How a healthcare organization built a scalable, cost-controlled Azure environment

Facing an aging data center and limited cloud experience, the customer partnered with SHI to build a structured, scalable path to Azure.

Challenge:

A U.S.-based healthcare organization was at a turning point. Its on-premises data center was nearing end-of-life, and the need to transition to a new environment was becoming urgent. At the same time, the organization did not have deep experience with cloud platforms, making it difficult to determine the right path forward.

The customer needed to evaluate which technologies could support a complex healthcare environment while meeting expectations around security and compliance. Questions around how to properly structure and manage a cloud environment added another layer of uncertainty. Cost was also a concern, particularly without a clear understanding of how usage and optimization would be handled over time.

While the move to the cloud was necessary, the organization needed guidance to avoid missteps and build something sustainable from the start.

Solution:

SHI worked closely with the customer to define a clear and practical approach to cloud adoption using Microsoft Azure. The engagement began with a series of workshops based on Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework, helping the customer better understand Azure services and how they aligned to their existing environment.

From there, SHI designed and implemented an Azure Landing Zone to establish the core structure of the new environment. This foundation addressed governance, security, and scalability, ensuring that future workloads could be deployed in a consistent and controlled way. Rather than treating migration as a one-time event, SHI focused on creating an environment that could support ongoing growth.

With that structure in place, SHI led the migration of more than 62 Windows Server workloads along with 15 SQL workloads into Azure infrastructure-as-a-service. The team also configured a secure cloud network and data center design, while introducing infrastructure as code through Azure DevOps and Terraform to support repeatable deployments.

Additional capabilities were added throughout the process, including Azure Site Recovery for resiliency, Microsoft Entra for identity management, and Azure Monitor with Log Analytics to provide visibility into system performance and activity.

Outcome:

The customer successfully transitioned away from its aging on-premises infrastructure and into a modern Azure environment without disruption to critical operations. The new platform provides the flexibility to scale as needed, while removing the burden of maintaining end-of-life hardware.

Operational efficiency improved as monitoring, alerting, and remediation processes became more automated. This reduced the level of manual intervention required from internal teams and created a more predictable operating model. At the same time, the organization gained clearer insight into its cloud usage, allowing for more informed decisions around cost management. Savings plans were introduced for key workloads, helping to further control spend. In all, the customer’s migration to Azure reduced operational overhead by roughly 25%.

The engagement also set the stage for continued progress. SHI identified opportunities to strengthen the environment over time, including enhancements to application availability and expanded disaster recovery capabilities across regions. Security improvements, such as tighter control over outbound access, were also outlined as part of the customer’s next phase.

What began as a required migration ultimately gave the organization a well-structured cloud environment and a clearer path forward.