The rapid pace of digital innovation continues to redefine how Australia’s leading financial institutions approach technology, operational efficiency, and member value. Nowhere is this more evident than in the bold partnership between CareSuper—one of Australia’s largest industry superannuation funds—and Macquarie Cloud Services, as they embark on a major migration and technology overhaul from VMware Cloud on AWS to Microsoft Azure. This initiative, characterized by a risk-absorbing, managed-edge Azure deployment, underscores a series of transformative shifts spanning cloud architecture, risk-sharing commercial models, and the broader trends shaping IT infrastructure across Australia’s superannuation and financial services sectors.
CareSuper, managing over AUD $57 billion in assets and serving more than 573,000 members, faces the constant challenge of balancing technological innovation with rigorous cost control and a commitment to long-term member outcomes. Historically reliant on VMware Cloud on AWS, CareSuper’s decision to migrate to Azure marks a significant strategic pivot. At the heart of this move is the fund’s desire to leverage modern cloud capabilities, drive greater operational efficiency, and support a model in which every technology investment must demonstrably benefit its members—today and well into the future.
Simon Reiter, Chief Technology Officer at CareSuper, offers compelling insight into this transformation: “Our goal is to optimise every part of our operation so we can deliver long-term value to our members. Cloud decisions must serve that mission—not just today, but five years from now. Macquarie Cloud Services stood out as a partner who could deliver both the technical transformation and the ongoing managed service maturity required.”
Several factors influenced CareSuper’s migration strategy, including:
The new approach, built around a Managed Edge Azure Local solution, involves several key components:
“We’re seeing a wave of repatriation from AWS,” McClung explains. “For many organisations, rising costs and architectural limitations have made them re-evaluate. But it’s not just about moving away—it’s about moving forward. That’s where our team adds value.”
The trend is supported by recent research from Gartner and other IT analysts, which indicate that cloud expenditure can outpace on-premises or alternative private cloud models if not managed closely. Azure’s expansion in both private and hybrid environments in Australia, backed by partners like Macquarie Cloud Services, appeals to organizations needing comprehensive compliance, cost predictability, and tailored support.
Simon Reiter emphasizes the significance: “What we’ve found in partnering with Macquarie Cloud Services is a team of experts who can transform, refactor, migrate, and ensure we get the best operational value from our cloud environment. That the company backs itself by taking on the cost risk of the migration phase is telling of its capabilities and commitment to putting customers first.”
In cloud services, such risk-sharing is uncommon. Traditionally, migration costs and risks rest with the customer, with service providers billing on a time-and-materials basis. By inverting this arrangement, Macquarie differentiates itself—yet it also faces significant potential downside if benchmarks are missed or transition complexity exceeds expectations.
Naran McClung elaborates: “We’ve seen our Azure team and business expand by about 20 percent every year since we set it up in 2020. Becoming an Azure Expert MSP is not a lifetime achievement; it takes incredible dedication, assessments requiring dozens of the team to come together, and—most importantly—an ability to deliver value to customers time and time again.”
For CareSuper, Azure Expert MSP status offers unique assurance:
That said, caution is warranted: industry case studies show that successful cloud migrations require deep executive engagement, realistic timelines, and a clear-eyed view of “hidden” post-migration costs associated with refactoring, integration, and ongoing optimization.
The commercial model, in which Macquarie bears the risk and accountability for project delivery at no upfront cost, redefines expectations for cloud partnerships in the enterprise sector. When paired with expert credentials and a disciplined focus on both technology and member outcomes, the result is an ambitious, high-stakes technology transformation that will be closely watched by industry observers, regulators, and peer institutions alike.
Yet for all its strengths, success will be measured not just by the speed with which workloads traverse from one cloud to another, but by CareSuper’s ability to realize lasting value—reducing operational costs, simplifying management, and supporting superior member outcomes in a rapidly changing financial landscape. Transparency, continuous optimization, and a willingness to invest in people alongside platforms will be essential.
As the migration and transformation effort unfolds, its outcomes—both triumphs and any bumps in the road—are likely to shape best practices for large-scale cloud modernization projects across Australia’s highly regulated sectors for years to come. Financial leaders and IT strategists seeking to future-proof their technology stacks—and reimagine how risk, cost, and innovation are shared between client and provider—would do well to study the CareSuper story closely.
Source: IT Brief Australia CareSuper partners with Macquarie for Azure migration, tech overhaul
Why CareSuper Chose Macquarie Cloud Services and Azure Over AWS
CareSuper, managing over AUD $57 billion in assets and serving more than 573,000 members, faces the constant challenge of balancing technological innovation with rigorous cost control and a commitment to long-term member outcomes. Historically reliant on VMware Cloud on AWS, CareSuper’s decision to migrate to Azure marks a significant strategic pivot. At the heart of this move is the fund’s desire to leverage modern cloud capabilities, drive greater operational efficiency, and support a model in which every technology investment must demonstrably benefit its members—today and well into the future.Simon Reiter, Chief Technology Officer at CareSuper, offers compelling insight into this transformation: “Our goal is to optimise every part of our operation so we can deliver long-term value to our members. Cloud decisions must serve that mission—not just today, but five years from now. Macquarie Cloud Services stood out as a partner who could deliver both the technical transformation and the ongoing managed service maturity required.”
Several factors influenced CareSuper’s migration strategy, including:
- Cost and Agility: As their infrastructure and data needs grew in complexity, the costs and architectural constraints of AWS compelled CareSuper to reconsider its cloud model. Azure, coupled with a Managed Edge solution, promises greater scalability and reduced complexity.
- Risk Mitigation Through Commercial Innovation: Perhaps most notably, Macquarie Cloud Services agreed to bear the full risk of migration, offering CareSuper a transformation with no upfront cost and complete accountability for project outcomes—a bold stance reflecting confidence in its technical acumen.
- Optimisation for Long-term Value: The migration is not a mere “lift-and-shift.” It aims at database modernisation and a transition to platform-as-a-service (PaaS) models, which enable CareSuper to run applications more natively and efficiently in the cloud, streamlining management and minimizing ongoing workload.
Inside the Migration: Operational and Technical Nuances
Migrating hundreds of applications and petabytes of data is a high-stakes undertaking, carrying significant technical and business risks. CareSuper’s legacy environment on VMware Cloud on AWS provided a relatively siloed, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) experience, with significant overhead required to maintain and optimise workloads.The new approach, built around a Managed Edge Azure Local solution, involves several key components:
- Establishment of an Azure Landing Zone: This foundational step creates cloud environments based on Microsoft best practices, ensuring security, compliance, and governance are built in from day one.
- Comprehensive Workload Migration: Every app and dataset is subject to rigorous assessment and refactoring where needed to ensure optimal performance and cost-effectiveness in the Azure environment.
- Database Modernisation: By moving from traditional server-based architecture to PaaS offerings such as Azure SQL Database and Azure Database for PostgreSQL, CareSuper can reduce administrative overhead, automate scaling, and enhance reliability.
- Operational Automation and Simplification: The shift to PaaS and cloud-native architectures enables self-healing, automated patching, and centralized management, simplifying IT operations and freeing resources for innovation.
Cloud Repatriation and Market Trends in Australia
CareSuper’s shift from AWS is not occurring in a vacuum. Naran McClung, Head of Azure at Macquarie Cloud Services, notes a growing trend of “repatriation” away from AWS across the Australian enterprise market. This repositioning is driven by a combination of rising costs, evolving compliance requirements, and architectural limitations that prompt organizations to seek alternatives that can be tailored more explicitly to their needs.“We’re seeing a wave of repatriation from AWS,” McClung explains. “For many organisations, rising costs and architectural limitations have made them re-evaluate. But it’s not just about moving away—it’s about moving forward. That’s where our team adds value.”
The trend is supported by recent research from Gartner and other IT analysts, which indicate that cloud expenditure can outpace on-premises or alternative private cloud models if not managed closely. Azure’s expansion in both private and hybrid environments in Australia, backed by partners like Macquarie Cloud Services, appeals to organizations needing comprehensive compliance, cost predictability, and tailored support.
Redefining Risk and Cost Management in Cloud Migrations
Perhaps the most innovative aspect of the CareSuper-Macquarie partnership is Macquarie’s assumption of risk for the migration’s cost and outcome—no upfront cost to CareSuper, and full accountability resting with the service provider. This rare approach to commercial terms signals both a deep commitment to customer alignment and a powerful degree of confidence in execution capability.Simon Reiter emphasizes the significance: “What we’ve found in partnering with Macquarie Cloud Services is a team of experts who can transform, refactor, migrate, and ensure we get the best operational value from our cloud environment. That the company backs itself by taking on the cost risk of the migration phase is telling of its capabilities and commitment to putting customers first.”
In cloud services, such risk-sharing is uncommon. Traditionally, migration costs and risks rest with the customer, with service providers billing on a time-and-materials basis. By inverting this arrangement, Macquarie differentiates itself—yet it also faces significant potential downside if benchmarks are missed or transition complexity exceeds expectations.
Potential Risks
- Execution Complexity: Any migration involving petabytes of data and hundreds of applications risks unanticipated downtime, data loss, or performance degradation. Even a highly experienced provider like Macquarie must maintain exacting diligence to avoid service disruptions.
- Vendor Lock-In: While Azure’s PaaS models drive efficiency, they may also deepen CareSuper’s reliance on Microsoft’s cloud stack. Future changes or repatriations could be more complex and costly if the ecosystem becomes tightly integrated.
- Ongoing Operational Costs: While Macquarie absorbs initial migration risk, CareSuper remains responsible for ongoing operational and consumption charges post-migration. Transparent cost models—and ongoing optimisation—are needed to ensure that future cloud costs align with initial savings projections.
Azure Expert MSP: What It Means and Why It Matters
Macquarie Cloud Services’ credentials further strengthen CareSuper’s calculus. Since 2020, the firm has held the prestigious Microsoft Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP) designation, a mark awarded only after rigorous annual audits and ongoing verification of technical and operational excellence. There are only a handful of such MSPs in the Asia Pacific region—Macquarie’s status signals both scale and skill.Naran McClung elaborates: “We’ve seen our Azure team and business expand by about 20 percent every year since we set it up in 2020. Becoming an Azure Expert MSP is not a lifetime achievement; it takes incredible dedication, assessments requiring dozens of the team to come together, and—most importantly—an ability to deliver value to customers time and time again.”
For CareSuper, Azure Expert MSP status offers unique assurance:
- Stringent Compliance Standards: MSPs must meet or exceed Microsoft’s strictest requirements for security, operations, governance, and process consistency.
- Proven Delivery: The status is evidence of successful, large-scale cloud implementations—a critical concern for organizations with complex, regulated workloads.
- Continuous Improvement: Ongoing performance tracking ensures that MSPs constantly refine their services and remain up to date with the latest Azure innovations.
Strategic Implications: Beyond the Migration
While the headline is the migration from VMware Cloud on AWS to Azure, the deeper story is about how Australian super funds and financial services organizations can leverage technology transformations to accelerate operational improvement and member value.Benefits Realized
- Modernized Infrastructure: Migration to cloud-native architectures allows for rapid new service deployment, improved disaster recovery, and greater flexibility in scaling resources up or down as needed.
- Enhanced Security and Compliance: Azure and Macquarie’s expertise jointly deliver a security model tailored to the highly regulated superannuation sector, with built-in controls for data residency, privacy, and robust auditing.
- Cost Savings and Efficiency: By embracing PaaS and automating routine operations, CareSuper reduces its IT administration burden, freeing staff to focus on value-adding activities instead of “keeping the lights on.”
- Improved Member Outcomes: Ultimately, every dollar saved in IT and operations is a dollar that can potentially be channeled toward member dividends, lower fees, or enhanced service offerings—aligned to CareSuper’s mission.
Critical Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, and What’s Next
Notable Strengths
- Risk-Sharing Model: Disrupts conventional client-vendor relationships, tightly aligning interests. Macquarie’s “skin in the game” improves accountability and client confidence.
- Market Timing: CareSuper’s shift coincides with broader industry trends, supporting potential cost and efficiency gains realized by moving off AWS.
- PaaS and Automation Focus: Modernizing through PaaS reduces management overhead and enables rapid innovation—key for keeping pace in a dynamic regulatory and market environment.
- MSP Recognition: Macquarie’s Azure Expert MSP status indicates consistently high performance validated by third-party (Microsoft) audits.
Potential Risks and Open Questions
- Complexity of Large-Scale Migrations: The scale—hundreds of apps, petabytes of data—carries inherent operational and reputational risk. Even a single missed deadline or poorly executed cutover could impact member experience or compliance.
- Long-Term Vendor Lock-In: With each step toward platform native services, portability between providers decreases. How CareSuper manages this trade-off—and how Macquarie mitigates against “cloud creep”—remains to be seen.
- Cost Predictability: While upfront migration costs are mitigated, cloud cost overruns are well documented in the industry, particularly as organizations scale workloads and adopt new cloud-native services.
- Staff Upskilling and Change Management: Transitioning to PaaS and cloud-native architectures demands new skills and operating models. For maximum value, CareSuper must invest in ongoing team development and change enablement.
Verification and Industry Benchmarks
Current research from leading analysts, including Gartner and IDC, underscores that cost control and flexibility are key motivations for multi-cloud or cloud-repatriation strategies. Azure’s growth in the Asia-Pacific region has outpaced market averages over recent quarters, attributed—at least in part—to aggressive partner programs and robust security postures. Notably, Gartner’s 2024 Cloud Infrastructure Market report highlights increasing customer demand for managed service and co-responsibility models—further validating CareSuper’s choice of a risk-sharing approach.That said, caution is warranted: industry case studies show that successful cloud migrations require deep executive engagement, realistic timelines, and a clear-eyed view of “hidden” post-migration costs associated with refactoring, integration, and ongoing optimization.
Conclusion: Lessons for Australia’s Superannuation and Financial Sectors
CareSuper’s partnership with Macquarie Cloud Services for a major Azure migration and infrastructure transformation marks a significant milestone—not only for the fund, but for Australia’s financial industry more broadly. By shifting away from legacy architecture on VMware Cloud on AWS and embracing managed edge Azure local deployments, database modernisation, and a service-led model, CareSuper seeks to deliver operational efficiency that dovetails with its member-centric mission.The commercial model, in which Macquarie bears the risk and accountability for project delivery at no upfront cost, redefines expectations for cloud partnerships in the enterprise sector. When paired with expert credentials and a disciplined focus on both technology and member outcomes, the result is an ambitious, high-stakes technology transformation that will be closely watched by industry observers, regulators, and peer institutions alike.
Yet for all its strengths, success will be measured not just by the speed with which workloads traverse from one cloud to another, but by CareSuper’s ability to realize lasting value—reducing operational costs, simplifying management, and supporting superior member outcomes in a rapidly changing financial landscape. Transparency, continuous optimization, and a willingness to invest in people alongside platforms will be essential.
As the migration and transformation effort unfolds, its outcomes—both triumphs and any bumps in the road—are likely to shape best practices for large-scale cloud modernization projects across Australia’s highly regulated sectors for years to come. Financial leaders and IT strategists seeking to future-proof their technology stacks—and reimagine how risk, cost, and innovation are shared between client and provider—would do well to study the CareSuper story closely.
Source: IT Brief Australia CareSuper partners with Macquarie for Azure migration, tech overhaul
