Software Architecture & Cloud
Architecture is your masterplan.
You wouldn't build a house without architecture. We design software architecture and cloud setups that grow with your business. Made to measure for your situation, not off the shelf.
Book a free introductory call30 minutes. We get to know each other. You decide if it fits.
Current state
You might recognise this.
Monolith blocks the team.
Releases get slower, teams block each other in the same codebase, every change is a risk. What started as a pragmatic architecture has become the brake over years. The next feature costs twice what the last one did.
Microservices in place. Features still take long.
You've invested in microservices, the team is split up, the domains are sorted. But developing new features stays effortful and slow. Distributed complexity, unclear interfaces, missing platform mechanics. Microservices without discipline are just more expensive monoliths.
Cloud costs uncontrolled. Scaling still doesn't work.
The cloud bill rises, but no one can cleanly say why. Reservations were made for capacities no one uses anymore. Load peaks still cause outages. It's not clear whether the problem sits in the architecture, the code or the cloud configuration. What started as a scaling promise has become a cost trap.
Architecture decides the speed, cost and scalability of the next few years. Whoever underestimates it pays twice: once for building, once for fixing. That's exactly where our work starts.
Our approach
Three steps. Pragmatic. As equals.
Understand first, then design. Architecture follows business, not trends.
Understand
We get to know your business. Model, tech stack, team structure, load profile, existing architecture and cloud setup, planned roadmap. Where the real bottlenecks sit, and where they only appear to.
Day 1 to Week 4
Target architecture and roadmap
We design the target architecture and a path to get there. Where refactoring makes sense, where replatforming, where custom development. Which patterns fit (modulith, microservices, event-driven), which don't. We recommend what we recommend because it fits, not because it's a trend.
Week 4 to 10
Accompany and hand over
We support the implementation, mentor architects and tech leads, review code and patterns, validate critical decisions. When your team can carry it forward, we step back.
From Week 10, as long as you need
A testable question: When was your architecture last independently reviewed, without the reviewers holding a hyperscaler partnership in the background?
Whoever has no answer to that has an uncalculated lever in the house. Spend 30 minutes with someone who knows this from practice.
Areas of focus
Where we focus.
Architecture audit and target architecture
We review your architecture for scalability, maintainability, vendor lock-in and security. You get a clear read on where investments hold up and where you're accumulating technical debt, plus a path to the target architecture.
Cloud strategy and migration
Cloud migration is more than lift-and-shift. We design strategy and roadmap, select the right setup (AWS, Azure, hybrid, multi-cloud) and accompany the move so you don't just run elsewhere, but actually benefit from cloud mechanics.
Custom software development
When standard software doesn't fit, when the competitive advantage sits in your own code, or when an existing system needs to be replaced bespoke. We design architecture and delivery for custom software that fits your business.
Refactoring and legacy system replacement
Replacing legacy systems is rarely a big-bang project. We design migration paths that let you modernise step by step, without stopping operations. Strangler pattern, parallel run models, gradual data migration.
Microservices, modulith, event-driven patterns
Microservices aren't always the right answer. Sometimes a modulith is better, sometimes event-driven, sometimes a classical service-oriented approach. We recommend the pattern that fits your team size, domain complexity and load profile.
Sovereignty, multi-cloud and FinOps
Vendor lock-in is an architecture decision, not a licensing question. We design architecture with clear data flow boundaries, vendor decoupling and defined exit paths. Plus FinOps discipline, so cloud costs become transparent and you pay for what you use, not what you reserved. For deep data sovereignty topics, we point to our Data & Analytics service.
Why DRICH.CONSULTING
Master your architecture, master your business.
Architecture decides the speed, cost and scalability of the next few years. I've worked as a software developer, architect, IT project lead and Chief Data Officer. In enterprise environments with highly scalable systems, in e-commerce, in data, in complex multi-tenant platforms. Every architecture decision was made-to-measure, never out of the textbook.
Hands-on architect with enterprise experience
I've been architect, developer and IT lead in enterprise environments. Highly scalable systems in e-commerce, in data, in complex multi-tenant platforms. Architecture is practice to me, not theory. That depth changes the recommendations we make.
Made-to-measure, not off the shelf
Every architecture decision fits the situation: business model, team maturity, load profile, roadmap, regulatory requirements. Standard architectures from training sessions are rarely the right answer for real contexts. What works for one client can be wrong for the next.
Hyperscaler-neutral, focus on sovereignty
We recommend not the provider, but the architecture that fits you. Often that's a multi-cloud setup that reduces vendor lock-in and keeps negotiation room at price adjustments. Sovereignty comes from architecture, not from contract clauses.
100 percent independent. What that means concretely.
No hyperscaler partnerships, no vendor commissions, no implementation follow-on business. Concretely: We don't recommend a cloud setup we earn money on. We don't build architecture you can't maintain yourselves. We don't sell a microservices strategy just because it sounds modern.
20+
years of
IT experience
★
hands-on architect
legacy to cloud-native
100%
independent,
hyperscaler-neutral
✎
made-to-measure,
not off the shelf
Frequently asked
What decision-makers ask us.
Cloud architects from hyperscalers typically recommend their own platform. That's not bad, but it constrains the recommendation. We are hyperscaler-neutral and can also say when multi-cloud, hybrid or on-premise is the better answer.
If your internal architect has the time, distance and independence for strategic architecture decisions, perhaps not. Often the internal person is operationally heavily involved or politically too close. We complement with external depth and a view that isn't tangled in historical decisions.
Both are possible. We advise on architecture, review code and patterns, accompany teams. For custom development, we can also work operationally or take over architecture steering, depending on mandate scope and need.
No, and we don't pretend otherwise. 30 minutes are enough to roughly understand your situation and to tell you honestly whether we're the right partner. If we're not, we say so. If we are, we suggest a sensible next step, which isn't automatically a paid engagement.
It depends on your business model, tech stack, data requirements and sovereignty profile. We work with AWS and Azure and often design multi-cloud setups so you stay able to negotiate at vendor reviews and price changes. A blanket recommendation would be unhonest.
Cloud costs are often not primarily a configuration problem, they're an architecture problem. We analyse where the costs come from (oversized instances, inefficient data flows, weak auto-scaling rules, missing reservations) and design architecture and operations so you pay for what you use, not what you reserved.
Introductory call
Free introductory call
Tell us your situation. We listen, ask questions and tell you honestly whether we're the right partner. If we aren't, that's fine too.
- 30 minutes. No pitch, no presentation.
- You describe the problem. We listen first.
- You get an initial read, with no sales intent.
- No commitment afterwards.
Slots are offered on weekdays between 9am and 6pm (CET).
When was your architecture last independently reviewed?
Book a free introductory call