Re-Architecting the Future: Cloud Modernisation for a Global Investment Bank
“SPG gave us clarity, control, and confidence. They moved fast, but never at the expense of rigour.”
— Head of Platforms, UK Retail Bank
The Challenge
A global investment bank had embarked on a wide-ranging digital transformation programme, migrating several business-critical applications to the cloud. However, one flagship application remained a bottleneck: a tightly coupled monolith that made development cycles slow, testing painful, and production releases inflexible. The platform’s architecture severely constrained the frequency and agility of change.
In addition, there was significant operational friction between infrastructure and application teams. Clear demarcation lines were lacking, and the release process depended on multiple service lines at different points - making change management overly complex and inconsistent.
Our Approach
SPG was chosen for its speed, independence, and proven delivery methods. Using our Lightning Insight methodology, we rapidly produced actionable outputs through fast, iterative cycles, helping the client avoid protracted consultancy timelines.
A key barrier was cost: any move to the cloud needed to be demonstrably better value than the existing setup. We developed a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model comparing the proposed architecture against the current on-prem costs. This was used as a foundation for business case approval.
We also:
Assessed the legacy platform’s architecture to identify constraints and migration readiness.
Conducted a feasibility study across major cloud platforms.
Recommended the best-fit cloud vendor and services, prioritising agility, cost-efficiency, and future scalability.
The Results
🟣 A modernised cloud-native architecture—going beyond “lift and shift” to deliver long-term strategic value.
🟣 A clear, de-risked roadmap to transformation, unlocking previously blocked progress.
🟣 Confident vendor/platform selection with quantified cost justification.
🟣 Stakeholder alignment and board-level approval, based on SPG’s evidence-led business case.