Cloud Migration & DevOps for UK SaaS, Fintech, and Regulated Teams
Cloud migration is the process of moving your applications, databases, and infrastructure off on-premise servers or a current provider onto a cloud platform like AWS, with low downtime. MicroPyramid is a 12-year-old senior-led team that migrates UK startups, SaaS, and regulated teams to AWS and runs the DevOps that keeps them there: assessment, low-downtime cutover, Infrastructure as Code, and CI/CD.
What a UK Cloud Migration Actually Involves
A cloud migration moves your workloads (applications, databases, file storage, and the infrastructure around them) off ageing on-premise servers or a costly current provider and onto a cloud platform, almost always AWS for UK teams. The move can be a like-for-like lift-and-shift, a re-platform onto managed services such as RDS and ECS, or a deeper re-architecture into containers and serverless. The right approach depends on your timeline, your risk appetite, and how much technical debt you want to leave behind.
For UK businesses the constraints are specific. Enterprise customers increasingly ask where data is stored before they sign; the ICO holds you accountable under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018; and regulated sectors (fintech, proptech, healthtech, and public sector) expect data residency and audit trails as a baseline. Deploying to AWS eu-west-2 (London) keeps production data, backups, and infrastructure inside the UK, with eu-west-1 (Ireland) available for EU workloads where it fits.
We plan every migration around low downtime rather than a risky big-bang cutover: dependencies and total cost of ownership are mapped first, data moves with change-data-capture replication, infrastructure is defined in Terraform so it is reviewable and reproducible, and CI/CD pipelines make releases routine. After go-live we right-size for cost in GBP terms and support your team during UK working hours, so the migration is the start of a stable platform, not a new set of fires to fight.
Why UK Teams Migrate With Us
Four reasons UK founders and engineering leads choose MicroPyramid for cloud migration and DevOps over a local agency or a generic offshore team
Morning Standups During UK Hours
We maintain approximately 4.5 hours of daily overlap with UK working hours. During a migration that means live standups, same-day cutover decisions, and pipeline reviews before your afternoon, not a status update you read the next morning.
UK GDPR, ICO & Data Residency
We understand the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (regulator: the ICO). Migration architecture, storage, and third-party choices are made with compliance in mind, and AWS eu-west-2 (London) keeps UK data in-country, with eu-west-1 (Ireland) available where it genuinely fits.
GBP Billing & AWS Spend Control
Our invoices are in GBP, collected via Stripe or GoCardless Direct Debit, no currency-conversion friction. We also help you read and control your AWS bill in GBP terms, so cloud cost stays predictable rather than creeping up quietly.
Senior Ownership, Zero-Drama Cutovers
Founders and senior engineers own every migration directly. You will not be handed to a junior delivery layer mid-cutover. The person who scopes your assessment is the person planning your zero or low-downtime move to AWS.
Cloud & DevOps Services for UK Teams
Six services covering the full journey: from AWS migration and data moves to Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, and ongoing cost control
Cloud Migration to AWS
Move workloads off ageing on-premise servers or a costly current provider onto AWS: lift-and-shift, re-platform, or re-architect, scoped to your risk appetite. UK data stays in eu-west-2 (London) where residency matters.
- Lift-and-shift or re-platform
- AWS eu-west-2 (London) residency
- Dependency and TCO mapping
Database & Data Migration
Migrate PostgreSQL, MySQL, and managed databases with low-downtime cutovers and full validation. We use change-data-capture replication so UK production data moves without data loss or extended outages.
- CDC replication for low downtime
- RDS and Aurora managed migration
- Validation and rollback plans
Containerisation & Re-architecture
Repackage applications into Docker containers and run them on ECS or EKS, or move targeted workloads to serverless. Cloud-native architecture that auto-scales for UK SaaS and proptech traffic patterns.
- Docker and ECS/EKS
- Serverless where it fits
- Auto-scaling and high availability
CI/CD Pipelines
Replace manual deploys with automated GitHub Actions pipelines: build, test, and ship on every merge. Your UK team gets repeatable releases, faster cycles, and far fewer late-night deployment incidents.
- GitHub Actions pipelines
- Automated testing and rollbacks
- Staging and production parity
Infrastructure as Code
Define your whole cloud estate in Terraform so it is versioned, reviewable, and reproducible. No more snowflake servers nobody dares touch. Every change goes through code review, the way your UK team already works.
- Terraform-managed infrastructure
- Reproducible environments
- Reviewable, audited changes
Cost Optimisation & Managed Cloud
Get your AWS spend under control in GBP terms: right-sizing, reserved capacity, and ongoing monitoring. We keep the lights on after go-live with senior support during UK working hours, not a faceless queue.
- AWS spend control in GBP terms
- Right-sizing and reserved capacity
- Ongoing monitoring and support
UK Teams We Work Best With
If any of these situations match where your UK team is right now, a cloud conversation is worth having
UK Teams Still on On-Premise
You are paying for servers, cooling, and hardware refresh cycles. You want to move to AWS to cut capital cost and stop firefighting infrastructure, without a risky big-bang cutover.
UK SaaS Outgrowing Its Hosting
Your fintech, proptech, or SaaS product is hitting scaling limits or over-provisioned to handle spikes. You need cloud-native architecture that auto-scales without burning budget.
Regulated Industries Needing Data Residency
You handle personal or financial data and need UK data residency, audit trails, and ICO-aware architecture. AWS eu-west-2 (London) keeps your data in-country where it must stay.
Teams With Manual, Fragile Deploys
Releases are manual, scary, and infrequent. You want CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code so deploys become routine, not an event the whole team dreads.
Companies With Runaway AWS Bills
Your cloud spend has crept up and nobody is quite sure why. You need a senior review, right-sizing, and ongoing cost discipline measured in GBP, not vague promises.
Teams With Limited DevOps Bandwidth
Your engineers are busy shipping product, not managing infrastructure. You need a senior external partner to own migration and DevOps with morning standups during UK hours.
Best Fit For
- UK fintech, proptech, SaaS, and regulated teams moving to AWS with data residency in mind
- startups and SMBs that need a low-downtime migration owned end-to-end by senior engineers
- teams that want CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and repeatable deploys instead of manual releases
- companies that need their AWS spend brought under control and kept there in GBP terms
Not the Right Fit When
- one-off server tweaks with no migration, automation, or architecture work behind them
- engagements looking only for hands to run an existing pipeline without ownership
- multi-cloud strategies where AWS is explicitly off the table from the start
- teams wanting a cloud badge rather than measurable cost, reliability, or residency outcomes
If you also need new product features built on top of the migrated stack, see UK Product Engineering.
Public proof for UK teams: Bough Digital is a UK client we built and ran cloud infrastructure for, and Refactored.ai shows containerised, cloud-hosted delivery at scale.
How a UK Cloud Migration Runs
A structured, senior-led process that minimises downtime and risk: assessment and architecture before anything moves to AWS
Discovery & Assessment
We audit your current infrastructure, map dependencies, and calculate total cost of ownership and realistic AWS savings before anything moves.
Architecture & Residency Design
We design the target AWS architecture with high availability, disaster recovery, and UK data residency in eu-west-2 (London) baked in from the start.
Migrate With IaC & Low Downtime
We provision with Terraform, migrate data with CDC replication, wire up CI/CD, and run a controlled cutover that keeps downtime to a minimum.
Optimise & Support
After go-live we monitor, right-size for cost, tune performance, and support your UK team, with senior ownership, not a ticket queue.
The Stack Behind UK Cloud Delivery
AWS-native compute and data, with Terraform and GitHub Actions for repeatable delivery, deployed to eu-west-2 (London) for UK data residency, or eu-west-1 (Ireland) where it fits
Compute & Containers
Data & Storage
IaC & CI/CD
How to Get Started as a UK Team
We recommend starting with a Cloud Assessment: a senior audit, migration roadmap, and AWS cost projection before any move. All engagements billed in GBP.
Cloud Assessment
A senior audit of your current infrastructure with a migration roadmap, AWS cost projection in GBP, and a clear residency plan, before you commit to a full move.
- Infrastructure and dependency audit
- Migration strategy and roadmap
- AWS cost projection in GBP
- UK data residency plan
Full Migration
End-to-end migration to AWS with Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, low-downtime cutover, and a defined post-go-live support window for your UK team.
- End-to-end AWS migration
- IaC and CI/CD set up
- Low-downtime cutover and post-go-live support
Managed Cloud & DevOps
Ongoing management of your AWS estate (monitoring, cost optimisation, security, and pipeline maintenance) with live standups aligned to UK working hours.
- Monitoring and incident response
- Cost optimisation in GBP terms
- Retainer or time-and-material
UK Clients and Selected Work
Products we have hosted, migrated, and run on the cloud for UK clients and international teams, including Bough Digital and Refactored.ai.
Bough Digital
UK-based digital agency platform: campaign management, client dashboards, and analytics, with cloud infrastructure built for a demanding UK agency client.
UK client story
Refactored
Interactive Python learning platform with AI-assisted exercises and assessments, cloud-hosted, containerised, and scaled for concurrent learners.
Read case study
PRO Music Tutor
Premium online music learning platform connecting students with world-class instructors, full-stack delivery on managed cloud infrastructure.
See portfolio
CREDITABLE
Employee financial wellness platform for savings, loans, and workplace financial services, fintech-adjacent product on secure, scalable cloud.
See more workUK Cloud Migration FAQs
Straight answers to what UK founders, CTOs, and engineering leads ask us most.
What is cloud migration?
Cloud migration is the process of moving your applications, databases, file storage, and the infrastructure around them off on-premise servers or a current hosting provider onto a cloud platform such as AWS. It can be a like-for-like lift-and-shift, a re-platform onto managed services like RDS and ECS, or a deeper re-architecture into containers and serverless, chosen to match your timeline and risk appetite. Done well, you come out with lower-maintenance infrastructure that scales on demand, with UK data resident in AWS eu-west-2 (London).
Can you migrate to the cloud with zero or low downtime?
Yes, for most workloads. We keep the old and new systems in sync using change-data-capture (CDC) replication, rehearse the cutover in a staging environment, and keep a tested rollback plan ready, so the switch happens in a short, controlled window, often with no user-facing downtime at all. For UK SaaS and fintech teams where an outage means lost revenue or an SLA breach, the cutover is planned around your quietest traffic window.
Where will our data be stored, and can you guarantee UK data residency?
By default we deploy to AWS eu-west-2 (London), so your production data, backups, and infrastructure stay inside the UK, with eu-west-1 (Ireland) available for EU workloads where it genuinely fits. Keeping data in eu-west-2 is how we meet the UK data-residency expectations that enterprise customers, the ICO, and regulated sectors increasingly require before they will sign.
Is a cloud migration UK GDPR compliant?
It is when residency, access, and auditability are designed in from the start. We build to the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (regulator: the ICO): data encrypted in transit and at rest, least-privilege IAM, audit logging, and a signed AWS Data Processing Agreement. You retain full ownership of all data, code, and infrastructure, and we sign an NDA before any work begins.
Which cloud should we choose: AWS, Azure, or GCP?
It depends on your stack, your team’s skills, and the managed services you need. AWS is the safe default for most UK startups and SMBs given its breadth, its London region, and the UK hiring market; Azure suits Microsoft-centric or enterprise estates; GCP is strong for data and Kubernetes-heavy workloads. We make a recommendation in the assessment rather than pushing one platform. Most of our delivery is AWS-native, deployed to eu-west-2 (London).
How long does a UK cloud migration take?
A single application typically takes a few weeks end to end; a multi-app SaaS platform is usually a couple of months; and a large or compliance-heavy estate runs longer as a phased programme. Because we use AI-assisted engineering for assessment, Infrastructure as Code, and testing, our timelines are materially shorter than a traditional consultancy. You get a realistic schedule in the assessment, before anything moves.
We have a legacy Django or Python app. Can you migrate and modernise it at the same time?
Yes. Django and Python are core to what we do. In a single engagement we can migrate the app to AWS and modernise the codebase (fixing performance and security issues, upgrading dependencies, and adding AI features) so you come out with a cleaner, future-ready product rather than the same technical debt running on new infrastructure. For deeper legacy rescue work, see our UK Modernization & Migration service.
Do you provide ongoing DevOps support after go-live, during UK hours?
Yes. Every migration includes post-go-live support and a documentation handover. If you want ongoing help, our Managed Cloud & DevOps engagement covers monitoring, incident response, cost control, security, and pipeline maintenance, with live standups during UK working hours, not a status update you read the next morning. We maintain roughly 4.5 hours of daily overlap with UK time.
Do we own the infrastructure and code?
Yes. You own all infrastructure, Terraform, pipelines, and application code we build, committed to your repositories and provisioned in your own AWS account as we go. There is no vendor lock-in: if you later bring DevOps fully in-house, everything is documented and reproducible. The senior engineers who scope your assessment are the same people who run the cutover and stay reachable afterwards.
Move Your UK Workloads to the Cloud, Without the Chaos
If you need a senior-led team with UK working-hours overlap, GBP billing, and data residency in eu-west-2 (London), we are ready to talk. We start with a clear assessment and a migration plan built around low downtime, not a leap of faith.