The Assessment
A fixed-scope, fixed-fee review of your Azure, Entra ID, and Microsoft 365 environment. Delivered within three working days. If the savings we find don't cover our fee, you pay nothing.
What you get
A prioritised report — not a spreadsheet, not a slide deck. It includes an executive summary suitable for a leadership conversation, a pillar-by-pillar scorecard, line-item findings with estimated annual savings and implementation effort, and a sequenced remediation roadmap your IT team can pick up and act on.
We walk through the report in a one-hour findings session before we deliver it. That session is where we validate estimates together and you can challenge anything you disagree with.
Scope
In scope
- →Azure compute, storage, networking, and PaaS services
- →Reserved instances and savings plans
- →Entra ID roles, permissions, and conditional access policies
- →MFA coverage and privileged access configuration
- →Microsoft 365 licensing and active usage
- →M365 security defaults and data exposure settings
- →Availability configuration and recovery readiness
- →Backup coverage and retention policies
- →Monitoring and alerting gaps
Out of scope
- –Third-party SaaS tools not in the Microsoft ecosystem
- –Application-level code review
- –On-premises infrastructure
- –Implementation of findings (available separately)
Process
Step 1
Intake call
We scope the engagement together. You describe your environment, your current spend, and the areas you're most concerned about. We confirm whether the assessment is the right fit and agree on the fixed fee.
Required from you: 30-minute call. No prep required.
Step 2
Access provisioning
We send you a documented list of exactly what access is needed. You provision a read-only role. Nothing is stored beyond the assessment window.
Required from you: Provision one read-only role. Typically 15–30 minutes of IT time.
Step 3
Analysis
We run the assessment across all three platforms. Every finding is cross-referenced against your actual environment and scored by impact and effort to fix.
Required from you: Nothing. We'll reach out if we have questions.
Step 4
Findings session
We walk through the report together. You ask questions, challenge findings, and we validate the savings estimates. This session is where the guarantee is confirmed.
Required from you: 1-hour call with whoever owns cloud and IT decisions.
Step 5
Report delivery
You receive the full report: executive summary, pillar scorecards, line-item findings with effort and savings estimates, and a sequenced remediation roadmap.
Required from you: Nothing further.
The guarantee
Pricing
Assessments are priced as a fixed fee per engagement. The fee is agreed during the intake call based on the size of your environment and the number of Azure subscriptions in scope.
We give you a fixed number before work begins. No day-rate surprises, no scope creep, no invoices for things you didn't ask for.
Book an intake call and we'll confirm the fee — typically within one working day.
Frequently asked questions
What data access do you need?
Read-only access to your Azure subscriptions, Entra ID tenant, and Microsoft 365 environment via a least-privilege role. We document exactly what access is needed before you grant it. You can revoke access at any time during or after the assessment.
Who sees the data?
Only Reliability Engineering Lab. We don't share findings, environment details, or any data from your tenant with third parties. The report is delivered to you directly and remains confidential.
What happens after the report?
You own the report and the remediation plan. You can implement the findings yourself, hand them to your MSP, or engage us for implementation support. There's no obligation to do anything further with us.
Can we implement the fixes ourselves?
Yes. The report is written to be actionable without us. Each finding includes what to do, why it matters, the estimated effort, and the projected savings. Many clients handle implementation internally or through their existing IT team.
We already have an MSP. Does that change anything?
No — and it's often the reason to get an independent assessment. An MSP can't credibly audit its own work. This assessment gives you an independent view of what your environment actually looks like, separate from the relationship you have with your current provider.
How is this different from a Microsoft FinOps review?
A Microsoft FinOps review focuses on cost optimisation within Azure Cost Management. Our assessment covers cost, but also security, availability, architecture, and operations — and includes Entra ID and Microsoft 365. We also have no vendor relationship with Microsoft, so our recommendations aren't shaped by licensing incentives.
What does 'no cure, no pay' mean exactly?
If the annual cost savings we identify don't cover your assessment fee, the fee is waived in full. 'Identified savings' means documented opportunities at your current usage levels, validated together during the findings session. The guarantee is scoped to cost savings only — security, availability, and architecture findings add value but aren't included in the guarantee calculation.
How long does the assessment take?
Three working days from the point we have access. The intake call is 30 minutes. The findings session is typically one hour. You'll need to be available for both, but nothing else.
Book an intake call
30 minutes. We scope the assessment together and confirm the fixed fee. No prep required on your side.