Azure Landing Zone Consulting

Azure Landing Zone is a reference architecture and set of implementation patterns for establishing a secure, scalable, and governed environment on Microsoft Azure. It is commonly used by platform and cloud teams to standardize how Azure subscriptions, identity, networking, and security controls are set up, so new workloads can be deployed consistently and with less risk.

It is typically implemented using infrastructure as code and policy-based governance, creating a repeatable foundation for multiple environments (such as development, staging, and production) and for organizations operating across multiple subscriptions. For related guidance, see Microsoft’s overview of Azure landing zones.

• Defines subscription and management group structure for consistent governance
• Establishes identity and access patterns, including role-based access control
• Sets baseline networking and connectivity models (hub-and-spoke or similar)
• Applies security and compliance guardrails through Azure Policy and standards
• Enables repeatable deployment patterns for new applications and teams

Running and maintaining a physical data center requires significant time and effort, with limited resources compared to the extensive options offered by various Cloud providers. In certain situations, managing physical infrastructure cannot be avoided due to security or budget constraints. Nonetheless, the diverse array of top-notch services provided by cloud providers, along with their seamless integrations and user-friendly interfaces, make them an excellent option for developing software applications.

Azure Landing Zone is a reference architecture and implementation approach for creating a secure, scalable, and governed Azure foundation. It is used to standardize core platform capabilities so workloads can be deployed consistently across subscriptions and environments.

• Establishes a scalable management group and subscription hierarchy to separate environments, teams, and workload types with clear boundaries.
• Implements governance guardrails with Azure Policy and initiatives to enforce standards such as tagging, allowed regions, approved SKUs, and encryption requirements.
• Standardizes identity and access management through consistent RBAC patterns, least-privilege access, and privileged access workflows for sensitive operations.
• Provides repeatable network architecture patterns such as hub-and-spoke and shared services to centralize connectivity, DNS, and egress control.
• Defines baseline security posture with secure-by-default configurations and integration points for Microsoft Defender for Cloud and security monitoring pipelines.
• Improves observability by standardizing diagnostic settings, log routing, and monitoring expectations across subscriptions and platform components.
• Reduces configuration drift by promoting infrastructure-as-code for foundational components like policy assignments, network baselines, and identity integrations.
• Accelerates onboarding by using reusable templates and automation for provisioning subscriptions, workload landing zones, and shared platform services.
• Clarifies platform versus application responsibilities by separating shared services from workload subscriptions and delegating access appropriately.
• Improves auditability and compliance readiness by applying consistent controls and reporting inputs across the Azure estate.

Azure Landing Zone is typically a strong fit for organizations running multiple subscriptions, supporting multiple delivery teams, or operating under regulatory constraints. It requires upfront design and ongoing governance ownership, so smaller environments often start with a minimal baseline and expand controls as complexity grows.

Further guidance is available in the Azure Landing Zone documentation.

Our experience with Azure Landing Zone helped us turn Azure foundations into repeatable, governed building blocks that teams could safely scale across subscriptions, regions, and business units. In delivery work, we focused on standardizing identity, networking, policy, and operations so application teams could move faster without bypassing security or compliance requirements.

Some of the things we did include:

• Designed management group and subscription hierarchies aligned to enterprise operating models, separating platform, shared services, and workload subscriptions across dev/test/prod.
• Implemented policy-driven guardrails using Azure Policy initiatives, tagging standards, and resource locks to enforce baselines and reduce configuration drift.
• Built Infrastructure as Code modules and CI workflows with Terraform to provision landing zone components consistently across environments.
• Integrated identity and access patterns with Microsoft Entra ID, including least-privilege RBAC design, PIM activation flows, and break-glass access procedures.
• Established hub-and-spoke networking with centralized shared services, private endpoints, DNS patterns, and standardized ingress/egress controls.
• Created “subscription vending” and onboarding workflows so application teams could request and receive compliant subscriptions with preconfigured policies and budgets.
• Standardized observability using Azure Monitor and Log Analytics, including alert baselines, dashboards, diagnostic settings, and operational runbooks for incident response.
• Implemented release controls and environment promotion for platform changes using Azure DevOps, including approvals for policy and IaC updates.
• Hardened security posture using Microsoft Defender for Cloud recommendations, secure score improvements, and threat detection workflows.
• Added cost governance practices (budgets, alerts, and chargeback/showback tagging) to improve spend visibility and reduce waste across subscriptions.

This work helped us accumulate significant knowledge across multiple Azure Landing Zone use-cases, from greenfield foundations to enterprise refactors and platform modernization. As a result, we can deliver high-quality Azure Landing Zone setups that are governed, automatable, and ready for real-world operations.

Some of the things we can help you do with Azure Landing Zone include:

• Assess your current Azure environment and deliver a Landing Zone readiness review with prioritized risks, gaps, and recommendations.
• Build a pragmatic adoption roadmap for management groups, subscriptions, identity, networking, and operations aligned to your delivery teams.
• Implement or remediate Azure Landing Zone using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Bicep) for repeatable, auditable deployments.
• Establish security and compliance guardrails with Azure Policy initiatives, RBAC, PIM, and least-privilege access patterns.
• Design scalable connectivity and network topology (hub-and-spoke or vWAN), DNS, and routing standards to streamline application onboarding.
• Standardize observability and day-2 operations with logging/metrics baselines, alerting, runbooks, and incident response workflows.
• Integrate CI/CD and GitOps practices for controlled platform changes, approvals, and environment promotion.
• Optimize cost and performance with tagging standards, budgets, right-sizing guidance, and FinOps-friendly reporting.
• Harden reliability with backup, DR patterns, and platform safeguards that reduce drift and support consistent operations at scale.
• Enable your teams through hands-on workshops, documentation, and knowledge transfer so you can operate the Landing Zone confidently.

For Microsoft’s reference guidance, see the Azure Landing Zone documentation.