Case Study

Industry: Financial Services

Organisation Size: ~3,000 employees

RCS Role: Azure Governance & Platform Architecture Partner

Microsoft Platform: Azure Management Groups | Azure Policy | Terraform | Azure Security Baseline | RBAC

A global financial services organisation had expanded rapidly into Azure without a formalised governance structure.

Management groups lacked consistency, policy enforcement varied between environments, and security controls were not codified. As cloud adoption accelerated, operational risk and configuration drift increased.

The organisation required a structured governance model aligned to Microsoft best practice, one that could support secure growth without slowing delivery.

RCS conducted a governance maturity assessment across the Azure estate and redesigned the platform control structure from the ground up.

The engagement focused on establishing clear hierarchy, enforceable policy frameworks, and repeatable deployment standards.

Key elements included:

• Design and implementation of a structured Azure Management Group hierarchy
• Codified Azure Policy definitions aligned to regulatory and security requirements
• Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform for policy and platform deployment
• Standardised RBAC models aligned to least-privilege principles
• Automated compliance validation and configuration monitoring

Governance was treated as core architecture, not as a reactive control layer.

The organisation established a formalised governance foundation capable of supporting secure cloud growth.

• Consistent policy enforcement across environments
• Reduced configuration drift through codified controls
• Improved audit readiness and compliance visibility
• Clear separation of duties through structured RBAC models
• Stronger alignment to Microsoft security benchmarks

The result was a governed Azure environment designed to scale without increasing operational or regulatory risk.

• Structured management hierarchy implemented across Azure estate
• Policy framework codified through Infrastructure-as-Code
• Reduced manual security intervention
• Improved governance transparency at executive level

RCS designs Microsoft-aligned governance frameworks that embed policy enforcement, access control, and architectural discipline into your Azure foundation.

→ Contact us to discuss your cloud governance strategy.