Consultancy
Data & AI on Azure
Data platforms that keep running, and a team that can carry them itself.
Everything stands or falls with the data underneath. Vinkl advises on data and AI, builds, supports and improves data platforms on Microsoft Azure, and makes sure the knowledge stays with the people who have to carry on with it.
- Freelance data and infrastructure specialist
- Azure data architect
- Remote or on site
Services
What we do
Advice on data and AI
Where do you start, what is feasible and what will it bring? Drawing up an architecture, reviewing an existing platform or working out what AI can really do for you. With an eye for the security of your data. Written down so your team can take it from there.
Building and improving data platforms
Building new on Azure, or supporting and streamlining the platform you already have, so you work faster and with fewer errors. With tests, monitoring and a deploy nobody has to run by hand.
Infrastructure & databases
The layer underneath: Azure environments as code, SQL Server and Azure SQL, network and access, backup and recovery. Built to be rebuilt without clicking.
Knowledge transfer
Training, workshops and coaching on the job, so your team can carry on with new technology by itself. Learning and teaching are part of every engagement, not an add-on.
An engagement can be the full journey or one piece of it — drawing up an architecture, reviewing a platform that already exists, or simply building alongside your team.
Working together
Three ways to bring Vinkl in
In your team
Freelance, for a longer stretch, as a data or infrastructure specialist working in your own team and rhythm.
As a project
A scoped engagement with a clear result: setting up a platform, a migration to Azure, a pipeline that does not exist yet.
As advice
Reviewing an architecture, auditing an existing platform or a second opinion before you decide. Short, with a report you can use yourself.
Approach
How an engagement runs
Listen
Where are you stuck, what has to work afterwards, and who has to carry on with it? We start from the question, not from the technology.
Design
An architecture that fits your team and your budget, written down so everyone can read it and push back before anything is built.
Build
Everything as code, in small steps, with tests and a separate environment. Whatever runs can be rebuilt.
Hand over
Documentation next to the code, explanation on the job and a team that can carry it. An engagement is only done when we are no longer needed.
Expertise
What we work with
The Microsoft data platform, from database to cloud, and the way of working around it.
- Data on Azure
- Data Factory, Synapse Analytics, Data Lake Storage, Azure SQL, Databricks.
- Databases
- SQL Server: design, development and administration, on-premises and in the cloud.
- Infrastructure as code
- Bicep, Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions: environments that come out of the repository.
- Data for AI
- AI is only as good as the data underneath. We make it findable, reliable, documented and secure, with the right agreements around it.
Certifications
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
- DP-203 — Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure
- MCSE: Data Management and Analytics
- MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Administration and Database Development
From our own practice
We build for ourselves too
yourpace, our own learning platform, runs on Azure and is set up on the same principles we apply with clients: infrastructure as code, separated environments, and a pipeline that tests and ships without anyone touching it.
It is our most honest reference work: you open it and use it yourself.
Frequently asked
Good to know beforehand
Do you work remote or on site?
Both. Remote, at your office or a mix: whatever works best is agreed per engagement.
Do you work outside Azure too?
Our centre of gravity is the Microsoft data platform. If your question falls outside it, we say so honestly and point you to someone who does it better.
How does an engagement start?
With a conversation. Tell us briefly what it is about and where you are stuck; we answer with what we would do and what that means in time and approach.
What does it cost?
That depends on the form: freelance in your team, a scoped project or short advice. You get a rate or a price up front, with no surprises afterwards.
What happens after delivery?
Your team can carry it: the infrastructure is code, the documentation sits next to the code, and the knowledge has been handed over. Further support is possible, but never a condition.
A question or a project?
Tell us briefly what it is about and where you are stuck. We will answer with what we would do — or with who you would be better off asking, if it is not for us.