Chimmels, Park Rd, Dartington Hall, Totnes TQ9 6EQ
Sector:
City St George’s University of London
Evolving to a hybrid integration model with BizTalk and Azure Integration Services
The Challenge
City St George’s University of London is a leading academic and research institution located in the heart of London’s financial district. Its integration platform underpins a wide range of systems, including student records, finance, learning environments, identity management and third-party services.
To support its operational and digital transformation goals, the University needed to evolve its integration strategy. This meant introducing cloud capabilities while continuing to support existing, business-critical integrations.
The challenge was to adopt Azure Integration Services without disrupting established processes or compromising the stability of the existing BizTalk estate. A phased, controlled approach was essential.
The Approach
Having previously delivered City’s ESB migration, we brought a detailed understanding of the University’s integration landscape and operational requirements.
We were engaged to define and implement a hybrid integration model, enabling Azure Integration Services to be adopted for new workloads while maintaining BizTalk for legacy and on-premises integrations.
The focus was on creating a clear, structured path to cloud adoption.
This included:
Defining a hybrid integration strategy combining BizTalk and Azure Integration Services.
Establishing Azure Integration Services as the default platform for new integrations.
Retaining BizTalk for complex or on-premises-dependent workloads.
Implementing shared governance, tooling and operational standards across both platforms.
Defining a long-term roadmap for continued cloud adoption.
This approach ensured the University could move forward with cloud integration at a controlled pace, without risking disruption to critical services.
Our solutions
We designed and implemented a hybrid architecture where BizTalk and Azure Integration Services coexist, each supporting the workloads they are best suited to.
Key elements included:
Hybrid integration architecture: A clearly defined model enabling BizTalk and Azure Integration Services to operate alongside each other, supporting different integration scenarios.
Introduction of Logic Apps, Service Bus, API Management, and Azure Functions to support cloud-based integrations.
Workload alignment: Continued use of BizTalk for long-running and on-premises integrations, while new integrations were developed using Azure.
Shared tooling and operations: Unified DevOps pipelines, monitoring, and alerting frameworks across both platforms.
Governance and standards: Defined development and operational standards to support consistency and an AIS-first strategy.
Throughout the engagement, we worked closely with City’s team to embed these patterns and ensure long-term AIS adoption and sustainability.
The Process
We worked collaboratively with City to implement the hybrid model and embed it within day-to-day operations.
Azure Integration Services components were introduced alongside the existing BizTalk estate, enabling new integrations to be developed in the cloud while established interfaces continued to run on-premises.
Shared DevOps pipelines and monitoring frameworks were implemented to provide consistency across both platforms, supporting deployment, visibility, and ongoing support.
Alongside this, we supported the adoption of governance frameworks, development standards, and operational practices – helping the University establish a consistent and sustainable model for hybrid integration.
The Outcome
City now operates a stable, scalable hybrid integration estate that delivers:
- BizTalk reliability for long‑running, on‑premises integrations
- Azure agility and speed for all new integration requirements
- A consistent operational model across both platforms
- A clear AIS‑first trajectory for future integrations
This provides the University with the flexibility of cloud innovation without compromising the stability of existing critical services.
Why it worked
By balancing innovation with continuity, we enabled City to adopt cloud integration at pace while protecting the stability of its existing systems – creating a practical, sustainable path to modernisation.