Iridium launches new cloud consulting practice
Consulting firm Iridium has started 2022 by adding a cloud advisory practice to its offering. The new team will be led by former Big Four expert Brett Hargreaves.
Based in Leeds, Iridium is an IT transformation consultancy. Since 2017, the firm has helped clients including PA Consulting, Bank of Ireland and Skipton Building Society to deliver business transformation and cyber security solutions.
As Iridium looks to prepare for a busy 2022, the firm has added a new cloud practice to its offering. The new practice will be headed by Brett Hargreaves, and will support clients at every stage of their cloud journey, either through consultancy services or resource augmentation.
Hargreaves noted, “There is a common misconception that the cloud is easy - and in some ways it is. However many organisations make the mistake of not considering why they want to migrate to the cloud, which can lead to higher costs and unrealised value. Our new cloud practice will enable all types of business to fully tap into increased agility, significant cost savings, greater capacity and a host of managed services in a way that’s suited to their organisational requirements.”
A former Principle Azure Architect at Deloitte, Hargreaves also has cloud consulting experience with Capita, where he was a Solutions Architect. Having arrived in January 2022, he will now work closely with Iridium’s clients, which span financial, legal and utility sectors, to establish a clear understanding of their business objectives and the potential advantages of moving to cloud. This work will also help develop a tailored strategy to see clients lower costs, increase resilience, enhance scalability and maximise ROI.
As with all technologies, cloud has moved along the hype cycle and is now a true business enabler. One area in which the new team will help to clarify cloud strategy and build new industry best practices is the creation of ‘landing zones’. The concept will help ensure security is central to all of a business’s systems by automatically applying the appropriate controls aligned to its governance framework. Iridium will also work with existing security operations centres, or help build them out, to guarantee ongoing monitoring and remediation of potential issues.
Commenting on the ways Iridium’s new offering will assist clients, Ben Dainton, Iridium Director and Co-founder, said, “The introduction of our cloud practice is part of our strategy to build our business with services that accommodate the growing IT needs of today. For many organisations, moving to cloud means transforming their existing platforms and processes, therefore building a cloud practice is a natural extension of Iridium’s transformation expertise. By leveraging our talent network and in-house specialisms, we are uniquely placed to help resource and consult on the cloud journey at a time when finding and attracting a skilled workforce is increasingly difficult.”
The move is the latest in a string of additions to Iridium’s growing offering in the UK. Late last year, this saw the firm launch a new quality assurance arm, to provide clients with holistic support throughout the software development lifecycle. The head of the department, Martin Sutcliffe, said the team aims to “give clients across a whole host of different industries cost-effective, quality solutions.”
