Q&A
What inspired you to start Digital Endeavours?
After several years delivering AWS infrastructure for consultancy firms across Tax, Insurance, Retail and E-Commerce, it was the right time to build a practice under our own name. Forming Digital Endeavours meant taking direct accountability for delivery, working with clients on our own terms, and building an approach centred on the values we believe matter: transparency, quality and honest outcomes.
What sets Digital Endeavours apart?
Transparency. We will not promise to deliver the unachievable, and we will not sign off on work that does not meet the standard we hold ourselves to. Some contractors and agencies have a reputation for overpromising and underdelivering. We prefer honest scoping, realistic timelines and architecture that does not need refactoring six months later.
How does Digital Endeavours stay current with AWS and the wider engineering landscape?
AWS releases new services and updates continuously. The discipline is in knowing which to adopt and when. Businesses need stability, and chasing the latest service for its own sake is rarely the right approach. We follow AWS developments closely and apply judgement about when emerging capabilities solve a genuine problem versus add unnecessary complexity.
Can you describe a recent engagement where Digital Endeavours made a significant impact?
The work for MDRxTech stands out - taking infrastructure from greenfield to a scalable, cost-effective architecture, incorporating business requirements at every stage. This included contribution to the National Archives Alpha release, An Archive for Everyone. More recently, AWS infrastructure delivery for TokioMarineKiln across the Lloyd’s insurance market.
What are the core values that drive Digital Endeavours?
Rather than focusing on what can be extracted from an engagement, we focus on what can genuinely be provided. That means honest assessments, recommendations that serve the client rather than extend the engagement, and delivery that holds up after we have moved on.
What challenges do organisations typically face when moving to AWS?
The most common mistake is treating the cloud as on-premises infrastructure. AWS becomes complex and expensive when used incorrectly - a lift-and-shift of existing workloads often delivers the worst of both worlds. The right approach is to design for cloud-native patterns from the start and work with AWS services rather than against them. Cost governance is also frequently underestimated - without proper controls, spend scales quickly in the wrong direction.
What trends are shaping cloud infrastructure delivery?
Platform engineering is increasingly how mature organisations structure their cloud delivery: standardised infrastructure, reusable Terraform modules and self-service capabilities that allow development teams to deploy without rebuilding the same patterns on every project. AI tooling is now embedded across most engineering workflows, and AWS continues to expand its AI and ML service portfolio. The practical skill is applying these tools to real problems rather than adopting them because they are new.
How do you measure the success of an engagement?
One question: would the client engage Digital Endeavours again? Delivered infrastructure should be maintainable, well-documented and clearly better than what existed before.
What is Digital Endeavours’ position on IR35?
All engagements with Digital Endeavours are on an outside IR35 basis. Digital Endeavours operates as a limited company providing specialist technical services, taking full accountability for deliverables and maintaining the working practices consistent with genuine business-to-business engagement.
