Owner at a media company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Multiple tools available, updated often, and performs well
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure is it has everything together in one place. It is one large tool with lots of small tools that are updated often."
  • "There is a need to be better on-premise solutions that are more helpful. However, I don't think that is the goal of Microsoft Azure. They want the solution to be secure cloud solutions with cloud applications. This is their main goal at the moment."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Microsoft Azure mainly for our test environment. Addiotanlly, we use it for our enterprise resource management as we have installed a SaaS solution.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure is it has everything together in one place. It is one large tool with lots of small tools that are updated often.

What needs improvement?

I have found that if you not working with Microsoft Azure's GUI every day, it's not very user-friendly. It changes very often and fast. They are implementing new functionality. If you're not working with it every day, it always takes you additional time to get acquainted with the GUI. You always have to know all the tools because it's one software solution where you work with different kinds of tools to achieve results by implementing policies and other parameters. It would be better if they had everything in one place so that it is clear what type of operations we are doing, such as DLP. However, that's is how it is with all of the tools of Microsoft Azure at the moment.

There is a need to be better on-premise solutions that are more helpful. However, I don't think that is the goal of Microsoft Azure. They want the solution to be secure cloud solutions with cloud applications. This is their main goal at the moment.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately five years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The performance of Microsoft Azure depends on whether you have good bandwidth for your data connection, if the connection is strong then the performance is good. If you have a very poor connection, then it's can be a little slow, but has been okay.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have one administrator and one system engineer that are using the solution. They are doing the administration for our solution. We're not a big company, we have 19 employees.

We haven't tried to scale Microsoft Azure. It's not necessary for us to scale it at the moment. We have started out with one issue where we needed it and for very sensible documentation, now we are using it in different kinds of projects. For example, for many types of data classifications.

If it's necessary we will increase usage. Otherwise, we will keep the same amount of usage.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support of Microsoft Azure was helpful. They were very good because they spoke the same language as we did. We both spoke German. It worked very well, we have no complaints.

How was the initial setup?

Some of the aspects of the implementation of the solution are very easy if you know which tool you have to use. It's not too complicated if you know which tool you will be using but to find the right tool to do the necessary functions sometimes takes some time. I'm not doing the setup every day. I have one engineer that it is his job. But nevertheless, I also want to do the setup to know how it's working.

I am not sure how long the implementation took for our DLP project, once we started the implementation we started to use other tools and eventually returned to the main project.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation internally.

We have one engineer that is administrating and supporting Microsoft Azure.

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

With every cloud solution, you have to know what you need and the cost can be fine. The price can be a little bit high depending on how you manage your costs, but overall it's still a bit cheaper than an on-premise solution but with the advantage of flexibility. You're always up to date with the software, you only need to use it. You no longer have to be concerned with the on-premise physical security. We do not need to create a data center, it's more convenient for us.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Some of our customers are looking for on-premise solutions other than Microsoft Azure which is cloud-based. We help them find the solutions they need.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others thinking about using this solution is to try it out. There are features which are very good and some other features where you should watch out but that's for every solution, you have pros and cons. When you're a small company, try everything out that is offered by Microsoft because they're one of the best. Microsoft is still the market leader in a lot of fields. I would suggest using Microsoft tools if they fit the relevant use case. If the solution does not fit the use case, or you need more security or other aspects, then you can look around for other tools. additionally, on the marketplace, Microsoft provides enough other tools you could use.

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.
PeerSpot user
Amarjit Rathee - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Vice President at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
Real User
Top 5
Stable, easy to use, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "It's set up to handle any cloud requirement."
  • "The security of the solution could always be much better."

What is our primary use case?

We are primarily using the solution for One Drive on Microsoft, as well as Office 365 and Microsoft Teams.

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use.

It's great for ready-to-use services. 

It's set up to handle any cloud requirement.

The solution is stable. 

The scalability is great.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft needs to simplify its licensing, which is hard to understand currently.

The security of the solution could always be much better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for three to four years. It's been a while.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the product is great. Due to the fact that it is a cloud deployment, it scales well. 

How are customer service and support?

I've used technical support in the past. They are okay. We've been satisfied with them. 

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

We are also using AWS. 

How was the initial setup?

We have a team that handles the implementation. 

Depending on the situation, you don't need too many people to maintain it. We always start with one resource and go from there. 

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

The licensing is always confusing with Microsoft. It's very hard to understand. 

What other advice do I have?

Due to the fact that we're using the cloud deployment of the solution, we're always on the latest version. 

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

I would recommend the solution to other users and organizations. Azure is the first ones to come onto the market. They have a very good solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public 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.
PeerSpot user
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Chef manager at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Stable, and scalable, but expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is straightforward."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using Microsoft Azure for the UAT environment and data warehousing purposes.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately seven years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Microsoft Azure is scalable.

    We have 12,000 users using this solution.

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

    I use other cloud services, such as Amazon AWS and Google Cloud services.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is straightforward.

    What about the implementation team?

    We have a team of 30 that does the implementation of the solution.

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

    We are on a monthly subscription for Microsoft Azure and the cost is more expensive than some of the competitors, such as Amazon AWS. They should be more competitive with other solutions.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution to others.

    I rate Microsoft Azure a seven out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Sr. Systems Engineer / Tech Logic Consultant. at a non-tech company with self employed
    Real User
    Feature-rich, good update management, stable, and easy to install
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable features of this solution are the Access Management and the PIN modules."
    • "Because it has a lot of features, a person just coming into Microsoft Azure might feel that it is a bit complex."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Microsoft Azure to patch our servers. We are also using it for creating and access management.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We have several benefits in having Azure on board. If you are Microsoft-centric, you get gold certificate partnerships. Furthermore, if you elect MSP, you have MSP certification, which allows you to have more customers on board.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable features of this solution are the Access Management and the PIN modules. They are very good features.

    Update management is also very good, for both on-premises and for cloud services.

    Microsoft Azure is a very good product. For my requirements, it works fine.

    It's user-friendly, and the reporting is good.

    What needs improvement?

    Because it has a lot of features, a person just coming into Microsoft Azure might feel that it is a bit complex. Once you are familiarized with it, they will find that it is organized in a structured way.

    It's a bit clunky at first.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Microsoft Azure for two yes, but I would not say that my experience is at the expert level.

    We are using the latest version.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Microsoft Azure is a stable product.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is very scalable.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I have not contacted technical support. 

    There is a lot of documentation available online.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was straightforward.

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

    It's a pay-as-you-go subscription.

    What other advice do I have?

    Overall, I would recommend Azure to anyone who is interested in using it.

    I would rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Engineer- Hardware at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Is scalable, easy to install, and has cognitive services
    Pros and Cons
    • "We use the cognitive service, virtual machines, and customer DB. Microsoft Azure is also scalable and easy to install."
    • "The market place can be raised, and the CMT can be more sophisticated to create more opportunities for the end users."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Microsoft Azure for application sourcing and migration.

    What is most valuable?

    We use the cognitive service, virtual machines, and customer DB.

    We like that Microsoft Azure is scalable and easy to install as well.

    What needs improvement?

    The market place can be raised, and the CMT can be more sophisticated to create more opportunities for the end users. Nowadays, if I want to go and do a cloud management platform across private clouds and public clouds, then I would need something more out of the box and easy to use.

    There's a huge need for platforms, like vertical platforms, where you've got to create the platforms out of the box to sell to those with particular domains. For example, aviation. They might be using their own platforms underneath CAPEX and OPEX that are not distributed. So it would be nice to address the security until you can provide a mutualized solution with CAPEX- and OPEX-based cloud platforms.

    It would be good to have out-of-the-box modernization capabilities because the industry is always looking for modernization. So, it would be good to have an out-of-the-box AIML-based solution that would reduce the time needed for application modernization.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using it for two years.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is out-of-the-box, and you need to design things, picking up the right service that is available. So, I don't see a challenge with scalability. It's all up to how you build it and fuse things together.

    How was the initial setup?

    As for the initial setup, it's very straightforward. You can automate, create a blueprint, credit stack, etc. It's not complex.

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

    Pay as you go pricing always helps, but you need to be very careful while considering the services. You would need to consider how it all works and how you will be charged. With adequate knowledge, I think you can come up with a good model where the pricing won't be a constraint.

    What other advice do I have?

    There are a lot of good solution architect references on what Azure offers, so one should start looking at those. Then, you can correlate them to your problem and do a little mashup and create your solution by well-architected principles, like CAPEX, low cost, security, performance, and scalability.

    I would rate Microsoft Azure at eight on a scale from one to 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: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Associate Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
    Real User
    Straightforward documentation, flexible, and helpful technical support
    Pros and Cons
    • "I have found the solution to be flexible, easy to use, and the documents are straightforward to understand."
    • "When we are doing transfers of records in large amounts, for example, petabytes of data or few long datasets, the performance should not degrade as it does."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the solution for executing the ADF pipelines through the database port. We provide the scripts in the database, we run it, and it goes through the ADF pipeline. Afterward, through the database command, the ADF pipeline will run and push the data into Azure SQL. 

    What is most valuable?

    I have found the solution to be flexible, easy to use, and the documents are straightforward to understand. For example, it is flexible, we have a single pipeline that has three phases, within approximately 15 minutes the records get transferred into this solution efficiently.

    Additionally, the solution is well integrated with other solutions such as Power BI.

    What needs improvement?

    When we are doing transfers of records in large amounts, for example, petabytes of data or few long datasets, the performance should not degrade as it does. I am working on big data platforms like Informatica and others and even though there are terabytes of data being transferred it does it immediately. However, in this solution, I would like the performance to be there when building a large dataset to integrate the data.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for the past three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I have found the solution to be scalable. We use Teradata for large data and we are building the pipelines for it, so far it has operated well. We have approximately 25 individuals using the solution in my organization.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    The technical support is very good, if you have an issue they will be able to help.

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

    I have used Informatica in the past and it has some performance advantages compared to this solution.

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

    The solution does require a license.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution to others and we are going to continue using it in the future. We have numerous clients switching to this solution.

    I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Executive Officer at UK export finance
    Real User
    Hosts our whole data center and has a simple setup and very good support
    Pros and Cons
    • "We've got multiple tools on Azure, which is a very good feature of Azure. Our Palo Alto firewall and other things are hosted in Azure. We're using Sentinel as well, which is a security tool that is being used by our SOC teams. I've also used AWS, and I find Azure to be more Windows-driven. Although Azure is newer as compared to AWS, it is growing fast. Microsoft is working towards the betterment of Azure."
    • "As compared to AWS, Azure can improve its functionality. In terms of the feature list, it is still lacking a bit as compared to AWS. AWS supports lots of types of operating systems, which Azure is still catching up with. Azure is mainly focused on the Windows system, and it is not yet there in terms of integration with other operating systems like Linux, Unix. Azure is slowly catching up."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our whole data center is on this basically. We are UK Export Finance, so we've got financial products there. All of our servers are hosted in Azure.

    We are using an Azure subscription. We are on Azure Public Cloud, but we have got our own private subscription.

    What is most valuable?

    We've got multiple tools on Azure, which is a very good feature of Azure. Our Palo Alto firewall and other things are hosted in Azure. We're using Sentinel as well, which is a security tool that is being used by our SOC teams.

    I've also used AWS, and I find Azure to be more Windows-driven. Although Azure is newer as compared to AWS, it is growing fast. Microsoft is working towards the betterment of Azure.

    What needs improvement?

    As compared to AWS, Azure can improve its functionality. In terms of the feature list, it is still lacking a bit as compared to AWS. AWS supports lots of types of operating systems, which Azure is still catching up with. Azure is mainly focused on the Windows system, and it is not yet there in terms of integration with other operating systems like Linux, Unix. Azure is slowly catching up.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been working with Azure for the last five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Lots of glitches are still there. Microsoft is constantly working to resolve those. It is a new product as compared to AWS, so, obviously, it would have some glitches. Three years ago, it was full of bugs. It is much better and stable now.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is scalable. We've got around 450 users.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Their technical support is very good. Their response is very good. At the end of the day, we're a business, and their business support is pretty good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup is quite straightforward. It is not at all hard.

    We've got a third-party maintenance company that actually maintains our Azure space. 

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

    It is not cheap. Its price could be a little bit less.

    What other advice do I have?

    It is a cloud solution at the end of the day. People can pick up any cloud solution, but Azure is renowned. Azure and AWS are the main competitors in the cloud market now. AWS comes first, and Azure comes after that. If your solution is predominantly in the Linux space, you should go for AWS. If you are primarily Windows-based, you should go for Azure.

    I would rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public 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.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Technical Consultant at The Instillery
    Real User
    Quickly provisions servers, infrastructure, and apps on the fly
    Pros and Cons
    • "It very quickly provisions servers, infrastructure, and apps on the fly and complies with security requirements and data safety."
    • "Azure ARM​ console can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning."

    What is our primary use case?

    We have been using Azure for DevOps and non-production environments. It is great when you want to deploy apps in your staging environment first using deployment slots. This allows you to flick the switch very quickly between your current prod app and the newly developed in staging to see how it behaves in the real world. If something goes wrong, you can easily switch it back.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Azure is a platform which allows our organization to be agile. It very quickly provisions servers, infrastructure, and apps on the fly and complies with security requirements and data safety.

    What is most valuable?

    Azure Active Directory, Azure VMs, Azure network security groups (NSG), and  monitoring endpoints across different regions to check how your platform operates from different geographic locations. Azure backups are another feature which are quite useful, especially since they allow us to backup our Azure VMs and our on-premise servers. Data can be backed up to Azure, saving time, space, and using clunky tapes to restore data, when needed.

    What needs improvement?

    Azure ARM console can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning. 

    If you are not aware of costs, pricing, etc., you can end up with a hefty bill. However, I found that the Azure price calculator is a valuable tool to use before starting to deploy VMs in Azure. This tool will give you an overview of the costs you should expect on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have had no stability issues. It is a very stable platform and very resilient. It comes down how you set up your geo-redundant options for backups, SQL replication. and VMs which run your services/apps.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I have had no scalability issues. It is an elastic platform. It all depends how you set up your scale up options to address heavy loads, but the options are there for you to use.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Microsoft Premier support is great to deal with. They understand very quickly the scenarios and how critical a scenario can be. They provide info, support, and knowledge to address issues. 

    We did not have a particular issue when implementing. It was mostly understanding all the options Azure had. We used Premier support to generate inquiries with Microsoft seeking clarification about what option was best suited for what we wanted to do.

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

    I used AWS (Amazon Web Services), but mostly because I was involved in a project. AWS is also a great solution, but I found Azure was easier to use and it had a native integration with my current platform (Windows).

    How was the initial setup?

    The key here is design. You need to design and orchestrate how you want your VMs (geo-redundant, in an availability set, size of VMs, etc.). It is the key to understanding the costs of each set of VMs available to you in terms of size and computing resources. Also, understand what type of storage will be required for you to deploy your virtual infrastructure SSD storage and larger disks. Plan to use this (Standard, Basic, or Premium) and it needs to be taken into consideration depending of what you want to use Azure for.

    What about the implementation team?

    In-house deployment, as there were Azure skills on the team.

    What was our ROI?

    Not applicable.

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

    Use Azure price calculator before embarking on an Azure deployment. This will help you understand straight away what your cost expectations are on a regular basis. You can always run Azure on a 30 day trial, see how you feel about it, then make the decision to switch to the full Azure usage.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    In addition to AWS, I also trialed Oracle Cloud (on a smaller scale) and it is great if you are running Oracle Databases. You can also stand up your VMs and build your environment. A cool feature of Oracle Cloud is you can run a private cloud version in your data center, exactly the same experience if you are running it on a private or public cloud. The private cloud solution comes in the form of an Oracle appliance which gets configured, deployed and installed by Oracle directly in your data center.

    What other advice do I have?

    Run Azure on a 30 day trial and see how you feel about it, then make the decision to switch to the full Azure usage. You see the reason when you view the benefits of using its cloud solution, especially one that integrates so seamlessly with your environment, collaboration tools, and apps.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user

    With AWS there is the possibility of the international support that this tool of Premiun category can offer. Security and guaranteed backup.

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    Updated: April 2024
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