compliance Gaps
Lack of centralized security inspection, inconsistent policy enforcement, and limited Zero Trust controls.
Disaster Recovery Limitations
Existing DR capabilities required modernization to meet regulatory RTO/RPO expectations.

Operational Inefficiencies
Legacy VM SKUs, decentralized monitoring, and manual governance increased cost and operational overhead.

atQor’s Approach & Solution

atQor delivered a complete Azure re-architecture, grounded in Microsoft best practices and tailored for regulated financial services environments.

Core Design Principles

Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF)–aligned landing zones
Hub-and-spoke network topology using Azure Virtual WAN
Zero Trust security model
Policy-driven governance and compliance
Resiliency-by-design with high availability and disaster recovery

Architecture & Implementation Highlights

Enterprise CAF Landing Zone

Designed and implemented an enterprise-scale CAF landing zone
Structured management groups, subscriptions, and policies
Enforced standardized naming, tagging, and governance controls
Enabled cost visibility, RBAC, and policy-based compliance

Hub-and-Spoke Network Architecture

Implemented Azure Virtual WAN (vWAN) as the centralized network hub
Segregated production and non-production workloads into isolated spokes
Enabled secure hybrid connectivity via Site-to-Site VPN with future-ready ExpressRoute design
Centralized traffic inspection and routing

Advanced Security Architecture

Deployed centralized firewall architecture (Azure Firewall or Fortinet FortiGate NGFW)
Implemented Azure Bastion for secure, JIT-based administrative access
Enforced Zero Trust principles across network, identity, and access layers
Protected public-facing workloads using Azure Front Door with OWASP WAF

Private Connectivity for Sensitive Workloads

Implemented Azure Private Link and Private Endpoints
Eliminated public internet exposure for critical PaaS services
Centralized private DNS resolution using Azure DNS Private Resolver
Strengthened regulatory compliance and reduced attack surface

High Availability & Disaster Recovery

Deployed Availability Sets for critical infrastructure (identity, messaging, application servers)
Implemented Azure Site Recovery (ASR) for cross-region disaster recovery
Established a passive DR region with automated failover and failback
Validated RTO/RPO through structured DR planning

Monitoring, Governance & Security Operations

Centralized monitoring using Azure Monitor and Log Analytics
Implemented Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM/SOAR capabilities
Enforced Azure Policy for compliance, security, and configuration drift prevention
Delivered governance dashboards and operational insights

Compute Optimization

Upgraded legacy VM SKUs to modern v6 series
Improved price-performance ratios and future-proofed workloads
Reduced operational cost while increasing performance and reliability

Business Outcomes & Value Delivered

The engagement delivered tangible, enterprise-grade outcomes:

Enterprise-Ready Azure Foundation
A scalable, secure, and CAF-aligned cloud architecture.
Improved Security & Compliance Posture
Centralized security enforcement, Zero Trust controls, and audit-ready governance.
Enhanced Resiliency
High availability and disaster recovery aligned with regulatory expectations.
Operational Efficiency & Cost Optimization
Optimized compute, centralized monitoring, and policy-driven governance.
Future-Proof Cloud Strategy
Architecture designed to support future workloads, AI initiatives, and regulatory change.