Modernising Infrastructure and Strengthening Security for a Financial Services Organisation

Azentra partnered with a mid-sized financial services organisation whose legacy IT environment had become a barrier to performance, regulatory compliance, and security resilience. With rising audit pressure, increased cyber exposure, and ageing infrastructure, the firm needed a structured modernisation strategy that could improve reliability and mitigate operational risk.

The Challenge

The organisation was facing several critical obstacles:

1. Ageing, High-Risk Infrastructure

Core financial systems were running on legacy on-premise servers that lacked redundancy, were difficult to maintain, and caused performance bottlenecks during peak trading periods.

2. Rising Regulatory Demands

Audit teams flagged concerns including:

• inconsistent patching

• privileged access oversights

• limited visibility into system activity

• inadequate incident response documentation

The organisation risked non-compliance penalties and reputational damage.

3. Cybersecurity Exposure

Key weaknesses included:

• no MFA enforced on critical systems

• fragmented and outdated endpoint protection

• limited ability to detect lateral movement

• no centralised SOC or continuous monitoring

Identity-based attacks posed a significant risk.

4. Lack of a Technology Roadmap

IT operations were reactive, overstretched, and unable to plan or execute long-term modernisation initiatives.

The Solution

Azentra delivered a phased modernisation programme focused on stabilising the environment, improving security maturity, and establishing strong governance foundations.

Phase 1: Infrastructure Modernisation

• Migrated critical workloads into a secure Azure hybrid-cloud environment

• Replaced ageing on-premise servers with scalable, high-availability architecture

• Implemented automated patching, configuration baselines, and unified monitoring

• Optimised network design and deployed next-generation firewalls

Result: Immediate performance gains, improved reliability, and reduced operational overhead.

Phase 2: Zero Trust Security Framework

• Enforced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all applications and remote access points

• Implemented Azure AD identity governance with least-privilege access controls

• Deployed enterprise-grade EDR across all endpoints

• Enabled 24/7 SOC monitoring and behavioural threat analytics

• Introduced segmented access policies aligned to Zero Trust principles

Result: Significantly reduced identity risk and improved security visibility.

Phase 3: Compliance & Regulatory Alignment

• Documented policies and mapped them to financial sector regulatory frameworks

• Implemented audit-ready logging and centralised reporting

• Standardised access reviews and privileged user governance

• Enhanced incident response documentation and testing

Result: The organisation passed its next regulatory audit with zero major findings.

Phase 4: Long-Term Technology Roadmap

• Developed a structured 24-month roadmap covering security, cloud adoption, automation, and continuity

• Provided an executive framework for prioritisation, governance, and ongoing maturity

• Established quarterly technology steering sessions with senior leadership

Result: A clear strategic direction aligned with business and regulatory priorities.

The Outcomes

Within six months, the organisation achieved measurable improvements:

Security & Governance

• 95% reduction in privileged access risks

• Complete MFA enforcement across all systems

• Centralised monitoring and continuous compliance visibility

  
  

Operational Performance

• 40% improvement in application and system performance

• Significant reduction in manual IT workload

• Stabilised environment with 99.9% uptime

  
  

Regulatory Compliance

• Passed audit with zero major findings

• Reinforced governance model aligned to industry expectations

  
  

Executive Confidence

• Clear visibility into risks and performance

• Predictable, scalable technology operating model

• A roadmap enabling future transformation with reduced risk

  
  

Conclusion

Azentra helped this financial services organisation transform a fragmented, risk-prone IT environment into a secure, resilient, compliant, and scalable technology foundation. By integrating modern cloud infrastructure, Zero Trust principles, and robust governance, the organisation now operates with increased confidence, reduced risk, and a clear pathway for continued digital evolution.