Cloud-Native Application Development

Cloud-native application development on AWS for organisations carrying legacy weight.

Re-architecture in chunks, migration from on-premises or another cloud, new cloud-native builds. AWS Advanced Consulting Partner with the Migration and Modernisation Competency. AWS funding applied where eligible.

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The applications nobody would design today

Your application works. The business depends on it. That's the hard part. The architecture decisions made a decade ago are now the reason every small change has to be reasoned about as if it were a large one, but the system is doing the job, and the case for change has to be made against that.

Our Cloud-Native Application Development practice exists for that conversation. Re-architecture in chunks rather than rewrites, sequenced to a horizon you can fund, with each piece releasable on its own.

Where the cost actually lives

Release cycles that used to land each sprint now sit weeks apart. Features your product team wanted to ship months ago are still in your backlog because the architecture can't support them without a wider change. Your senior engineers spend their time keeping the legacy estate alive rather than building anything new, and hiring becomes harder as the technologies in your stack drift further from what engineers want to work in. On-premises hosting, third-party licences for technology that's no longer the right fit, the operational overhead of an architecture that doesn't scale on demand. The annual line is substantial, and the modernised version wouldn't carry it.

Modernisation is picking what to leave alone

A full rewrite bets the business on a single-shot delivery. Lift-and-shift moves the bill but solves nothing structural. The pattern that usually works for you is re-architecture in chunks, where the parts of your estate that are still working well stay where they are and the parts that are blocking the business get the work.

The architectural choices follow your workload. C# microservices on Amazon EKS where the strategic language and orchestration fit. Serverless on Lambda, Step Functions, and EventBridge where the workload's event-driven. DynamoDB and Redis where the access pattern is key-value.

How we approach it

Discovery, often AWS-funded

MAP Lite, MAP, MVA, OLA, MMP, VMP. We handle the application and compliance for the funding programmes so the funding actually lands for you.

Re-architecture in chunks

Each piece scoped to be releasable on its own. Your engineering team keeps shipping while the architecture moves underneath.

Capability transfer alongside delivery

If your in-house team wants to upskill alongside the engagement, a joint build model puts our engineers next to your developers. Either way, your team finishes equipped to keep building.

What changes for your business

A cloud-native AWS architecture where services scale on demand and deployments release without lengthy integration. A modernised estate your in-house team has worked on alongside us, with the skills and confidence to keep evolving it. Cost discipline. Right-sized services on AWS instead of always-on legacy hosting. Your bill becomes something the team can see and reason about. An engineering team back to building features rather than maintaining the past.

Where we've done this

Switch2. A legacy on-premises estate, built on technologies nearly two decades old, modernised to AWS as a joint build with the in-house team. Re-architected from overnight batch into event-driven services on Amazon ECS.

UK Tote Group. Migration from Google Cloud Platform to AWS and modernisation of core services into C# microservices on Amazon EKS, with DynamoDB and Redis replacing the SQL Server estate where the access pattern was key-value.

Janes. A monolithic Windows-server ingestion platform rebuilt as a serverless AWS architecture on Lambda, Step Functions, and EventBridge. Processing time fell by 99.9 per cent (twelve hours to under two minutes), 35 times more data sources.

ITP Energised. A bespoke cloud-native CRM and group operating platform on AWS, built Agile alongside the in-house team.

Questions we get asked

How long does this typically take?

There's no single answer. Discovery is usually weeks rather than months, especially when AWS funding applies. The re-architecture-in-chunks model means your first releasable piece usually arrives in weeks rather than quarters.

Do you require us to commit to AWS?

The work is AWS-native and we're an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner. AWS funding programmes are AWS-only by definition. If your strategic cloud choice hasn't been made, the discovery conversation includes that decision rather than presuming it.

How does this interact with our internal team?

Two models. Joint build (the Switch2 pattern) or delivery-and-handback (the UK Tote pattern). The choice is yours.

How is this different from a large GSI?

Senior engineers on your work, not a junior team backed by a senior reviewer. Direct access to the engineer doing the work. The engagement is sized for the work, not for an enterprise PMO.

Can AWS fund the discovery?

Often yes. We confirm eligibility for you in the intro call and handle the application work where it applies.

Start a conversation

A short intro call to understand your estate, your strategic horizon, and whether AWS funding is likely to apply.

Jonathan Rothwell, CEO, D55
solutions@d55.co.uk · +44 161 399 0257

Let's explore the possible together.