If you didn’t already know, Azure is a fully flexible cloud computing platform designed specifically to take advantage of both innovation and resilience. Furthermore, it is used to enable businesses to both use and manage their applications and services across the network and also allows businesses to gain the best possible value from their IT infrastructure.
Microsoft Azure is currently used by over 200,000 businesses across the globe with the vast majority being SMEs. This doesn’t come as a surprise given how much businesses can benefit from using Azure.
To make the decision to move to Azure much easier for you, we are going to take you through some of the biggest benefits of how Azure can change the game for your business.
Fully Scalable
The greatest thing about Azure is the fact that it can be moulded to suit the specific requirements of your business. Better still, with Azure you only pay for what you use, meaning that Azure is perfect for those businesses experiencing growth or those that require extra capacity to cover seasonal trends. There is no need to worry about your IT infrastructure not being used to its full capacity as you have the ability to scale up and scale down as and when required.
The real selling point of Azure is the fact that unlike your more traditional hosting platforms, you are able to scale up seamlessly by switching between plans at the click of a button.
Easy Implementation
It goes without saying but modern-day businesses need to be able to adapt quickly to market changes if they want to stay competitive – this is exactly why Azure was built in the first place! Businesses are able to deploy apps quickly across their whole business in the cloud which gives you that added flexibility.
This can be further extended if you require a more hybrid approach enabling your business to take advantage of existing IT alongside Azure’s cloud solutions.
Provides Full Backups and Disaster Recovery
Regardless of which industry your business is in, you want to be able to relax in the knowledge that if something bad happens, your sensitive business data will be secure. The statistics back this up as Azure is able to recover data typically around 66% quicker than the more traditional on-premises IT solutions. Through the use of Azure’s Site Recovery, you are able to recover data to another site or straight into the Cloud whichever you prefer.
You will find that the backup recovery options provided by Azure are some of the best in the industry.
Very Cost Effective
With budgets even tighter than ever before for businesses, they need to maximise their use of their budgets. Therefore, for many businesses being able to reduce costs is vital when it comes to their IT. In most cases, businesses are still on outdated systems largely in part to the costs associated with revolutionising their IT infrastructure from the start.
When it comes to cost, you will find that Azure is very cost effective as you are essentially paying rent to Microsoft for access to their servers. As well as being able to reduce costs on maintaining and replacing your own system, you can be rest assured that your server is set up in the way you want it to be with no risk whatsoever of running out of storage capacity. Microsoft recently revealed in a survey that businesses typically save around 34% on Azure spending in the first year of use.
Fully Accessible, Secure and Compliant
The great thing about investing in Microsoft Azure is the fact that Microsoft’s data security is one of the best in the industry. There are many extra security layers to prevent unauthorised access such as two-tier authentication, proxy card across readers as well as many other top of the range security features. As well as this, the chances of being hacked are dramatically reduced as a result of Azure Active Directory and its Identity and Access Management solutions.
If your business operates in the legal or financial sectors, you can be satisfied in the fact that all the data and access meet the industry regulations.
Next Steps?
If you are a business that is thinking of making the move to the Cloud through Azure as part of your shift towards a full digital transformation then please contact our team of Azure experts now to discuss your specific needs.
Want to get useful articles like the above sent to you directly? You can if you sign up to our mailing list.
