Shaping Cloud

Microsoft Azure Services

Shaping Cloud are a Microsoft Gold Partner for the Cloud Platform and a reseller of Microsoft Azure Services, including Compute, Storage, Backup and Recovery, Networking, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, FaaS, DaaS, & IDaaS. We are experts in Azure with over 10 years' experience working closely with Microsoft.

Features

• Microsoft Azure cloud platform services procured and managed for you
• Full breadth and depth of M365 and Azure services
• Provided by Microsoft Gold partner, cloud expert, and solutions specialist
• Advisory services available for all Microsoft specialisms
• Managed service available - assuring your business
• Support for IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
• Support for PaaS (Platform as a Service)
• Support for SaaS (Software as a Service)
• Support for IaC (Infrastructure as Code)
• Severless, Containers, Data, Database, Integration, Identity

Benefits

• Industry leading, hyperscale cloud public services
• Secure and assured digital platform to build in
• Transparent costs for all workloads
• Fast access to the latest Microsoft features and capabilities
• Fast access to increased resources, reducing time to benefit
• Specialists to optimise your M365 and Azure environments
• Can provide self-provisioning service catalogues
• Improve reliability, privacy, cyber security
• Improve responsiveness via DevOps and associated approaches
• Expert MSP

£10.01 a terabyte a month

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales@shapingcloud.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

360303220506446

Contact

SC Customer Relationship Team
01614085333
sales@shapingcloud.com

Service scope

• Service constraints: See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/ to determine applicable constraints based on buyers requirements
• System requirements: See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: 24/7/365 Standard and Custom SLAs available with our managed service wrap; See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/support/plans/ for Microsoft services standard SLAs
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web chat accessibility testing: N/a
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Standard and Custom SLAs possible with our wrap around managed service.; See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/support/plans/ for Microsoft standard support levels.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We are able to support users directly - see our Support services available.; ; See also https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/ plus comprehensive online documentation for various solutions available across the platform. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats: Online videos and interactive learning portals
• End-of-contract data extraction: Customer are able to remove their data at any time through the same means they uploaded. Either over their network (internet or express route) or via the Azure Import/Export services. Also see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trustcenter/privacy
• End-of-contract process: Microsoft is governed by strict standards and removes cloud customer data from systems under our control, overwriting storage resources before reuse, and purging or destroying decommissioned hardware. https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/trust-center/privacy/data-management?rtc=1

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: Manage and deploy services via the Azure Portal. See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/
• Web interface accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web interface accessibility testing: See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Users are able to utilise the Azure API Managament service to create their own API's for the solutions they deploy on to the platform. Additionally we have the Azure Service Management API which provides programmatic access to much of the functionality available through the Management Portal. Available here https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/ee460799.aspx
• API automation tools:
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Other
• Using the command line interface: The Azure command-line interface (Azure CLI) is a set of commands used to create and manage Azure resources. The Azure CLI is available across Azure services and is designed to get you working quickly with Azure, with an emphasis on automation. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/?msclkid=2b50e70aa91311ec9b84e2bb2e192699

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: Azure represents a hyper-scale public cloud service and On Demand Capacity Reservation can be utilised: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/capacity-reservation-overview
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting:
  • API
  • Email
  • SMS

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
  • Number of active instances
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Microsoft

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Other locations
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: Azure Key Vault & Azure Active Director see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/encryption-atrest?msclkid=b2f26c8ea91a11ecac8f8d24fb4e36fc
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • Under User Control
  • On-premises VMs, files, folders, system state, BLOBs
  • Azure Managed Disks backup
  • Azure File Shares backup to storage account
  • SQL Server & PostgreSQL backups
  • SAP HANA databases in Azure VMs
  • All data, Windows and Linux VMs
• Backup controls: Under User Control - By assigning Azure Policies in Backup Center
• Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery: Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Microsoft secures data in transit with two layers of encryption. The primary method uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 to encrypt all outgoing traffic from datacenters, ensuring strong authentication, privacy, and integrity. This is the default protocol and it is used universally within Microsoft's network. Additionally, an infrastructure-level encryption is applied using IEEE 802.1AE MAC Security Standards (MACsec) when Azure customer data moves between datacenters, across networks Microsoft doesn't control. This hardware-integrated encryption safeguards against physical interception with no impact on network speed, and is automatically enabled for all Azure traffic.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: ACL Based Network Security Groups are also used. See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/network-security-groups/

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: See Microsoft's Online Service Terms at http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/Downloader.aspx?DocumentId=13655
• Approach to resilience: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/global-datacenters and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/
• Outage reporting: Microsoft Azure reports service outages through several channels to keep its customers well-informed. ; ; The primary tool is the Azure Status Dashboard, accessible at https://status.azure.com, which offers real-time status updates of all Azure services across different regions. ; ; For a more personalized view, customers can use Azure Service Health within the Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com). This feature provides tailored reports on the health of services used by a customer, detailed incident reports, and guidance for response actions.; ; Customers can also opt to receive email notifications through the Azure Service Health dashboard, which can be customized to alert them about issues affecting their specific services and regions. Additionally, Azure maintains RSS feeds that users can subscribe to for similar updates.; ; These mechanisms ensure transparency from Microsoft regarding Azure's operational status, allowing customers to stay informed about service health, maintenance schedules, and any disruptions affecting their operations.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Azure Active Directory is Microsoft’s multi-tenant cloud based directory and identity management service. Azure-AD includes a full suite of identity management capabilities including multi-factor authentication, device registration, self-service password management, self-service group management, privileged account management.; ; https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/concept-authentication-methods?msclkid=b2a138a1a92d11ec918375623c320dc1
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Azure-AD can designate separate administrators to serve different functions. These administrators will have access to features in the Azure portal and, depending on their role, will be able to create or edit users, assign administrative roles to others, reset user passwords, manage user-licenses, and manage domains, among other things. A user who is assigned an admin role will have the same permissions across all of the cloud services that your organization has subscribed to, regardless of whether you assign the role in the Office365 portal, or in the Azure classic-portal, or by using the Azure-AD module for Windows PowerShell.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Devices users manage the service through:
  • Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)
  • Dedicated device on a government network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated device over multiple services or networks
  • Any device but through a bastion host (a bastion host is a server that provides access to a private network from an external network such as the internet)
  • Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: Schellman
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 28/11/2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: The scope of the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification covers the Information Security Management System (ISMS) ; supporting Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, and other Online Services that are deployed in Azure Public and ; Government Cloud including their development, operations, and infrastructure and their associated security, privacy, ; and compliance per the statement of applicability version 2023.01.
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 01/07/2022
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 3: CSA STAR Certification
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: The scope of the CSA STAR certification is aligned to the scope of the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Information Security Management System ; (ISMS) (certificate number 1729711-9) supporting Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, and other Online Services that are deployed ; in Azure Public and Government Cloud including their development, operations, and infrastructure and their associated security, ; privacy, and compliance and inclusive of the requirements and control implementation guidance of ISO/IEC 27701:2019 for a ; privacy information management system (PIMS) as data processor per the statement of applicability version 2022.01.
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: Coalfire Systems, Inc
• PCI DSS accreditation date: 07/03/2024
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: Service Scope is identified here hhttps://servicetrust.microsoft.com/viewpage/PCI
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • FACT
  • FedRamp
  • NIST 800-171
  • FIPS 140-2
  • CCSL (IRAP)
  • ENISA IAF
  • CDSA
  • ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 22301, 9001
  • SOC1, SOC2, SOC3
  • See aka.ms/stp for all certifications

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CCM version 3.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: EN 301 549, ENISA IAF, EU Model Clauses, UK Cyber Essentials Plus, UK NPIRMT, CIS Hardened images, SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2
• Information security policies and processes: Microsoft have policies for infrastructure security, physical security, availability, components & boundaries, network architecture, production network, SQL DB, operations, monitoring, integrity and data protection. For more information please visit https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/security/fundamentals/infrastructure-availability; Also see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/Compliance/ISO-IEC-27001 and The Microsoft Cloud Security Policy is available via the Service Trust Platform https://servicetrust.microsoft.com/ or aka.ms/stp

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: Azure has developed formal standard operating procedures (SOPs) governing the change management process. These SOPs cover both software development and hardware change and release management, and are consistent with established regulatory guidelines including ISO 27001, SOC 1 / SOC 2, NIST 800-53, and others.; ; Microsoft also uses Operational Security Assurance (OSA), a framework that incorporates the knowledge gained through a variety of capabilities that are unique to Microsoft including the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL), the Microsoft Security Response Center program, and deep awareness of the cybersecurity threat landscape. ; Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/SDL/OperationalSecurityAssurance and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sdl
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Vulnerability management recommendations focus on addressing issues related to continuously acquiring, assessing, and acting on new information in order to identify and remediate vulnerabilities as well as minimizing the window of opportunity for attackers.; 1: Run automated vulnerability scanning tools; 2: Deploy automated operating system patch management solution; 3: Deploy automated patch management solution for third-party software titles; 4: Compare back-to-back vulnerability scans; 5: Use a risk-rating process to prioritize the remediation of discovered vulnerabilities; For more information https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security/benchmark/azure/security-control-vulnerability-management
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Microsoft Azure employs a robust protective monitoring system encompassing both security and operational stability. Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security by continuously assessing Azure resources against the Azure Security Benchmark, offering tailored recommendations and leveraging the Intelligent Security Graph for real-time threat protection. Concurrently, Azure's advanced monitoring technology integrates at multiple infrastructure levels, including components, data centers, and network backbones, to ensure operational health. This proactive monitoring detects performance deviations and potential disruptions, triggering immediate alerts for resolution. Together, these processes ensure Azure's environment is secure and operationally resilient, safeguarding against threats while maintaining service performance and availability.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: Microsoft has developed robust processes to facilitate a coordinated response to incidents. ; • Identification – System and security alerts may be harvested, correlated, and analyzed. ; • Containment – The escalation team evaluates the scope and impact of an incident. ; • Eradication – The escalation team eradicates any damage caused by the security breach, identifies root cause for why the security issue occurred. ; • Recovery – During recovery, software or configuration updates are applied to the system and services are returned to a full working capacity.; • Lessons Learned – Each security incident is analyzed to protect against future reoccurrence.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: VMware
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: In the cloud-based workplace, a "tenant" refers to a client or organization that manages a unique instance of a cloud service. Specifically, within Microsoft Azure, a tenant represents a dedicated instance of Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) assigned to an organization upon registering for a Microsoft cloud service. Each Azure AD is isolated, ensuring that directories are distinct and protected against data and identity information co-mingling. This isolation prevents users and administrators in one Azure AD from accessing data in another, intentionally or accidentally. For more details, visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/isolation-choices

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/sustainability

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Consuming cloud services from the main hyper-scale cloud providers and being a part of their commitment to being carbon neutral by 2025 and carbon negative by 2030. Right sizing workloads in the cloud and regularly reviewing consumption further supports these targets and ensures minimum carbon footprint. As part of our engagement with any Customer, we are able to measure the reduction in carbon footprint as a result of adopting cloud services in preference to traditional technology. This supports each organisation in achieving their own plans to become net zero. We are a 100% cloud-based SME, with a minimal carbon footprint and a target to have a zero-carbon footprint by 2030 - so partnering with us also supports moving to a zero carbon footprint in your supply chain.

  Covid-19 recovery

  We are a UK-based SME who creates UK jobs. We have programmes to recruit from a diverse base, including career changers. We are already a diverse workforce and have targets to ensure we continue to be diverse. We are committed to supporting our Customers in the public sector with their plans to support help communities manage and recover from the impact of COVID-19. Use of cloud services ought to ensure your organisation is agile in the response to recovery. Right-sizing and optimising your use of cloud, which we can help you with, will ensure a sound investment of public funds - retaining as much funding as possible for deliver of public services and interventions such as Covid-19 recovery.

  Tackling economic inequality

  We are a UK SME with a diverse workforce. We recognise the benefits from having a diverse workforce and therefore target people from all backgrounds to work at Shaping Cloud. We support career changers and measure values and culture alignment along with career potential higher than formal education - ensuring equal opportunity for those from all economic backgrounds. We partner with a variety of organisations to provide digital training for those from diverse and deprived backgrounds – providing them with their first employment experience subsequent to this training. All our employees are paid above the Living Wage and receive additional benefits, such as private health - having a positive impact on themselves and their families and communities. All our employees receive training in digital as well as five days paid leave for learning every year. We pay all genders equally, according to merit.

  Equal opportunity

  We are a UK SME with a diverse workforce. We recognise the benefits from having a diverse workforce and therefore target people from all backgrounds to work at Shaping Cloud. We measure values alignment along with career potential higher than formal education and background - ensuring equal opportunity for those from all economic and racial backgrounds, as well as those who require additional support or technology in order to carry out their work effectively. E.g. individuals with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, behavioural or neurological impairment, as well as the needs of those for whom English is not their first language. Our recruitment practices value each person according to their experience as well as their potential and do not discriminate in any way on the grounds of race, colour, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. All employees have a personal development plan and access to a personal coach to support them in their professional and personal development - ensuring everyone has equal opportunity for career progression. Each person's performance and contribution is reviewed at least annually, which includes 360 degree views, to determine whether they are ready for career progression. This career progression is awarded on the basis of readiness and not on the basis of a post becoming available or an individual line manager making that decision. In this way, every person has equal opportunity. Implementation of digital services requires consideration to ensure no user is excluded from using the service. This is all the more important with respect to public services. We support our customers with advice with respect to accessibility, and we tailor our solutions and services to our client’s needs in this area.

  Wellbeing

  We prioritise the wellbeing of our workforce, with private health, excellent work-life balance, flexible working location and hours, coaching, and personal development. We regularly canvas for feedback from our employees to ensure they all enjoy work and feel rewarded for their efforts. We have an always available Wellbeing group internally, which arranges activities and challenges throughout the year to promote good health as well as providing a variety of suggestions and opportunities to ensure good mental health. We provide two paid volunteering days per year per employee, and encourage use of these to improve the communities we are a part of.

Pricing

• Price: £10.01 a terabyte a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Free trial possible on most Azure products. ; Please see https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/free
• Link to free trial: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/free

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales@shapingcloud.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.