Can you move your network into Azure now? Yes you can, and it's a good move in many ways!
I wrote an article about the move to Azure in 2019, We want to put our files in the cloud, what can we do and a few of the prerequisites are still considerations to review before planning your move to Azure.
Your internet connection speeds (Mbps) need to be suitable at your office(s), to facilitate the use of Azure for your users. Having said this ISP bandwidth charges continue to come down in price and many small businesses can have 50Mbps, or more, without breaking the bank.
When looking at applications, SaaS (software as a service) continues to grow, but even if you need to run applications on a local server, we can run a Terminal Server for you in Azure, to help you make this lift while you consider how you want to run your SaaS applications, at your desired pace.
So why should you move to Azure? Here are the Top 5 reasons to consider moving your infrastructure to Azure:
1. Scalability
If you need another server, we can provision one for you relatively quickly. If you need more resources for an existing server, we can add it for you on the fly, no need to buy drives or RAM and schedule onsite visits. If you need more capacity for your back up and disaster recovery solutions there is no need to buy costly appliances, just add more space and retention as needed. If you are hosting a webserver, Azure can handle spikes of traffic and scale with no problem. These are just a few examples, and the Scalability of Azure is very attractive to all organizations.
2. Expedited Deployments
With current supply chain issues especially, getting replacement servers with desired specs can take weeks, or even months. This downtime can be very disruptive and costly. Azure services can be deployed quickly, comparatively speaking. All the enterprise infrastructure, and world class security is already there for you to draw resources from in moments.
3. Minimize Risk of Downtime
Microsoft offers uptime guarantees for Microsoft 365 and Azure services. Their datacenters offer world class security and adhere to industry compliance regulations. (Microsoft Trust Center Home | Microsoft's Trusted Cloud, Cloud Compliance Overview | Achieve Cloud Compliance microsoft.com)
4. Security
Microsoft's global incident response team works round the clock to mitigate the effects of any attack against its cloud services. This means with Azure you are in a trusted environment protected by the best cloud security experience and know how. We add several layers of protection, including Endpoint detection and Response (EDR), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), on top of Microsoft’s security features. Safeguard your entire organization with integrated security, compliance, and identity solutions built to work across platforms and cloud environments. (Comprehensive Security for Business | Microsoft Security)
5. Single Sign on and Efficient Management
As a user, Azure Active Directory enables you to have a single login for all services and brings these benefits up into the cloud. As your managed service partner, we can manage and optimize all your resources very efficiently from within the Azure console.
For many of our clients, the move to Azure is gradual and can take place over months and even years. Usually they start with Back up and Disaster Recovery services in Azure. Then move their files and mapped drives once they start to see how easy and cost-effective Azure is. Then clients add other workloads like their accounting system or key business applications. Very seldom do clients move all their infrastructure at once.
There is another great aspect to Azure and that is the idea of Azure services. This is where you start to think of your business systems not in the context of what function your server performs, but rather each function on the server as a service. The backing up of your data is not necessarily to a server in Azure, but rather to the Azure back up service. This is a little abstract but gets at the key benefit of only paying for what you use and need and not wasting money and resources on capacity that is not productive.
If you would like to review your move to Azure, based on your specific needs, give us a call and we can walk you through the options that make sense for you!
Additional Resource: Microsoft Security, Privacy & Compliance Product Overviews
