What Are Azure Cloud Services?

Azure is a cloud computing service offered by Microsoft. Or to put it more accurately, Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform offered to companies & individuals to build, manage, and deploy their applications.

Microsoft Azure offers you two models to use their cloud computing services - Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service) & PaaS (Platform as a Service). In the former, you utilize their infrastructure, whereas in the latter, you add their cloud services to your own network.

But are Microsoft cloud services the only cloud computing solutions available in the market? No! The technological world has become exhaustively competitive and the same is true for cloud computing services; so many companies offer cloud services such as Amazon, Google, IBM, etc.

Why Go For Cloud Services Instead of in-House Infrastructure?

Cloud services are gaining more popularity today and it’s not a shocker for some people in the industry. Here are 4 reasons why businesses should opt for cloud services like Azure cloud services:

1. Resilience and Elasticity

Cloud solutions utilize multiple servers to distribute applications & data that you host in the cloud. These multiple servers integrate with each other to work as one.

How is it helpful? This way when one or even two servers face downtime, you will still have access to all your data & applications. Hence, you can avoid downtime. Moreover, cloud offers better speed, pro rata server resources, and much more, providing better performance.

However, when you house server infrastructure, you don’t get the flexibility of having multiple servers working as one. As a result, you would not get guaranteed higher uptime than cloud hosting. This might hamper productivity at your workplace.

2. Flexibility and Scalability

When it comes to scalability & adding flexibility to your hosting, nothing can beat cloud computing services. As cloud hosting offers on-demand virtual space which is unlimited storage & more server resources as and when you need them.

Cloud solutions can easily scale up or down according to the traffic your website or portal receives. What’s better? You have the full control to install any software whenever required. This provides more flexibility to your business growth than conventional IT infrastructure.

So, what happens when you have in-House infrastructure? Well, in this case, limited server resources are available to use. Hence, you would need to upgrade your infrastructure if you run out of storage or simply rent another server. Scaling your staff can also cause you to spend more on IT solutions. Hence, scaling your business with in-House IT infrastructure can be an expensive venture.

3. Automation

Cloud computing and in-House infrastructure has one key difference - management.

When you use cloud computing services such as Microsoft Azure, the service provider manages all the hardware things, ensures your network remains secured and your operations work seamlessly.

However, when you install an infrastructure in-House, you may get full control over it but you will incur a lot of expense every month just to maintain it. Why? Because you will have to hire a fully-trained & experienced IT infrastructure personnel who would ensure routine maintenance of servers such as data backups, upgrades, threat identification & protection, configuration, etc. Apart from the salary, you will also incur more utility bills.

4. Running Costs

This is a factor that might majorly impact what businesses usually prefer. With cloud computing, you get cost effective IT solutions as you pay on a pro rata basis. Meaning, you pay for the resources that you use.

However, when you have an IT infrastructure at your office, you pay higher utility bills, experience relatively more downtime, and in the long run don’t see better ROI compared to cloud solutions.

Why is that? Because having an in-House infrastructure means purchasing expensive equipment and having additional space for the servers. But it’s no surprise allocating more cubic meters becomes difficult as your needs for more server resources increase.

Why Use Microsoft Cloud Services?

Azure provides a number of benefits for businesses. For example:

1. Perfect for small businesses and established enterprises

Azure Cloud Services are some of the best hosting solutions for every business no matter the size. Microsoft Azure’s pro rata (pay-as-you-go) pricing model has made scaling simpler & cost effective all the while meeting IT demands.

Moreover, when your business stores data & applications on Microsoft cloud, it saves your business human and monetary resources along with office space. 

2. Complements and expands your current IT infrastructure

Azure cloud services take up all the responsibility of maintenance allowing your IT personnel to focus on your business. Moreover, Azure provides faster and easier deployment of your business’s applications with almost zilch downtime.

The platform offers great flexibility in terms of integration and the environment is user-friendly, reducing the learning curve compared to other similar cloud services. One of the best things? You pay for only the resources you use.

3. Security, compliance, and disaster recovery

Security is a major factor for both in-house infrastructure & cloud computing solutions. And Microsoft understands this. Therefore, Microsoft Azure is designed to keep your data secured, staying ahead of the competition.

You will find that Azure cloud services have a lot of compliance certifications and have become one of the top choices especially in high-risk industries such as government, healthcare & fintech.

With Microsoft Cloud, both end-user & platform are protected thanks to security features such as multi-factor authentication. Additionally, it offers effective disaster recovery abilities that restore data in case of any mishaps.

4. Industry-specific applications

Each business may have different requirements that may not be met with a single solution. Azure understands certain industries have complex, high-risk & sensitive nature, and therefore, offers industry-specific solutions. These solutions include specific applications especially designed to address unique requirements.

Health care, government, financial services & manufacturing are some industries that have benefited quite greatly with Azure cloud services’ features such as:

• Specific security needs

• Offline cloud services

• Contemporary customer applications, and

• Simplified compliance.

Will Microsoft Azure Work For Your Industry?

Azure cloud is quite popular among Fortune 500 companies, with almost 95% of them trusting Microsoft Azure for cloud hosting services. Azure, offers effective cloud solutions for multitudes of industries, through proven & trusted combinations & integrations of several cloud products & services.

Whether it is health care, cybersecurity, fintech, real estate, automobile, or even defence, Azure cloud services have solutions for all. Azure allows your business to gain industry-specific solutions & provides innovation for growth.

Azure cloud services are not only for Windows apps and services but also support open source technologies. This allows businesses to integrate custom built software & technologies of your preference. What does it mean? You can operate virtually any application or tool with your data source on your device. With Microsoft Azure, you always have a choice.

Companies Using Microsoft Cloud Services

Thousands of businesses around the globe are using Azure cloud services for many reasons but the main goal is similar - business growth. Azure has helped thousands of businesses to grow and even many of the Fortune 500 companies.

Here are some examples of businesses using Microsoft Azure:

• ASOS - a leading online fashion retailer

• Daimler - a multinational automotive corporation

• McKesson - a leading American company in the health industry

Growing business can become complicated when you combine technology with lack of knowledge or lack of expertise. However, with a trusted technology partner, Azure cloud services can prove to be a boon.

Are you game to join hands with a trusted technological partner? Absolutely!