Public Cloud - SCC UK

Why it matters

Many organisations run mission-critical applications on infrastructure tightly coupled to on-premises data centres. Governance processes were designed for traditional infrastructure – change control boards, procurement cycles, capacity planning months in advance. This governance doesn’t fit the speed and elasticity that public cloud enables. Teams struggle to adopt cloud-native patterns because legacy operating models treat cloud resources like traditional infrastructure. Some organisations start migrating workloads to public cloud without clarity on migration approach – some workloads are lifted as-is without optimisation, others are modernised unnecessarily, consuming expensive engineering time. The result is a fragmented public cloud estate that doesn’t deliver expected agility or cost benefits.

SCC delivers Public Cloud migration and operations services that align your governance and operating model to how public cloud actually works. We assess your workloads and define a migration approach that balances speed with optimisation – some workloads lift efficiently as-is, others benefit from cloud-native refactoring. We establish governance controls that enable team autonomy without losing cost or security oversight. We migrate workloads into public cloud platforms configured for your compliance requirements, then maintain those platforms through ongoing optimisation and cost governance. This turns public cloud from an experiment running parallel to traditional infrastructure into the foundation for scaled application delivery.

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Define and prioritise workload migration sequencing so your teams know what moves when, eliminating months of discovery and reducing migration risk.

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Establish cost visibility and controls across public cloud platforms so spending remains predictable and aligned to business value, not infrastructure sprawl.

Key features

Workload assessment and migration planning

We categorise your workloads by migration complexity, dependency chains and business priority. This assessment drives the decision to lift-and-shift workloads efficiently or invest in cloud-native refactoring for applications that benefit from it. The result is a sequenced migration plan that balances speed with optimisation, preventing both reckless lift-and-shift of complex workloads and unnecessary modernisation of simple ones.

Cloud-native application design and refactoring

Some applications genuinely benefit from cloud-native architecture – containerisation, serverless functions, managed databases. We help identify which applications warrant this investment, then guide the refactoring so applications use cloud platform capabilities without architectural rework that doesn’t align with business value. This includes microservices design, container orchestration strategy and API-driven integration.

Migration execution and workload optimisation

We manage the migration process itself – provisioning cloud infrastructure, validating connectivity, migrating data and applications, testing and cutover. During migration, we optimise workload configurations so applications run efficiently in public cloud rather than defaulting to over-sized infrastructure. This is where cloud cost benefits are realised.

Governance, cost and security controls

We establish governance frameworks that work at public cloud scale – identity integration, cost budgeting and alerting, security policies aligned to your compliance requirements, and change management that enables teams to deploy at speed without losing oversight. This makes public cloud safe for regulated industries and enterprise organisations where governance oversight cannot be bypassed.

How it works

Step 1

Assess and align workloads to cloud capabilities

We conduct a detailed workload assessment that maps applications to cloud platform capabilities. This includes performance requirements, data volumes, compliance constraints, licence models and team skillset. The assessment answers the question: which public cloud platform (AWS, Azure, GCP) is the best fit for each workload and why?

Step 2

Design cloud platform architecture and governance

Based on assessment, we design your cloud platform infrastructure including networking, identity integration, cost visibility, security policies and compliance controls. We establish cost budgets and governance guardrails that enable teams to deploy without escalation while maintaining cost discipline and security visibility.

Step 3

Migrate and optimise workloads to public cloud

We execute the migration sequence defined in the plan. For each workload, we provision cloud infrastructure, validate connectivity, migrate data and applications, run testing and execute cutover. Throughout migration, we optimise workload resource configurations so infrastructure is right-sized for actual demand, not over-provisioned.

Step 4

Secure and govern the running estate

Once workloads are running in public cloud, we establish operational governance – cost monitoring and chargeback, security policy enforcement, identity and access controls, and change management processes. This prevents the common post-migration problem of uncontrolled cloud spending and security drift.

Step 5

Optimise and evolve your cloud platform continuously

After migration, we continuously monitor application performance and cloud spending. We identify optimisation opportunities – unused resources, inefficient workload configurations, cost anomalies – and execute optimisations that reduce cost or improve performance. We also help your teams evolve cloud-native practices and application architecture as they become familiar with public cloud platforms.

Insights and case studies

I use the term, ‘my Service Support Team’ because I don’t see them as SCC anymore, I see that family, that whole which is really important to me, as my teams, we work as one. Forget your badge or which company you work for, forget all of that, we’re on the same mission, we’re here together and we’re here to do a good job. Together.
Vic Sharma, Global Head of Service Operations, 10x

Partners

SCC’s public cloud delivery is built on deep partnerships with leading cloud platforms and the infrastructure and tools that enable safe, efficient cloud adoption at scale.

Ready to accelerate your public cloud adoption?

Public cloud migration requires clear strategy, expert execution and governance that enables speed without losing control. If you’re planning first cloud migration or optimising an existing estate, SCC’s proven methodology minimises risk and maximises value.

Speak to a specialist

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FAQs

When should we move workloads to public cloud?

The decision depends on workload characteristics and business constraints. Stateless applications, development and test environments, batch processing workloads, and applications with variable demand are good candidates for immediate public cloud migration. Applications with regulatory constraints requiring data residency, those with high-latency sensitivity, or those tightly coupled to on-premises infrastructure may require hybrid solutions instead. SCC’s workload assessment identifies which workloads should move first and why.

Can public cloud reduce our costs?

Yes, but only if workloads are optimised for cloud economics. Virtual machine sizes matter – running over-sized instances to replicate on-premises hardware wastes money. Managed services (databases, caching, queues) are often cheaper than running these services on virtual infrastructure. Auto-scaling eliminates paying for peak capacity when workload is idle. The cost reductions come from optimisation and cloud-native patterns, not from simply moving existing workloads unchanged. SCC’s optimisation work focuses on realising these benefits.

Is public cloud secure enough for regulated workloads?

Yes. Public cloud platforms hold compliance certifications including ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, and industry-specific certifications (PCI-DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP). Cloud platforms have greater security depth than most on-premises data centres. The challenge is implementing appropriate governance controls – identity, access, data encryption, audit logging – so your workloads are secure despite running in shared infrastructure. SCC’s governance framework ensures regulated workloads remain compliant in public cloud.

How do we avoid vendor lock-in with public cloud?

Some cloud lock-in is inevitable and often desirable – using managed services instead of self-managed infrastructure reduces operational burden. However, you can mitigate lock-in through architectural decisions: using industry standards (Kubernetes, Docker, open-source databases) instead of proprietary services, structuring data to be exportable, and maintaining exit strategies for critical workloads. SCC’s migration planning addresses these decisions upfront so you understand trade-offs between operational simplicity and portability.

How long does a typical public cloud migration take?

Timescale depends on estate complexity, migration sequencing and organisational readiness. Simple migrations of 10-20 homogeneous workloads typically complete in 3-6 months. Larger programmes with 100+ heterogeneous workloads spanning multiple teams take 12-18 months. Critical to success is realistic sequencing – migrating workloads in waves rather than attempting to move everything simultaneously. This allows your teams to develop cloud skills and refine governance processes on earlier waves before tackling complex workloads.