Legacy to Longevity:
Fintech Technology Assessment
How Rōnin Consulting partnered with a top regulatory technology provider in the financial services industry to deliver a comprehensive modernization assessment, uncover hidden system pain points, and create a cloud-first roadmap that empowers their leadership to scale with confidence and drive long-term transformation.
What we accomplished
The challenge
This client is a long-established provider of enterprise-grade regulatory technology solutions to the financial services industry. They are trusted by more than 200 enterprise clients and many of the nation’s top firms.
Their mission-critical platform supports regulatory compliance, risk management, and data integration at scale, processing tens of terabytes across a network of interdependent services.
However, their legacy systems had become increasingly difficult to maintain. Built on aging infrastructure, the application ecosystem was straining under its own weight. Performance lagged, updates were risky, and modernization seemed out of reach due to the sheer size and complexity of the environment. Internal development teams were overwhelmed, and leadership lacked a clear roadmap for presenting a cloud-first transition to the board.
Our approach
We delivered a comprehensive architectural cloud assessment tailored to support one of the largest and most complex platforms in the financial services sector. We aimed to help the client understand their current limitations, map a scalable path forward, and equip their leadership team with the insight and confidence needed to take the next step.
Here’s how we approached it:
- We conducted an in-depth, embedded discovery process
- We gathered developer insights to drive clarity and alignment
- We designed a future-state architecture for Azure
- We delivered a board-ready modernization roadmap
We conducted an in-depth, embedded discovery process
Our senior architect worked side-by-side with the client’s internal teams for over two months. We examined the entire application landscape—from user-facing interfaces and backend services to network layers and infrastructure components. We mapped out system interdependencies and highlighted inefficiencies across services handling 10–20 TB of data. Rather than recommend a complete system rewrite, we designed a modernization blueprint emphasizing longevity, performance, and a phased rollout to minimize disruption.
We gathered developer insights to drive clarity and alignment
We designed and distributed targeted surveys to the internal development team to uncover technical pain points and frustrations that hadn’t reached executive visibility. These insights played a critical role in shaping our recommendations. By incorporating the perspectives of those closest to the system, we built a more grounded strategy that earned internal support and aligned with real operational needs.
We designed a future-state architecture for Azure
Using our findings, we developed a modern architectural vision centered on Microsoft Azure. We prioritized cloud-native services to support scalability, simplify maintenance, and reduce costs. We also created detailed diagrams comparing the current and proposed environments to show how each recommendation is tied to long-term business and technical goals.
We delivered a board-ready modernization roadmap
We translated our technical recommendations into a compelling narrative for executive leadership. The final deliverable included a clear, phased roadmap, risk mitigation strategies, and estimated timelines. By visualizing the transformation journey and mapping every phase to real outcomes, we equipped the CTO with a tool to gain board-level buy-in and kick off future initiatives.
Key Outcomes
- The client received a professionally documented, cloud-forward modernization blueprint with diagrams, recommendations, and phased milestones.
- Rōnin provided an objective third-party validation that gave the CTO the strategic ammunition needed for internal board-level conversations.
- Developer surveys revealed valuable internal insights and confirmed alignment between technical staff frustrations and architectural recommendations.
- The project laid the foundation for two follow-on engagements, signaling strong client trust and satisfaction.
Why Rōnin?
Our deep experience in architectural assessments and modernization strategy made us the right partner for this engagement. We didn’t offer a generic solution—we worked directly with the client, assessed their unique systems issues, and delivered a tailored technology roadmap that gave leadership the clarity and confidence to move forward.
If your company is planning a significant transformation—AI integration, cloud migration, system upgrades, or platform architecture—Rōnin can help you start with the right foundation. Our assessments are designed to uncover risks, reveal opportunities, and set a clear path forward.
Contact us today for a free assessment consultation.
Ryan Kettrey
Co/owner-Developer
Guy Edwards
CIO
Brian Williams
Full Stack Engineer