The Cloud is so much more than just Office 365 tools. It’s a way for your business to access flexible, powerful computing anytime, anywhere, for a reasonable price. In many ways, it’s the tool that should define the modern workplace for years to come. It’s, therefore, no surprise that businesses left, right, and centre are taking advantage of it. Read on to find out why and get to know the benefits of Azure Cloud.
Increased efficiency and productivity
As your business develops, the computing resources it needs will fluctuate. Adding and removing physical computer hardware can be at best cumbersome, and at worst crippling to your organisation’s productivity. With Azure, adding and removing IT resources can be done in minutes, on the fly, meaning no efficiency or productivity is lost when making changes to your organisation.
Easy backup and disaster recovery
There’s no need to worry about backing up your data on-premises or off-site when you’re storing your data with Azure. It offers a range of different components that can be easily downloaded to the right server to offer the ideal backup solution for your business. Unlike on-premises solutions, Azure requires zero overheads or the need for maintenance on your end, leaving your IT team free to focus on more important, strategic tasks that have a direct effect on your bottom line.
It will save you money
Speaking of your bottom line, using Azure will typically improve it. This is true in the short term as there is no upfront hardware cost, but it’s also true long term. As your business scales up, you’ll avoid having to fork out for extra IT hardware. And since it’s charged on a per-user, per-month basis, you’ll only ever pay for the resources you need. So even if your business contracts, you won’t be left with mounds of unused IT equipment, which makes Azure the ideal solution for businesses that have seasonal demand spikes.
Premium security and compliance
When stored with Azure, your data will receive the level of cyber security protection that would cost thousands if you were to replicate it on-premises. The data centres that Microsoft uses not only have 24/7 CCTV monitoring them at all times, but they also have a two-tier authentication system combining biometrics and physical card security. On top of that, they have all your typical IT security measures – i.e., firewalls – and even a 24/7 incident response team. If you need to meet compliance regulations, then this can be highly beneficial. More importantly though, Microsoft has data centres in 34 different countries. This means that you can easily meet compliance regulations by choosing where your data is physically stored. Microsoft offers the most comprehensive set of solutions for meeting compliance needs than any other cloud provider. So, if you work in a highly regulated industry Azure, will be your number one bet.
The benefits of Azure Cloud are certainly hard to refute. But their viability for your business will still be another question to ask. If you’re wondering whether or not it’s right for your business or what a cloud migration might look like for your business, click here to book a meeting with one of our Azure experts today.
