Applied AI
From pilots to production: scaling generative AI in regulated industries
What separates the AI initiatives that deliver measurable value from the ones that quietly stall after a flashy demo.
Read article →The patterns in this article come from our work with large enterprises across regulated and fast-moving sectors. The aim is not to be exhaustive - it is to surface the handful of decisions we see making the biggest difference in practice.
1. Start with the workload, not the platform
The most expensive cloud programmes we see are the ones that began with a vendor decision. A workload-led approach starts by asking what you are running, who uses it, how it changes, and what it costs today. Only then does it make sense to choose a target landing zone.
2. Be honest about your operating model
Cloud is as much an operating model change as a technology change. Without product teams, platform engineering and FinOps practices in place, large enterprises end up paying cloud prices for an on-prem operating model - the worst of both worlds.
3. Treat cost as a design constraint
Architectural choices - data egress patterns, instance families, storage tiers, multi-region topology - drive 80% of cloud spend. Reviewing them in design, not in invoicing, is the single highest-leverage habit you can build.
4. Plan for sovereignty before you need to
UK and EU regulators are increasingly explicit about where data can live and which jurisdictions can compel access to it. Sovereignty is rarely a binary yes/no - most enterprises need a tiered approach with different controls for different data classes.
5. Don’t confuse migration with modernisation
Lift-and-shift is a legitimate tactic, but only if it is paired with a clear modernisation plan. Cloud rewards architectures that are stateless, observable and designed to be replaced. Lift-and-leave is where cloud business cases go to die.
Where to start
If any of the above resonates with what you are working through, we are always happy to compare notes - without obligation. Email is the best way to reach us: customerservices@halfteck.com.