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How We Work

Structured engagements. Defined handoffs. No dependency created.

Every ClearCloudAI engagement follows a consistent delivery structure. Each phase has clear inputs, outputs, and acceptance criteria. Engagements end with your team in control — not with a continuing services agreement you cannot exit.

Three ways organizations work with ClearCloudAI

Starting point

Fixed-Scope Assessment

A time-boxed assessment of your current cloud environment against a defined scope — architecture, security posture, costs, operational maturity, or compliance readiness.

Duration
2–3 weeks
Output
Gap analysis + prioritized roadmap + architecture recommendations

Most organizations start here.

Core delivery

Implementation Engagement

A structured implementation engagement with defined phases, milestones, and acceptance criteria. Scope is agreed before work begins. Changes to scope are managed through a defined change process.

Duration
6–20 weeks depending on scope
Output
Deployed infrastructure, tested systems, runbooks, and knowledge transfer
Ongoing

Managed Operations

Ongoing cloud operations under agreed SLAs — monitoring, patching, cost governance, incident response, and continuous improvement. Operated by ClearCloudAI engineers, with monthly reporting to your team.

Duration
Monthly rolling, 3-month minimum
Output
SLA-governed operations, monthly reports, continuous improvement backlog

How implementation engagements are structured

Implementation engagements move through six phases. Not every engagement starts at Phase 1 — we enter where you are.

Phase 01

Assess

2–3 weeks

We audit your current environment: architecture, cost profile, security posture, operational tooling, and team capability. We interview engineers and operations staff. We document what exists, what is missing, and what poses the highest risk.

Inputs

Access to cloud accounts, architecture documentation (if it exists), existing runbooks and operational data

Outputs

Gap analysis report, risk register, prioritized recommendation list, engagement roadmap

Key question we answer: What is the actual state of your environment, and what should change first?

Phase 02

Design

2–4 weeks

We design the target-state architecture: infrastructure topology, IaC module structure, CI/CD pipeline design, security controls, identity model, and observability strategy. No code is written until the design is approved.

Inputs

Assessment outputs, business priorities, compliance requirements, existing team constraints

Outputs

Architecture design document, IaC module design, security architecture, ADRs (Architecture Decision Records)

Key question: What exactly are we building, how does it work, and what trade-offs are we making?

Phase 03

Build

4–12 weeks (variable)

We implement the approved design. IaC modules, CI/CD pipelines, platform tooling, and workload migrations are built in version-controlled, peer-reviewed code. Acceptance criteria from the design phase are validated at each milestone.

Inputs

Approved design, access to target environments, agreed acceptance criteria

Outputs

Deployed infrastructure, tested systems, version-controlled codebase in your repository

Key question: Is what we built the same as what we designed, and does it meet the acceptance criteria?

Phase 04

Validate

1–2 weeks

We validate the implementation against security benchmarks, performance baselines, compliance requirements, and operational acceptance criteria. Issues found are remediated before phase close.

Inputs

Deployed systems, acceptance criteria, compliance framework requirements

Outputs

Validation report, remediation log, signed-off acceptance checklist

Key question: Is the system production-ready by every criterion we agreed on?

Phase 05

Handoff

2–3 weeks

We transfer operational ownership to your team. Runbooks are reviewed with the team who will use them. Architecture walkthroughs are recorded. On-call procedures are documented and tested. Questions are answered, not deferred.

Inputs

Completed and validated system, operations team availability

Outputs

Complete runbook set, architecture walkthrough recordings, on-call runbook, knowledge transfer sign-off

Key question: Can your team operate this without calling us?

Phase 06

Stabilise

2–4 weeks post-handoff

We remain available for questions and issue escalation during the stabilisation period. Significant incidents during this window are remediated at no additional cost. Minor issues are documented and addressed in a structured remediation log.

Inputs

Running system under your team’s operational control

Outputs

Stabilisation report, final issue log, engagement close review

Key question: Did anything unexpected emerge under real operational conditions?

What you should expect from us — and what you will not get.

What we do

  • Define scope before starting work
  • Write runbooks as we build, not at the end
  • Escalate design disagreements before they become delivery problems
  • Recommend against solutions we don’t believe in, even if the client prefers them
  • Produce a written engagement close review with lessons learned

What we don’t do

  • Build environments that only work if we keep operating them
  • Create dependency through undocumented decisions or proprietary tooling
  • Scope-creep without a change control process
  • Treat security and observability as negotiable scope items
  • Recommend cloud services based on vendor relationships or certifications

Ready to start?

Most engagements begin with a fixed-scope assessment. It takes 2–3 weeks, produces a clear picture of your environment, and defines a practical path forward — without a long pre-sales process.