Microsoft Azure

Countless businesses reap the rewards of Microsoft Azure, and you should too.

With an increase in remote work opportunities, the traditional workplace has been redefined and many more businesses find themselves in a position of adapting the way they work and engage with their employees. To ensure that productivity is maximised, organisations are re-evaluating the way they do business with scalable & secure cloud-enabled enterprise applications.  

Cloud computing has become essential to businesses that have adopted a remote-first approach, eliminating location boundaries and allowing their employees to remain connected, collaborative and productive no matter which location they work from.  

With an internet connection and access to your cloud service provider, Boldfield can help your business operate efficiently and take advantage of increased security, cost savings, flexibility and much more with the deployment of Microsoft Azure. 

What is Microsoft Azure?

As a market leader in cloud computing, Microsoft Azure is a collection of integrated cloud services such as analytics, computing, database, networking, storage and web, which allows you to replace or supplement your on-premise services so that you can achieve more and spend less. 

As a cloud platform, Azure enables you to access and manage various cloud services provided by Microsoft.  

At Boldfield, we are experts in deploying enterprise-grade cloud services such as Azure. Migrating to cloud computing can be daunting but with us, it doesn’t have to be. We can advise you on the best services and strategies that can empower your business using Azure, ensuring that you’re able to communicate with your team, collaborate efficiently, access emails and stay accessible when need be. 

 

What is Microsoft Azure used for? 

With our countless successful implementations of Microsoft Azure, Boldfield can help you assess the unique requirements for your business and ensure a seamless migration whether it is to run virtual machines or databases in the cloud, we can help you be future-ready with the continuous innovation from Microsoft. 

The most common uses of Azure include data backup and server recovery but there are over two dozen categories of Azure products and services that can be availed to your business to maximise your operations, such as 

  • Compute – which provides your business with the infrastructure you need to run your apps. 
  • Networking – includes virtual networks, gateways and dedicated connections as well as traffic management services, DNS hosting and network protection. 
  • Integration – includes resources for server backup, connecting private and public clouds and site recovery. 
  • Identity – ensures that only authorized users can access Azure services as well as protect encryption keys and sensitive information in the cloud. 
  • Analytics – provides features for real-time analytics, machine learning, business intelligence and data warehousing. 
  • Mobile – helps developers build cloud applications for mobile devices as well as offers support for back-end tasks, and tools for building app program interfaces and provides notification services. 
  • DevOps – provides project and collaboration tools that facilitate software development processes. 
  • Security – products provide capabilities to identify and respond to cloud security threats and manage encryption keys. 
  • Migration – this suite of tools helps an organisation estimate workload migration costs and perform migration of workloads from local data centres to the Azure cloud. 
  • Development – these services help app developers share code, test applications and track potential issues. 

 

Why should your business use Microsoft Azure? 

If 95% of Fortune 500 companies benefit from the impact of Azure, imagine what Boldfield can help it do for you. 

Along with being a cloud platform offering access to more than 200 products and services, Azure affords you the ability to find solutions for your business challenges within the frameworks of your choice. 

The incomparable benefits of Azure

Reduced Costs 

Only pay for what you use. Owning and operating your own servers comes with the costs of hardware & licensing, floor space, cooling, maintenance and more. Migrating to Azure means all your costs are replaced by a monthly operating expense, meaning that you only pay for the resources that you use. 

Scalability 

Microsoft Azure has the ability to adapt to the ever-changing needs of your business. Its flexible features can work on a manual and auto-scaling basis, in line with the demands of application usage. This offers you a competitive edge as you’ll benefit from the same application performance regardless of the user influx and without worrying about underutilised on-premise solutions. 

Hybrid Capabilities 

Azure has hybrid capabilities that go unmatched. It has the ability to integrate seamlessly into your existing IT environment through the largest network of secure private connections, hybrid databases and storage solutions. 

Increased security 

Azure has been developed with security at its core. Private data & services stay safe and secure on Azure Cloud. Your customer data is safe and protected, giving you control over your data at all times. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Microsoft Azure

Is Microsoft Azure Secure? 

Yes, Microsoft Azure is secure. You can be sure that your business assets are protected with Azure. Microsoft invests millions every year into the security of the Azure platform, and that is why almost 70 per cent of organisations worldwide make use of Azure for their cloud services. 

 

How is Azure better than AWS? 

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is known for its complexity and lots of documentation that can be difficult to understand. Microsoft Azure uses technologies that you are already familiar with like Windows, Linux and Active directory. Azure also offers better compatibility with older .NET-based applications, which means that apps on legacy frameworks can be migrated from on-site to Azure seamlessly. 

 

What is the difference between Office365 and Azure? 

Microsoft 365 is a software as a service (Saas) product, which can be bought as a standalone product. Whereas Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform with a range of capabilities as well as having infrastructure as a service(Iaas) and platform as a service(PaaS) as components that can be utilised depending on the needs and requirements of your business. 

 

Are there any disadvantages of Microsoft Azure? 

By partnering with Boldfield, the advantages of Azure outweigh the disadvantages. Microsoft Azure can easily become complicated for companies to manage with the complexity of the platform and manage the spending for purchasing licenses and renewing contracts. By working with the trained experts at Boldfield, you’ll have a dedicated account manager that can help you manage your Azure platform, to ensure that your product licenses are up to date and being utilised correctly.