Challenge
Kubernetes projects tend to need outside help at the same few moments, whether the first cluster has yet to go live or the platform has been in production for years. If one of these sounds like yours, we have probably seen a version of it before.
About to adopt Kubernetes
You want an architecture which will still hold up in three years, and a second opinion on cluster boundaries, tenancy, and networking before the first cluster goes live.
A stalled platform project
Deadlines have slipped, the migration is half done, and every review of the platform turns up another blocker, so nobody is sure what is left between here and production.
Knowledge in too few heads
Only one or two people understand the architecture, so any change to the platform has to wait for them, and nothing is written down for anyone else to pick up.
Outgrown its design
The architecture worked for five clusters and a handful of teams. It does not work for fifty, and the cloud bill still rises with every cluster, as opposed to levelling off.
Approach
Engagements start with an intro call and, if we can help, a two-hour workshop on your platform. From there, the work takes one of two routes.
01
Work on the platform you run
An architecture review, a stalled project, upgrades which have fallen behind, or a cloud bill which has grown faster than the platform. We scope it from the workshop or a one-day technical review, with no pilot, and deliver it as a defined project or with engineers embedded in your team.
02
Bigger changes start with a pilot
Building a new platform, moving workloads off virtual machines, or leaving VMware starts with a fixed-price, three-week pilot under Cloud Platform Engineering, Workload Modernisation, or VMware Kubernetes Migration. It ends with a written recommendation, and you can stop after any stage.
What does Kubernetes consulting involve?
Kubernetes consulting is hands-on engineering help with the platform your applications run on. Kubernetes itself is well documented, and getting a cluster running is the easy part. The harder decisions come afterwards, and they tend to start as questions like these:
How many clusters should there be, and who owns them?
How do teams get isolated namespaces without waiting on tickets?
How do upgrades happen every few months without a weekend of downtime?
What does it take to pass an ISO 27001 or SOC 2 audit?
They decide whether a platform keeps up with the business or holds it back, and they are where most of our work sits.
Our Kubernetes consultants are engineers first. We work in your Git repositories, your Terraform, and your CI / CD pipelines, and we pair with the people who will run the platform after we leave. A typical engagement includes some mix of the following:
Architecture & design
Cluster topology, multi-tenancy, networking, service mesh, and storage choices, identity and RBAC, and how the platform spans clouds, regions, and the rest of your estate
Platform build
Repeatable clusters with Terraform, Cluster API, or a managed service, the add-ons every cluster needs, such as ingress and cert-manager, and GitOps for everything on top
Operations & support
Upgrade processes, observability, alerting which people act on, backup and restore, runbooks, and engineers who stay on for day-two work
Security
Policy enforcement, secrets and certificate management, image supply chain controls, runtime threat detection, and the evidence your auditors ask for
Cost and FinOps
Right-sizing workloads and nodes, autoscaling, spot instances, scaling non-production down out of hours, cost allocation per team, and showback or chargeback reports your finance team can use
Skills
Hands-on training for developers and operators, pairing, and handover documentation, so your team can own the platform
Why work with a Kubernetes consultancy?
Most organisations only design a Kubernetes platform once or twice, so the team doing it is usually learning as they go. The mistakes which hurt most tend to be early design decisions, such as cluster boundaries, tenancy, and networking, because they get harder to change with every workload that lands. An experienced consultant has already seen how those decisions play out two or three years later.
A smaller first step
If Kubernetes is already running well for you and your engineers have the time to improve it, hands-on training or our one-day technical review may be all that is required. We will tell you that in the intro call if we think it is the case.
Kubernetes Consulting Roadmap
An engagement moves through up to four stages. Work on a platform you already run can go straight from the workshop to delivery, a bigger change starts with a pilot, and ongoing support is there if you want it.
Talk
What happens:
- Tell us what you run
- Review your platform over a screen share
- Send a written summary
What you leave with:
- Prioritised platform risks
- Rough effort for each
- Recommended next step
Assess
What happens:
- One-day review of an existing platform
- Three-week pilot for a larger change
- Document every problem
What you leave with:
- Prioritised improvements
- Log of problems and fixes
- Written recommendation and estimate
Deliver
What happens:
- Scope and estimate the work
- Build and fix on your platform
- Pair with your team
What you leave with:
- Platform changes in production
- Documentation and runbooks
- Knowledge transfer
Run
What happens:
- Review the platform first
- Upgrades and security patching
- Day-two operations
What you leave with:
- Agreed support scope
- Current, patched clusters
- Architecture and planning advice
Case studies
Kubernetes Consulting FAQ
Aisha Rahman, Engineering Director
How long does a Kubernetes consulting engagement last?
LiveWyer
Scoped from the review, or from a three-week pilot
Work on an existing platform is scoped from the workshop or the review, and we give you an estimate before you commit. Larger changes start with a three-week pilot, and the length of what follows depends on what the pilot uncovers. Some clients keep us on for years; we supported the Siemens Digital Industries platform from 2019 to 2025.
Tom Gallagher, Head of Platform Engineering
Do you work with EKS, AKS, GKE, and on-premises Kubernetes?
LiveWyer
Managed services and self-managed clusters
The Kubernetes fundamentals carry across managed services and self-managed clusters. The Siemens platform ran across AWS, Azure, and VMware on premises, we built a proof-of-concept platform for Camelot across multiple clouds, and for K3 Business Technology Group we built a production platform on premises on VMware vSphere, before tools like Cluster API were widely available.
Claire Donnelly, Chief Technology Officer
Can you take over or fix a Kubernetes platform someone else built?
LiveWyer
Yes, starting with a review of what is there
It is a common reason clients call us. We start by reviewing the platform as it is, document what we find, and agree the order in which to fix things.
Mei Chen, Head of Infrastructure
Will our team be able to run the platform without you?
LiveWyer
That is the aim of most engagements
We work in your team's repositories and pipelines, write the documentation as we go, and pair with your engineers on the operational work. Where the skills gap is larger, we run hands-on training, as we did for Leaseweb's engineers ahead of the launch of its Kubernetes offering.
Marcus Reid, Operations Manager
Do you provide ongoing Kubernetes support?
LiveWyer
Yes, after a review of the platform
Over six years with Siemens Digital Industries, our support grew from the original platform build into architecture, networking, advanced Kubernetes engineering, strategic planning, and training. If you are thinking about ongoing support, we start by reviewing the platform, so both sides know what is being supported.
Fiona Campbell, Head of Digital Services
Can public sector organisations buy Kubernetes consulting from you?
LiveWyer
Yes, through G-Cloud and DOS7
Public bodies can buy our services through G-Cloud and Digital Outcomes and Specialists 7.
Nadia Kowalski, Enterprise Architect
Are you tied to a particular cloud provider or vendor?
LiveWyer
No, we are an independent consultancy
We recommend tools on how well they fit your platform. We do work with technology partners such as Kubermatic and Spectro Cloud, and we will tell you where a partner's product is one of the options on the table.
Book an intro call
Not sure where to start? Book an intro call of up to an hour with one of our senior engineers, and we will tell you whether we can help. If we can, we follow up with a two-hour workshop on your platform, at our cost
Book an intro call