Production-ready Data Platforms
Microsoft Fabric or Azure + Snowflake. Fixed price, fixed timeline, managed service from day one.
“If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me.
Sound familiar?
Most organisations we work with have tried to solve the data problem before. The technology wasn't the issue – the delivery was.
“We spent two years and significant budget on a data platform. It’s still not in production.”
You hired a consultancy. They ran a 6-month discovery. They built something bespoke. The team who built it left. Now you have a half-finished platform nobody understands.
“Every team has a different number. I don’t know which one is right.”
Finance data lives in 5 systems. Reconciliation is manual. By the time the board pack is assembled, the data is two weeks old. Nobody trusts the numbers.
“My team spends more time preparing data than analysing it.”
Analysts pull from multiple sources, paste into Excel, run manual checks, and produce a report that’s already stale. When someone asks “what about X?”, the whole process starts again.
“We have a data warehouse but adoption is low. People still email spreadsheets.”
The platform was built by engineers for engineers. There’s no self-service layer. Training was a one-off. The BI dashboards don’t answer the questions people actually ask.
The problem isn't technology
It's delivery. Most data platform programmes are over-scoped, under-governed, and delivered by consultancies incentivised to keep billing. The result: platforms that take years, cost multiples of the original estimate, and often never reach production.
We took a different approach. Reference architectures, templated builds, fixed-price delivery, and managed service from day one.
Enterprise data projects routinely overrun. Bespoke builds, unclear scope, and changing requirements are the norm – not the exception.
Government data platform programmes typically take 18 months or longer to reach production. Most organisations can’t wait that long.
Your analysts are data janitors. More than half their time goes to finding, cleaning, and reconciling data – not analysing it.
The most expensive data platform is the one that never reaches production. Sunk cost, lost confidence, and the problem remains unsolved.
Two platform paths
We recommend the right platform for your needs. Both are built on Azure foundations, production-ready, and fully managed.
Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft's unified analytics platform – ingestion, transformation, storage, and BI in a single SaaS experience. One platform, one licence, deeply integrated with the Microsoft ecosystem.
Key components
Best for
- Microsoft-first organisations
Already invested in M365, Teams, SharePoint, and Azure AD. Fabric extends what you have rather than adding another vendor.
- Unified licensing & cost control
Single capacity-based licence covers ingestion, storage, transformation, and BI. No surprise per-query charges or separate compute bills.
- Rapid time-to-value
Pre-integrated components mean less plumbing. Our reference builds on Fabric consistently deliver in 8–12 weeks.
- Centralised governance teams
OneLake provides a single data lake with built-in lineage, sensitivity labels, and Purview integration – one pane of glass for data stewardship.
- Power BI-heavy reporting cultures
Direct Lake mode gives Power BI sub-second query performance over lakehouse data without import or duplication.
Choose Fabric when you want one platform, one licence, and deep Microsoft 365 integration.
Azure + Snowflake
Best-in-class cloud data warehouse paired with Azure's orchestration and integration services. Exceptional query performance, cross-cloud data sharing, and a mature ecosystem of tooling.
Key components
Best for
- Multi-cloud or hybrid strategies
Snowflake runs natively on Azure, AWS, and GCP. If your organisation spans cloud providers – or your partners do – Snowflake bridges the gap without ETL.
- Cross-organisation data sharing
Snowflake's Secure Data Sharing lets you share live, governed data with partners, regulators, or other agencies – no file extracts, no copying, no lag.
- Heavy SQL and analytical workloads
Snowflake's architecture separates storage from compute. Scale query power up or down independently, and only pay for what you use.
- Existing Snowflake investment or skills
If your team already knows Snowflake, or you have existing contracts, we build on that foundation rather than starting over.
- dbt-driven transformation pipelines
Snowflake + dbt is the most mature and widely adopted modern data stack. Version-controlled SQL, automated testing, and a massive open-source ecosystem.
Choose Snowflake when you need cross-cloud data sharing, have existing Snowflake skills, or require multi-cloud flexibility.
Choosing your path
Both platforms are production-proven. The right choice depends on your ecosystem, your team, and your goals.
| Microsoft Fabric | Azure + Snowflake | |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing | Unified Microsoft capacity licence | Separate Snowflake credits + Azure costs |
| Governance | Built-in via Microsoft Purview, single pane | Requires configuration across tools |
| M365 integration | Native (Teams, SharePoint, Excel, Copilot) | Via connectors |
| Data sharing | Within Microsoft ecosystem | Cross-cloud, cross-organisation |
| Multi-cloud | Azure only | Multi-cloud native |
| SQL dialect | T-SQL, Spark SQL | ANSI SQL, broad dialect support |
| NZ data sovereignty | Azure NZ North & South | Azure-hosted Snowflake in NZ |
| Learning curve | Familiar for M365 organisations | SQL-native, rich partner ecosystem |
Not sure? We'll assess your environment and recommend the right path – it's part of our process.
Reference builds
Every platform is tailored to your needs. These examples show what's possible and give you a starting point for conversation.
Foundational Platform
Your first enterprise data platform. Consolidate spreadsheets and silos into a governed, scalable foundation.
Small to mid-size organisations starting their data journey
Typically delivered on Microsoft Fabric
What's included
- Data warehouse or lakehouse architecture
- Core data pipelines and integrations
- Power BI reporting layer
- Data quality and governance foundations
- Managed service from day one
Typical timeline
8–12 weeks
Analytics Platform
Advanced analytics with self-service capabilities. Enable your teams to explore data and build their own insights.
Organisations ready to democratize data access and enable self-service
Available on Fabric or Snowflake
What's included
- Lakehouse architecture with medallion layers
- Complex data transformations and modelling
- Self-service analytics environment
- Light ML and predictive capabilities
- Managed service with proactive optimisation
Typical timeline
10–14 weeks
Enterprise Platform
Full-scale data platform for complex organisations. Multiple sources, advanced governance, enterprise operations.
Large organisations with complex data landscapes and governance requirements
Available on Fabric or Snowflake
What's included
- Enterprise data architecture design
- Multiple source system integrations
- Advanced governance and lineage
- Data mesh or domain-oriented design
- 24/7 managed service and operations
Typical timeline
12–16 weeks
We'll provide a fixed quote after understanding your specific needs.
Modern data architecture
Every platform is built on proven patterns with enterprise-grade components.
Data Ingestion
- Azure Data Factory orchestration
- Automated file ingestion
- API and database connectors
- Microsoft 365 integration
- Change data capture
Data Processing
- Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake
- Medallion architecture
- Data quality validation
- Dimensional modelling
- Real-time and batch
Storage & Compute
- OneLake or Azure Data Lake Gen2
- Snowflake or Azure SQL
- Scalable compute
- Auto-optimisation
- Cost management
Analytics & BI
- Power BI integration
- Self-service analytics
- Embedded dashboards
- Scheduled distribution
- Mobile access
What this looks like in practice
Platforms delivered
Across government and regulated organisations in New Zealand
Average to production
From kickoff to managed service, consistently delivered
On budget
Fixed price means fixed price. No overruns, no surprises
Mean time to resolve
Pipeline issues identified and resolved by our managed service team
A government finance team consolidated 40+ data sources into a single Fabric lakehouse in 11 weeks. Board reporting went from 3 weeks of manual preparation to automated daily refresh.
Microsoft FabricA national regulator migrated from legacy SQL Server to a governed Snowflake platform in 9 weeks. Report generation dropped from 4 hours to 12 seconds.
Azure + SnowflakeA local government organisation replaced 200+ operational spreadsheets with a self-service Fabric platform. Analytics adoption reached 80% across the organisation within 3 months.
Microsoft FabricManaged service, not just a build
We don't build platforms and walk away. Every engagement includes ongoing managed service: monitoring, optimisation, support and continuous improvement. You get a production-grade platform without needing to hire a platform team.
What a typical month looks like
The alternative
Failed pipelines at 2am with nobody to call. Security patches missed for months. Performance degrading without anyone noticing. Knowledge walking out the door when contractors leave.
Hard questions, straight answers
“We’ve been burned by a data project before.”
Most organisations have. The industry average is 18 months with significant overruns. We deliver in 90 days, fixed price, because we use production-tested reference architectures refined across 50+ deployments. We configure proven patterns, not invent new ones. If we can’t deliver within the timeline, we tell you before we start.
“Why 90 days when our last vendor quoted 12 months?”
Because we don’t start from scratch. Our reference architectures for Fabric and Snowflake have been refined across 50+ deployments. We configure and adapt, not build from zero. The heavy engineering is already done.
“What if we outgrow the foundational build?”
Every tier is designed to grow. Foundational platforms upgrade to Analytics or Enterprise without rebuilding. The architecture is the same — you’re adding capability, not replacing infrastructure. And because we provide managed service, we’re already monitoring when you’re approaching capacity limits.
“Can we use Tableau or Qlik instead of Power BI?”
Yes. Power BI is our default because it integrates natively with both Fabric and Snowflake. But we’ve delivered platforms with Tableau, Qlik, and Looker. The data layer is tool-agnostic — your choice of BI doesn’t change the platform architecture.
From platform to intelligence
Your data platform is the foundation. Our Evidence-First AI turns that foundation into decision-grade intelligence – compliance monitoring, submission synthesis, content currency, and more.
Built for New Zealand
Data sovereignty, local delivery, and government-grade security – because your data should stay in New Zealand.
Azure NZ Regions
NZ North and NZ South – your data stays onshore
NZISM Aligned
Security architecture aligned with NZ Information Security Manual
Government Specialists
50+ platforms delivered for government and regulated organisations
