7 Reasons Why Businesses Should Migrate Their IT Infrastructure to Microsoft Azure

Published on 21 February 2018

With the advent of cloud computing, the era of on-premise, physical IT infrastructure is closing towards an end. Cloud computing combines the advantages offered by in-house IT infrastructure and the internet to create a compelling solution that is more reliable, flexible, and cutting edge. It allows the businesses to upgrade their digital infrastructure to the latest technology with zero to minimum investments, every time their existing IT infrastructure nears obsolescence. In contrast, physical IT infrastructure requires sizeable investments and becomes obsolete in a very short period of time.

Not surprisingly, cloud computing platforms like Microsoft Azure have generated immense interest and millions of businesses are already using one or the other cloud computing solution.

So, what really is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is an umbrella term that is used to describe the delivery of on-demand computer resources over the internet.

If that sounds vague, then consider this. Services like servers, storage capacity, software, analytics, virtual machines, and other services that are hosted on the web are all part of the cloud computing services. The most alluring aspect of cloud computing is that businesses do not need to invest on any digital infrastructure and can pay for these services based on their usage, just like electricity, water, and so on.

Microsoft’s Azure platform is one of the leading cloud computing platforms in the market today. The fact that Azure platform’s sales jumped 93% in the second quarter of the fiscal 2017 speaks volumes about the success of this platform. The platform is acquiring 120,000 new customers every month, and already boasts of 5 million organizations on its platform. Further, Azure is part of Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud Division, which had a total sales of USD 6.8 billion in the third quarter of 2017. This begs the question – why is Microsoft such a popular cloud computing platform?

Why Should You Migrate Your IT Infrastructure to Azure?

1. Speed

Windows is the most familiar platform for IT professionals. Therefore, they will find it intuitive to use Azure platform for deployment, operation, and scaling up their activities. It comes with a nearly flat learning curve for the IT professionals, which means that the cloud migration will be a smooth and hassle-free process for your business.

2. Agility, Scalability, and Flexibility

Business environment in every industry is unpredictable. Businesses need flexible infrastructure that helps them meet varying market demands, seasonal or otherwise. The Azure platform allows businesses to increase or decrease their scale of operations with ease to meet their changing needs, and pay for only what they use. Azure even offers an autoscaling feature to help businesses automatically scale up or down, as per their demand.

3. Global Presence and Reach

Microsoft has distributed Azure platform’s resources across the globe. The platform dynamically analyses the performance and offers services seamlessly, irrespective of their location. In other words, Azure helps businesses reach their customers worldwide by utilizing the right data centres that deliver the best performance, as per their location.

4. Disaster Recovery

Azure offers a solid disaster recovery system. It employs a decentralized infrastructure that makes use of multiple redundant data centres. By combining this with its other advanced capabilities, Azure is able to offer cutting-edge features such as rolling reboot capabilities, hot and cold standby models, and regional and global failover options. Armed with these, businesses can run all of their critical applications and data through redundant, failover sites until the recovery process is complete. This way, the end customers do not experience a downtime and businesses, small or large, do not face any risk of losing their clientele.

5. Integrated Development Environment

Azure’s cloud development tools are integrated into the Visual Studio environment. Therefore, developers who are familiar with the Visual Studio development environment can start developing applications for Azure right away. There is no learning curve involved in mastering a new platform here. As a result, it is easy to find qualified developers that are familiar with the platform too.

6. Security

As a technology company, Microsoft has had a spectacular reputation when it comes to security of its services. Its Azure platform is certainly no exception to that legacy. Microsoft offers a plethora of security features, encryption options, accessibility choices, and more granular control for businesses to secure their data and applications from hacking.

7. Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory compliance has been the centre of focus of businesses in the past few years. EU’s GDPR, country-specific consumer data and privacy protection regulations, and other policies are complex areas that need to be navigated carefully. Businesses do not wish to spend their precious time and resources on poring over mountains of such regulatory documents, especially if they have global operations, in which case the regulations change from country to country. Microsoft, thanks to its vast experience in this field, offers plenty of features for businesses to maintain compliance with the regulatory requirement.

Closing Thoughts

These are just a few of the many benefits that Microsoft Azure platform can offer for your business. If your business is considering embarking on the digital transformation journey and make the leap into the future, then Azure is the trusted partner you need.

Contact us to find out more about the outstanding solutions and services that we provide as Microsoft’s Hybrid Cloud and Infrastructure Platform Partner of the Year.

*AsiaPac is awarded the Microsoft Hybrid Cloud and Infrastructure Platform Partner of the Year 2017. Click here for more details.

Tags: Azure, azure cloud, Azure Stack, Hybrid cloud, Microsoft, microsoft azure hybrid cloud, microsoft azure stack,

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