Cloud Services
This page is for organisations that run software, not ones that write it. You have an accounting system, a website, a file server, perhaps a line-of-business application, and you want them somewhere safer than the machine under the stairs. Or they are already in the cloud and the bill has become a surprise each month.
We do three things: move systems into a cloud account that belongs to you, examine what you are paying for, and arrange matters so that a failure is noticed early and recovered from quickly.
Where we can be useful
Migration
From an office server, a rented machine or a shared host into a cloud account. Applications, databases, files, email routing and DNS, moved in an order that keeps the business running.
Cost review
A line-by-line reading of the bill against what is really in use. You receive a list of changes with the monthly amount each one affects.
Reliability
Backups that restore, monitoring that reaches a person, and a design in which one failed disk or zone does not stop work.
A migration in five moves
The technical part is rarely what goes wrong. Forgotten dependencies are.
Inventory
Every application, database, scheduled task, shared folder, printer mapping and firewall rule. Including the script somebody wrote long ago that emails a report each Monday.
Target design
Which services go on virtual machines, which on managed databases, how the network is divided and who may sign in to what.
Rehearsal
A full copy is moved and tested by your staff while the original stays in service. Timings from the rehearsal set the length of the real window.
Cut-over
A planned window, DNS changed with short lifetimes set beforehand, and a written route back if a check fails.
Settling in
The old server is kept switched off but intact for an agreed period. Monitoring thresholds are tuned once real traffic is seen.
Where cloud money usually leaks
We cannot promise a figure before looking. These are the places we look.
Machines sized for a peak that never came
Processor and memory graphs over a month show whether an instance two sizes smaller would cope.
Things left running
Test environments from a finished project, unattached disks, old snapshots, idle load balancers and unused public IP addresses.
Data transfer
Traffic between regions or out to the internet is billed by volume. A content delivery network or a change of region can alter it sharply.
Storage in the wrong class
Archives read once a year are often kept on the fastest and dearest tier. Lifecycle rules move them automatically.
Pay-as-you-go for steady load
A server that runs all year is cheaper on a commitment plan. We show the break-even and the risk of committing.
No tags, no owner
When resources are not labelled by system and department, nobody can say which cost belongs to whom.
A baseline for any production system
We check each item and report which are in place, which are missing and what each would cost to add.
- Automated backups with a retention period you chose
- Copies held in a second region or account
- A restore performed and timed
- Database able to fail over to a standby
- Health checks that remove a failed server from service
- Alerts sent to a phone, with a named person responsible
- Multi-factor sign-in on every administrator account
- No access keys stored in code or shared documents
- Infrastructure described in code so it can be rebuilt
- A one-page runbook for the most likely failures
Cloud engineering rates
Our rates are published. Pick the role and move the sliders for an indicative budget.
Rate card
| Role | Hourly | Monthly* |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend / WordPress | AED 110 | AED 17,600 |
| Backend / API | AED 118 | AED 18,880 |
| Full-stack | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| Mobile (React Native / Flutter) | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| DevOps / Cloud | AED 147 | AED 23,520 |
| AI / Automation engineer | AED 165 | AED 26,400 |
| QA / Test engineer | AED 92 | AED 14,720 |
| UI / UX design | AED 103 | AED 16,480 |
*160 hrs/month full-time. Rates are indicative for planning, in UAE dirhams (converted from our US-dollar rates at the fixed peg of 3.6725), before VAT where applicable, and depend on seniority, contract length and timezone overlap. Longer engagements and multi-role teams are discounted — ask.
Is the cloud right for this system?
Moving makes sense when
- Hardware is due for replacement and you would rather not buy again.
- Staff work from several sites or from home.
- Demand rises and falls through the year.
- You need backups held away from the building.
Staying put may be wiser when
- The load is steady, the server is recent and someone looks after it well.
- Software licences forbid or heavily penalise cloud hosting.
- Machines on the factory floor need responses that a distant data centre cannot give.
- Your internet connection is slow or unreliable and cannot be improved.
Points raised by owners and finance teams
How much will we save?
We do not know until the review is done, and we will not quote a percentage in advance. Some reviews find a great deal, others find a well-run account.
Which provider is best?
For most business workloads the three large providers are comparable. The deciding factors are usually where your users are, what your software vendor supports and what your staff already know.
Who pays the cloud bill?
You pay the provider directly on your own card or invoice. We add no margin to it and do not resell hosting.
Where will our data be stored?
In the region you select. If a regulation or contract restricts location, tell us and we design to the requirement your adviser specifies.
Can you look after it afterwards?
Yes, on a monthly retainer, or we hand over to your IT person with documentation.
Tell us what you run and where
A list of systems and their present location is enough. For a cost review, mention the provider and the rough monthly bill. We get back to you within one business day.