HarunRashid - PeerSpot reviewer
Principle BI Architect at Allshore Staffing
Real User
Top 5
Allows me to do a lot on my own and provides a comprehensive cloud solution
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Azure for me are its ease of management, recoverable virtual machines with backup support, excellent customer support, and user-friendly interface."
  • "One area for enhancement could be in the realm of big data and unstructured data storage."

What is our primary use case?

I use Microsoft Azure for a variety of applications, including medical software, IV systems, and repair projects. It is great for BI tasks, helping me analyze data and generate insights. I have also used Azure for hosting various events and managing different projects efficiently.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Azure for me are its ease of management, recoverable virtual machines with backup support, excellent customer support, and user-friendly interface. It allows me to do a lot on my own and provides a comprehensive cloud solution.

From an operations perspective, I find Azure portal, user management with Active Directory, and Azure DevOps to be the most valuable services. They make it easy to manage projects, user access, and administrative tasks efficiently.

What needs improvement?

While Azure continually improves its services, one area for enhancement could be in the realm of big data and unstructured data storage. Although I haven't explored this aspect extensively, focusing on improving offerings in this area could benefit users who rely on such data storage solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Microsoft Azure for almost six years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not had any stability issues with Azure.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Azure's scalability, including features like Azure Elastic for searches, has had a significant impact on my project. It has improved performance, even with large volumes of data. In our organization, which has over 200 technical resources, more than 20 people work with Azure across various projects and clients.

How are customer service and support?

Azure's support is responsive and helpful, making it easier to navigate any challenges. I would rate them at a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Azure initially can sometimes require assistance, especially for migrations between tenants, but overall it is user-friendly. Complexity depends on the task. Azure's support and documentation are crucial for our deployment process.

Deployment in Azure is made easy and manageable through helpful configuration and management tools. Initial deployment may take one to two hours, but subsequent deployments typically take around 30 minutes, depending on factors like database and application size. Upgrades can be even quicker, sometimes taking only 13 minutes.

What was our ROI?

Working with Azure has shown a positive return on investment, particularly in projects involving migration from data centers. Benefits include improved performance, availability, and reduced downtime, leading to enhanced customer experiences and business outcomes.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Azure's pricing is generally considered reasonable and cost-effective compared to AWS, although AWS prices can be higher in some cases.

What other advice do I have?

In a project, we needed to gather data from various APIs, including Google Analytics, and integrate them seamlessly. Azure played a critical role in this by facilitating the integration of different technical services and allowing us to efficiently ingest data from CSV files. We also utilized Azure to process and output data in different formats, ensuring smooth operations throughout the project.

We rely on Azure for all our cloud computing needs because it filters almost all our requirements. It fulfills everything we need for cloud computing, and we are very satisfied with its services.

My experience with Azure Security tools has been positive. Azure offers robust security features like multi-factor authentication and role-based access control, ensuring a high level of security for our projects. I haven't encountered any issues or breaches, though user management practices also play a role in maintaining security.

Azure's main pros include strong support for Microsoft-native services like Azure SQL and cost-effectiveness for certain workloads compared to AWS. However, licensing for non-Microsoft services may be a bit more complex on Azure.

My advice for organizations considering implementing Azure is to assess their specific business needs and customize their infrastructure accordingly. Utilize Azure's diverse services and storage capacities intelligently, optimizing cost by leveraging features like auto start and stop for non-essential resources.

Overall, I would rate Microsoft Azure as an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Prateek Agarwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at a tech company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Dynamically scales our enterprise application up and down, and security features give our users confidence
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability is the most unique feature. Whenever our user count is high, and utilization of our application results in high use of resources, Microsoft Azure automatically scales our application so that users can access it without any issues or errors. Microsoft Azure gives you the flexibility to scale your applications up and down at any moment. It is quite easy and impressive."
  • "Customer services and support should be improved. If a user faces challenges in accessing Microsoft Azure, the support team takes time—it could be 24 to 48 hours—to resolve them. We need solutions in four to five hours. And there are business-critical issues where we need an immediate resolution."

What is our primary use case?

We have deployed our enterprise application on Microsoft Azure and we are using it for our day-to-day operations and management of that application. The application has millions of users, mainly from the EMEA region, and serves our clients as well as our internal users.

How has it helped my organization?

Previously, we had legacy applications hosted on-premises, and that setup was very limiting for our users. When we migrated our application to Microsoft Azure, users gained the flexibility to access the application from anywhere and at any time.

The benefit from the business perspective is that with a large user base, the users are very happy. The feedback from our end-users is that there are no issues in accessing the application. It can be opened anywhere. Also, the timely updates and the security features make it very effective in protecting against vulnerabilities, security threats, and any third-party attacks. Users feel very secure when using our application.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very 

  • reliable
  • scalable
  • secure.

The scalability is the most unique feature. Whenever our user count is high, and utilization of our application results in high use of resources, Microsoft Azure automatically scales our application so that users can access it without any issues or errors. Microsoft Azure gives you the flexibility to scale your applications up and down at any moment. It is quite easy and impressive.

Additional features that we have found to be very useful are the data security and capacity management.

Azure also provides features such as storage, computing, and networking in the cloud. It offers a wide range of services, such as financial analytics, Azure Data Factory, and Azure Firewalls, and these help our application to run smoothly.

The built-in Microsoft Firewall secures our application in a very unique way.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Microsoft Azure for more than three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is perfect. We have found no issues yet when using Microsoft Azure.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our concurrent user count is more than 1,000. Our users include product owners and project managers, as well as our consulting and marketing teams. It is used 24/7.

We plan to increase our usage of the Microsoft Azure platform. Our project requirements are quite large as we are now moving to data analytics and big-data analytics. We need to procure services from Microsoft like financial analytics and Power BI.

How are customer service and support?

Customer services and support should be improved. If a user faces challenges in accessing Microsoft Azure, the support team takes time—it could be 24 to 48 hours—to resolve them. We need solutions in four to five hours. And there are business-critical issues where we need an immediate resolution.

Otherwise, the technical support is good. They are understandable and they are familiar with the product.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not have a previous cloud-based solution. We had legacy applications on-premises.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is quite easy. Azure's consulting and business team is very effective and helpful. They helped us understand the product's features. They provided us with a clear roadmap for migrating our application to Microsoft Azure, for the services they offer, and for how the business could be run successfully.

The deployment took about three months. Our implementation strategy was simply to work with the vendor.

We initially assigned five to six people for the end-to-end deployment. After the initial implementation, when the Microsoft team left, we needed some resources who could handle the management of the Microsoft Azure platform. Those resources are in place in case our application goes down or there are issues that require them to directly contact the Microsoft team. But all the support and security updates are managed by Microsoft.

What about the implementation team?

Microsoft has its own solution architects and consulting team to help you. That makes it easy as it doesn't involve third-party integrators and saves us the money we would be charged for third-party services.

What was our ROI?

We have definitely seen a return on investment because our previous, on-premises, legacy application was very limited for our users and clients. Since migrating to Azure, we have clear visibility into our application and users can use it from any location. Our return on investment has been very positive.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing and licensing are quite good. We had no issues with them because they were clear about the pricing, subscription, the number of users, and how much the charges would be per month. 

Pricing depends on the services you are using from Microsoft Azure. Also, some services are only deployed in the U.S. region, while others are available in the Asia-Pacific region.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated AWS and GCP, but Azure's features and services matched our requirements better.

AWS had similar options, but their prices were higher, and they didn't have the same regional availability. The bandwidth and the data-processing charges were quite high with AWS, compared to Azure.

What other advice do I have?

I highly recommend this solution to any prospective buyer. If you are using other Microsoft applications like Microsoft 365, Power BI, Data Factory, or Azure Migrate, you will definitely find it useful. Azure is fully integrated with other Microsoft applications, as well, including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft Azure is an all-in-one solution.

We are feeling very secure hosting our application on Microsoft Azure because Microsoft is a global giant and provides excellent solutions and services.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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The scalability is the most unique feature. Whenever our user count is high, and utilization of our application results in high use of resources, Microsoft Azure automatically scales our application so that users can access it without any issues or errors. Microsoft Azure gives you the flexibility to scale your applications up and down at any moment. It is quite easy and impressive.

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Anand-Shah - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Architect at Iskraemeco
Real User
Top 5
Provides efficient features for cloud computing needs, but the technical support services need improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "Data analytics is one of the efficient features as well."
  • "While integrating services from different vendors, the perceived costs are high, with occasional confusion about specific charges, especially in data transfer scenarios between regions."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product to stream data from devices to the system, transform data, and configure web apps using SaaS services.

What needs improvement?

One significant area for improvement in Microsoft Azure is the cost associated with its services. While integrating services from different vendors, the perceived costs are high, with occasional confusion about specific charges, especially in data transfer scenarios between regions. This cost factor poses a barrier for small companies, and they could simplify the process and reevaluate pricing structures.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Microsoft Azure for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The platform is stable. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have worked with around 5000 Microsoft Azure users in our previous company. It is highly scalable.

In the IaaS approach, setting up virtual machines (VMs) allows for scalability adjustments based on memory and CPU consumption. Similarly, for applications developed with Azure RPA (Robotic Process Automation) or Azure Logic Apps, scalability can be efficiently managed by configuring the app service plan.

I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The experience with Microsoft's customer support has been middling, neither exceptionally good nor bad. The support team takes time to respond. It is a lengthy process and could be improved.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The complexity of implementation depends on the different setups. We can utilize the portal, CLI, or alternative providers like Terraform. The deployment process in Azure varies based on the specific build requirements and the nature of the application being deployed, whether it's through GitHub or directly in Azure. The time taken for deployment in Azure varies greatly depending on factors such as the complexity of the application, the number of integrated applications, the volume of code, and the artifacts involved.

What was our ROI?

The product generates a return on investment in terms of time savings on setup, installation, and scalability. It also depends on the specific consumption patterns and the extent to which Azure services are utilized for our compute and networking needs.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is expensive, particularly with services such as Microsoft SQL Server incurring significant costs. It could be more competitive in terms of pricing.

What other advice do I have?

Azure supports the development and hosting of various applications, including those built with ASP.NET. We have developed an application using ASP.NET versions 4, 6, and 7, and then deployed it to Azure for hosting. Data analytics is one of the efficient features as well.

The features I find most useful for cloud computing needs, particularly for fax services, include Azure RPA (Robotic Process Automation), Azure Logic App, and Azure Service Bus.

We can easily integrate the product with MS SQL Server and Azure SQL Database as a service. Further, we can utilize event apps within the IT infrastructure.

I have experienced significant benefits from Azure's security and compliance tools, particularly in the area of identity management. Working with Microsoft Identity, including Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), has proven valuable for operations involving customer-to-customer (CTC), business-to-customer (BTC), and business-to-business (B2B) scenarios. The customization capabilities help us with the registration of applications under Azure Active Directory, enabling robust authentication and authorization mechanisms.

I recommend the product for small companies or startups. It is also a good option for established companies planning to reach beyond certain limitations in terms of business.

I rate it a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Senior Manager Presales at NEC
Real User
Offers a single dashboard to users, making areas like management and monitoring easy
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
  • "I would want Microsoft Azure to provide some credits that can be used to test and validate Microsoft’s different solutions since it is an area where the product lacks."

What is our primary use case?

My company is a platinum partner of Microsoft, owing to which we resell the platform and licenses to our customers. My company also uses the product within the organization.

What needs improvement?

From the perspective of a user who has a partnership relationship with Microsoft, I would want Microsoft Azure to provide some credits that can be used to test and validate Microsoft’s different solutions since it is an area where the product lacks.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for four to five years. My company has a partnership with Microsoft.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

My company caters to the needs of enterprise-sized companies who need Microsoft Azure.

How was the initial setup?

I rate the product's initial setup phase an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The solution is deployed on the cloud.

The time required for the product's deployment depends on the complexity and size of the infrastructure.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate the product price a seven or eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price.

The pricing of the licenses attached to the solution depends on the requirements of the users.

What other advice do I have?

The projects or workload that have been migrated to Microsoft Azure in my company is an area that is managed by a different team since I work as an accounts manager. My job role is just to get the business for our company. Once I get the business for my company, I submit the details to the technical or delivery team, which takes care of the business part.

The feature of the product that has been most impactful for our company's operations stems from the fact that everything is on a single dashboard. In general, everything is on a single dashboard or a single page where users can monitor and manage everything related to the product.

The product's scalability benefited our company's business needs since we can upgrade it or scale up to meet our needs.

The knowledge related to the integration capabilities of Microsoft Azure with the existing products in my company's infrastructure lies with the technical team in my organization.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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IT Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Reliable single sign-on authentication with access to multiple Microsoft applications
Pros and Cons
  • "We like that you sign in only once and that grants access to all of the Microsft applications, as well as others such as ServiceNow and SAP Concur."
  • "Ease of use could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for single sign-on authentication.

What is most valuable?

We like that you sign in only once and that grants access to all of the Microsft applications, as well as others such as ServiceNow and SAP Concur.

What needs improvement?

Ease of use could be improved. You wouldn't just be able to use this solution without being trained on it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have Microsoft Azure for approximately five years.

We are always updating Microsoft.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's been pretty stable. There have only been one or two instances where Microsoft went down. One time, it was the building's main operations center that was struck by lightning and caught on fire.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 20,000 users in our organization who are using this solution.

As we acquire other companies, we will increase the usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support needs improvement. If you are able to get a rep then it's great. If not, you are left hanging.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we used Okta.

We switched over because we got the Enterprise package with Microsoft Suite.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was completed by our internal Microsoft team.

What was our ROI?

Microsoft Azure definitely provides us with a return on investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing costs for Enterprise are on an annual basis. In addition, we pay to have Gartner help us negotiate.

What other advice do I have?

It is best to have a dedicated team because it is not easy to use and get set up or to get acclimatized in the amount of training that you need to become familiar with the solution.

I would rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Client Relationship Manager at Infomag
Real User
A cloud solution to host applications and ERP
Pros and Cons
  • "One advantage of using Azure is that clients can start with a low-cost entry in terms of hardware and scale as their business and user base grows. They don't need to allocate a large budget for infrastructure upfront."
  • "The solution should be more intuitive and provide better support. We often do not receive frequent updates or comprehensive support, even as partners."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft Azure to host our applications. It is for the software development department. We also use it to host our internally developed application, ERP, and manufacturing execution applications for our clients. We use the data center in Singapore, as we are based in Malaysia, and our clients access it from the region encompassing Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

We create tenants for each of our clients where we deploy our applications. Clients or users access these applications from their respective tenants. We also train our clients to monitor the resources their tenants consume. This empowers them to adjust resources according to their needs, enabling them to manage these tasks independently.

How has it helped my organization?

During the pandemic, some clients faced issues because they were hosting their applications on-premises. The transition to remote work took some time for them. There was no impact on their operations for clients already on Microsoft Azure Cloud.

Clients continued to support Azure because, before the pandemic, they were hesitant about moving entirely to the cloud. They wanted a hybrid of both cloud and on-premises solutions. However, after the pandemic, many eventually migrated fully to the cloud.

What is most valuable?

We focus on applications hosted on Azure and use the Power Platform. We leverage Azure to set up tenants and dynamics within the platform.

What needs improvement?

The solution should be more intuitive and provide better support. We often do not receive frequent updates or comprehensive support, even as partners. Additionally, we are exploring the AI functionality within Azure. We are looking to collaborate with Microsoft to activate AI features in Azure to fulfill AI-related tasks requested by our clients.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable. We have not encountered any security threats or issues during our five years of using Azure.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

One advantage of using Azure is that clients can start with a low-cost entry in terms of hardware and scale as their business and user base grows. They don't need to allocate a large budget for infrastructure upfront. Additionally, it offers progressive scalability.

Around 200 users are using this solution.

I rate the solution's scalability a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

Customer support is very responsive. They are unable to resolve our issues. When we encounter technical problems and seek assistance, they can help us on a surface level. Many times, you may have to investigate and troubleshoot.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is expensive and ten is cheap.

What other advice do I have?

We've been leveraging Microsoft products on the Microsoft platform for the past 20 years. We are dedicated to Microsoft products and platforms.

We no longer need someone to take care of the physical servers on our end. Many server administrations have been drastically reduced.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
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Amey Darekar - PeerSpot reviewer
Personal Banker at HDFC Bank
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
An easy and robust solution that provides good performance and support
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Azure provides good performance and support."
  • "The solution’s stability could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I use Microsoft Azure to prepare a design document for the security implementation concerning Azure.

What is most valuable?

Compared to earlier technology, Microsoft Azure is very easy and robust and has features like scaling. Microsoft Azure provides good performance and support.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s stability could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure is a very stable solution.

I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is good. The technical support team dedicates time to us, and we don't face any challenges with them.

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup is clear and easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Microsoft Azure is a cost-effective solution where you use it as per your requirement and pay for it.

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Azure is a cloud-based solution.

I would recommend Microsoft Azure to other users. The solution's availability is vast. Centers in India have regulatory requirements to keep the data within India, and Microsoft Azure helps us mitigate those regulatory requirements. The solution's support is very good, and it helps meet the business requirements.

Overall, I rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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New Digital Applications Specialist at Alpina Sa
Real User
Top 5
Analyzes large amounts of data from various sources and leverages BI capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "Some months ago, we started using Power BI embedded, which helped optimize the number of licenses for our company."
  • "It would be beneficial if Microsoft could enhance the free version to allow for more exploration and development. That's my only suggestion regarding Azure."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft Azure for database service and advanced analytics.

How has it helped my organization?

We have a process where we collect a large amount of data from different sources. By using a database, we can analyze and present it in business intelligence (BI). Oh, here's another example. Some months ago, we started using Power BI embedded, which helped optimize the number of licenses for our company. Additionally, with this development, we improved the centralization of tables. 

What is most valuable?

I believe the personalization model and the cost optimization are the most valuable features. With the model, you pay for what you use. For instance, in this development, we utilized Power BI embedded and deployed the entire web page using Azure resources. By leveraging Azure, we can easily control and adjust the platform as needed, resulting in cost optimization.

What needs improvement?

For additional features, I believe our team is interested in exploring SmartOps on Azure.

We are also exploring the power platform and have a keen interest in leveraging premium features. It would be beneficial if Microsoft could enhance the free version to allow for more exploration and development. That's my only suggestion regarding Azure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for over a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate it a five out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability of Azure an eight out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

We had some issues with Microsoft's support team. In a project where we had to scale with Azure, it involved multiple people and sessions, and it took several weeks to resolve the issue. It was very difficult to get a resolution.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Negative

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy. It's a good platform for deployment.

What was our ROI?

There is a return on investment. It's worth considering.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm currently comparing it with AWS, and we don't have full knowledge of all the features and their inclusion in the price. AWS seems to have a slight advantage in terms of price. So, Microsoft Azure is slightly expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend the suite. In our company, we use the Microsoft suite, which includes Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive. I believe that Microsoft offers a very good product.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.