Client Sector: Public an private services

Industry: Global Asset Management

Legacy Stack: .NET Framework 4.8, IIS, SQL Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, VMware

Users: 12,000 active wealth managers and institutional clients across EMEA and North America

Annual AUM: £87B

Background

The product is a widely recognised asset management platform specialising in multi-asset portfolio intelligence and risk analytics. The legacy monolithic architecture—built on Microsoft technologies—relied on on-premise infrastructure and presented growing concerns regarding security, compliance, scalability, and operational resilience. With client demand surging, AxiaInvest launched a modernisation programme aimed at ensuring platform scalability, 99.99% availability, and deeper integration with external APIs in the fintech ecosystem.

Cloud Strategy & Platform Evaluation

Given the company's deep reliance on Microsoft technologies, two cloud providers were shortlisted: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. A vendor-agnostic assessment was led by CloudFabric using a 7-factor framework:

• Technology Stack Compatibility
• Regulatory Alignment (FCA, MiFID II, GDPR)
• Identity Integration
• PaaS Maturity & Developer Experience
• Cost Efficiency Over 5 Years
• Security & Threat Detection Tooling
• Data Migration Complexity

Azure emerged as the strategic fit based on tight integration with Active Directory, lower replatforming friction, and the ability to leverage Azure Hybrid Benefits and Reserved Instances for long-term cost optimisation.

Architecture Modernisation Highlights

1. SQL Server Migration to Azure SQL

• 1.4 TB of OLTP data migrated using Azure Data Factory with Transactional Replication and Change Tracking.
• Downtime window: 42 minutes.
• Automated schema assessments performed using DMA (Data Migration Assistant) revealed only 3% of stored procedures required remediation due to deprecated functions.
• Post-migration performance: 41% improvement in average query duration; elastic pools smoothed peak-hour volatility.

2. From IaaS to Azure Web Apps (PaaS)

• Legacy ASP.NET MVC application containerised using Azure App Service for Linux.
• Staging slots: enabled blue/green zero-downtime deployments (3 releases/week vs. 1/month pre-migration).
• Azure Front Door implemented for global traffic optimisation and intelligent failover.
• Custom domain onboarding with end-to-end TLS via Key Vault-managed certificates.

Security & Compliance Enhancements

• Azure AD Conditional Access: Enforced MFA, device health compliance and geo-aware policies.
• Privileged Identity Management (PIM): Reduced persistent admin accounts by 83%.
• Azure Policy & Blueprints: Automated guardrails aligned with CIS Level 1 benchmarks.
• Defender for Cloud: Enabled real-time threat detection and alert enrichment, decreasing false positives by 28%.

Operational Outcomes

Strategic Takeaways

• Azure’s PaaS-first model significantly reduced TCO and technical debt compared to AWS’s heavier emphasis on IaaS for .NET workloads.
• Replatforming using Azure Web Apps enabled faster innovation cycles and production readiness.
• Integration with Microsoft Defender and Azure Policy enabled audit-ready compliance posture in under 90 days.
• The decision to adopt Azure SQL (vs. managed SQL on AWS RDS) preserved SQL Agent functionality and allowed hybrid-join compatibility during the transition phase.

Conclusion

CloudFabric's engagement ensured that AxiaInvest’s cloud journey was not just technically sound, but business-aligned. The migration to Microsoft Azure empowered their team with greater agility, predictable costs, and platform-level resilience—while elevating both client experience and regulatory confidence. In the competitive landscape of asset management, secure, scalable innovation has become a differentiator. And with Azure, the company is now positioned to lead.