🏦 Case Study: Scaling Securely—How Barclays UK Reduced Cloud Spend and Boosted Compliance with CloudMeUp
Overview
Barclays UK, one of the largest and most regulated banks in the world, needed to modernize core infrastructure without compromising on compliance or operational stability. Their cloud presence was growing, but so were costs and complexity. CloudMeUp was brought in to help them optimize what they had—and set the stage for secure, scalable growth.
We deployed a 30-person cross-functional team of cloud architects, DevOps engineers, compliance experts, and trainers. Over nine months, we worked side-by-side with Barclays’ internal teams to deliver measurable results using our Migrate – Secure – Scale framework.
🔁 Migrate: Optimizing What They Had
Barclays wasn’t new to the cloud—but like many large enterprises, they had sprawling environments, duplicated services, and inconsistent provisioning across teams.
What we did:
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Conducted a full cloud infrastructure audit across AWS and Azure
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Consolidated redundant resources, removed zombie infrastructure
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Rebuilt key environments with Terraform for standardized, compliant provisioning
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Introduced GitOps workflows to enforce deployment consistency across regions
Results:
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Reduced cloud infrastructure spend by 31%
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Decreased environment setup time from 3 days to under 1 hour
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Unified 6+ business units under a single provisioning model
🔐 Secure: Banking-Grade Compliance, Embedded from Day One
With stringent requirements from the FCA, GDPR, and internal audit, security and compliance were not just checkboxes—they were business-critical.
What we did:
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Developed compliant-by-default IaC modules aligned to Barclays' internal security controls
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Integrated AWS Config, Azure Policy, and custom OPA rules for policy-as-code enforcement
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Rolled out centralized logging, SIEM integration, and incident response automation
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Partnered with Barclays’ GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) team to align all changes to internal policies
Results:
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Cut compliance review time from 14 days to less than 48 hours
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Passed all internal and external security audits with zero critical findings
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Enabled self-service deployments within guardrails—reducing bottlenecks and risk
📈 Scale: Preparing for Peak and Future Growth
Barclays needed the ability to launch and scale new financial products quickly—without hitting performance ceilings or budget overages.
What we did:
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Introduced a decoupled, microservices architecture using Kubernetes and event-driven patterns
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Designed scalable, multi-region architectures to support global workloads
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Tuned autoscaling and implemented cost alerts across teams
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Conducted performance benchmarking and rightsizing of all environments
Results:
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Supported a 5x increase in API throughput with no added downtime
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Improved system uptime from 99.7% to 99.99%
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Reduced overprovisioning costs by $2.1 million annually
👥 Empowering Barclays’ In-House Teams
This wasn’t just about building the tech—it was about leaving Barclays stronger than we found them. Throughout the engagement, we ran targeted enablement programs to upskill internal teams.
What we did:
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Delivered 15+ internal workshops on GitOps, Terraform, Kubernetes, and cloud security
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Built Barclays-branded playbooks and internal templates for reuse
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Created certification pathways and labs for SREs and cloud platform engineers
Results:
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60+ internal staff upskilled
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Internal time-to-delivery dropped by 40%
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Barclays established an internal Cloud Enablement Office based on our framework
💡 What This Means for You
At CloudMeUp, we don’t just migrate—we embed scalable, secure practices that outlive the engagement. Whether you’re in finance, healthcare, or fast growth, we help you cut waste, stay compliant, and scale confidently.
Let’s explore what’s possible. Talk to us →