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Is your business keeping up with rapid technological changes?
Microsoft Azure can aid you in managing IT in the cloud.
Azure is a cloud platform where you can run all your business systems and IT operations. More specifically, Azure is:
A comprehensive suite of services from which you can pick and choose to support your business.
More secure than any infrastructure you could build and manage on-premises yourself.
More available than any infrastructure you might be able to build and manage on-premises yourself, and you will suffer less downtime.
Scales with your business growth and is more flexible than any on-premises infrastructure.
Azure comprises over 41,000 services, which is all you need to run all your business systems and IT operations in the cloud. The most popular Azure services are:
Azure Virtual Machines: Dedicated servers, built to your specification, and managed by Microsoft in their data centres.
Azure Virtual Desktop: Enables you to curate and control the desktop experience your users work with.
Azure Storage: Microsoft offers cloud data storage. Highly available, very scalable, and very much more secure than most businesses can achieve on premise.
Azure Logic Apps: Enable application and data integrations across cloud and on-premises environments.
Azure Functions: Orchestrate business workflows.
Azure App Service: Is where web apps are built and hosted.
Azure SQL: Is Microsoft SQL server in the cloud.
Very simply – if you deal with enormous volumes of data and are into very high-end analytics, Google Cloud Platform might be the way to go.
If you are a software business surrounded by software developers, they might persuade you to go to Amazon Web Services.
If you are a midsized business in the UK – choose Azure. Why? Because Azure is Microsoft’s Cloud platform. As such, it’s thoroughly integrated with everything you will likely use. Just as important, a very wide range of skills are available in the Partner community.
In selecting an Azure Partner, you should look for three things:
Microsoft certifies people and accredits Partner organisations. When talking to a Microsoft Partner, ask:
How many people do you employ that have X certificates? Be sure to clarify – are these people full-time employees – or sub-contractors?
Is your business a “Azure Expert Managed Services Provider.” If they don’t have the MSP certification – look elsewhere. This is Microsoft’s highest level of Azure accreditation.
When asking questions about certification and accreditation, ask another about satisfaction. What was their NPS score last month? NPS is a customer loyalty metric that predicts the likelihood of a customer repurchasing from you or referring your company to a friend. A score of above 0 is good. Above 80 is world class.
Learn more about how NPS scoring can help your business here.
Azure is priced on a consumption model – you pay for the capacity you think you’re going to use. While allowing a margin of error is smart, unused capacity is expensive. You should make it your partner’s job to minimise this excess capacity. Many don’t bother – because they are making a margin on the excess costs you incur.
We have over 67 certified Azure specialists. We know Azure. We know how to help you make the most of what it has to offer. We know how to help you manage/minimise the costs you incur.