We use Microsoft Azure for different use cases. For example, we are hosting our corporate website on Azure. We are a software development company and we have hundreds of development and testing environments in Azure. Additionally, we use different Microsoft services, such as Office 365 and Azure Active Directory. A lot of our services are based on these technologies.
Senior Vice President Information Technology at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Easy to understand, helpful technical support, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "We are using Microsoft Azure because our organization uses a lot of Microsoft solutions. We have used Microsoft technology for a long time and we have internal engineers with great capability that understand the technology. This is why Azure is the best for us."
- "The quality of some components of Microsoft Azure is not that great. For example, Microsoft has not fixed issues in Microsoft Teams for many years. There are well-known issues that are submitted by customers two years ago and they still are not fixed."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
We are using Microsoft Azure because our organization uses a lot of Microsoft solutions. We have used Microsoft technology for a long time and we have internal engineers with great capability that understand the technology. This is why Azure is the best for us.
What needs improvement?
The quality of some components of Microsoft Azure is not that great. For example, Microsoft has not fixed issues in Microsoft Teams for many years. There are well-known issues that are submitted by customers two years ago and they still are not fixed.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately four years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
We have hundreds of users using this solution in my organization.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support has been great.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use Google GCP and AWS by Amazon.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not a problem it is similar to competitors, such as AWS.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing of Microsoft Azure is not very flexible.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Microsoft Azure 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: Partner
Cyber Security Consultant at Ukroboronprom
Stable with good security and easy to manage
Pros and Cons
- "Technical support has been extremely helpful."
- "We need more security to be available on our smartphones and mobile devices."
What is our primary use case?
We buy licenses in order to provide an ecosystem on Microsoft, using Azure for documents and also for accessing Office 365 and for corporate messaging and so on.
We use Azure for everything. For example, we use Microsoft Teams on Azure for our conference calls and we also use scrum tools and project management tools as well. we use it on endpoints to work in remote places. Our CRM and procurement platforms sit on Azure. There's also antivirus features on it.
What is most valuable?
The solution is good for enterprise control and managing various systems.
The solution is quite stable.
The scalability has been good.
We haven't seen any security gaps as of yet. It feels very safe.
The initial setup is very easy.
Technical support has been extremely helpful.
What needs improvement?
We need more security to be available on our smartphones and mobile devices. They need to improve the protections available in that area in particular. We're actually currently looking for solutions that will protect devices of this nature so that they can safely access the corporate network.
For how long have I used the solution?
We began to use this solution last year, in 2020, when we begin to have to do remote work.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution is excellent. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. the performance has been good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Azure is very good. If a company wants to expand it, it can do so with relative ease.
We have about 300 endpoints in our organization that use Microsoft Azure.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support on offer is very good. If we ever need help or extra assistance, they are happy to jump in. We're quite satisfied with the level of service on offer.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was mostly straightforward, although we did run into a few small issues. We had the local Microsoft team assist us, however. For the most part, everything ran smoothly.
It typically takes two to four hours to install everything.
We have a technical team of 15 people that can handle deployment and maintenance as necessary. They are IT and help desk personnel as well as two managers. We also have a team that focuses on cybersecurity and information protection.
What about the implementation team?
Our local Microsoft team helped with the installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We're on a three-year standard license. We do have to pay for licensing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We haven't looked at other solutions. We prefer sticking with Azure.
What other advice do I have?
We're customers and end-users.
We use both the cloud and on-premises.
We're using the latest version of the solution.
I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. It's very good, however, it has room to grow.
I'd highly recommend the solution to other individuals and organizations.
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.
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March 2024
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Sr.Consultant at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Very scalable, no upfront expenses, fast time to market, and maximum uptime for our services
Pros and Cons
- "Its scalability is valuable. Depending on our requirements, we can add as many virtual machines as we want. We are able to get high availability for services. Services are always available, and they have the maximum uptime. If there is any issue with one of the services, another service is always available. It is pay-as-you-go. You don't have to spend any money upfront. You use the service and pay after one month or a couple of hours of use."
- "For deploying multiple resources in a big number, such as in hundreds, we need a streamlined process and more user-friendly scrips. The scripts have to be more user-friendly, and they should also supply some standard templates to deploy multiple resources at a time. Currently, it is very easy to deploy a couple of resources, but if you want to deploy multiple resources, it becomes complex. The material that they provide for integration with an existing on-prem data center is complex. They have to make them user-friendly. The scripts related to resource management need to be simplified."
What is our primary use case?
The existing infrastructure of our customers is on-prem. We will be migrating or moving from on-prem to Microsoft Azure cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
We don't have to spend money to purchase the hardware, set up a data center, get people to work on it, and maintain security. We don't have to spend any money on these things. It is ready to use, and resources are available for us. We just create an account on Azure and start using the services.
The time to market is very fast. We just supply the resources, virtual machines, and databases, and our applications are up and running. This helps our customers and us to be more future-ready and cloud-ready.
What is most valuable?
Its scalability is valuable. Depending on our requirements, we can add as many virtual machines as we want. We are able to get high availability for services. Services are always available, and they have the maximum uptime. If there is any issue with one of the services, another service is always available.
It is pay-as-you-go. You don't have to spend any money upfront. You use the service and pay after one month or a couple of hours of use.
What needs improvement?
For deploying multiple resources in a big number, such as in hundreds, we need a streamlined process and more user-friendly scrips. The scripts have to be more user-friendly, and they should also supply some standard templates to deploy multiple resources at a time. Currently, it is very easy to deploy a couple of resources, but if you want to deploy multiple resources, it becomes complex.
The material that they provide for integration with an existing on-prem data center is complex. They have to make them user-friendly. The scripts related to resource management need to be simplified.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for one year. In our company, we have been using it for four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It has a very high uptime for services. They are able to provide as per Service Level Agreement (SLA). We are not seeing any downtime for our applications. Our users have not reported any issues.
They have their internal redundancy for hardware and software. If there is an issue with any hardware, another hardware is ready to take the load.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. We can add as many virtual machines as we want. We have 400 to 500 people who are using this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not worked with support. We work in a design team where we have a dedicated Microsoft account partner to provide support. That support is fine. If there is an issue with running virtual machines or there are any infrastructure issues, another team takes care of that. I've not got any complaints from them that their support is not working.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we had the regular on-prem solution with our own data center. We had to deploy physical servers, networks, databases, and everything else. We needed flexibility and scalability for our customers and applications, and that's why we moved to the cloud.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is operational expenditure (OPEX). There is no cost upfront. When you start using it, you have to pay the charges. Initially, the cost is less, but after you start using it more and more, the cost will go higher. It is a little bit costly, but that is okay because you get better resources. You also get better support in terms of how you create the resources. Documentation is available, and the SLAs are met.
What other advice do I have?
Companies are now starting to switch over to Azure, and before doing any kind of migration, they need to plan each and everything from scratch. They should have a Microsoft consultant or somebody from Microsoft so that they can plan well before using Azure. Otherwise, they will not be aware of where they are spending and how they can reduce the spending. They would also not know whether their security compliances are being met and whether their network is being fully utilized or having some issues. Proper planning has to be done before using Azure.
I would rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Commercial Director at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Helps save costs and offers an all-in-one package compared to its competitors' tools
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's technical support was very good."
- "The permissions and controls in the product are not easy to use."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution in my company to virtualize apps that haven't quite become SaaS products yet. My organization gets to deal with travel-based companies, mining companies, and logistics companies that have software on which their business runs, for whom we need to put such software tools into a cloud instance because there are no current SaaS offerings in the market. My company tends to host certain software products on Azure and then deploy such solutions through Azure Virtual Desktop.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is a quite cheap tool compared to any other private cloud offerings. It makes good commercial sense to have Microsoft Azure when you compare it to an on-premises infrastructure.
What needs improvement?
The permissions and controls in the product are not easy to use. From an improvement perspective, the permissions and controls in the product need to be made easier. I believe that the product is working to improve the native domain controllers in the cloud. My company studies the road map of Microsoft Azure quite frequently and closely. I believe the solution is working on areas where my company finds ideas or areas for improvement.
The product's current price needs to be lowered from an improvement perspective.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for four and a half 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 nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. The scalability of the product is a selling point of the solution.
The product is suitable for companies of all sizes. Small companies can use Office 365. Requirements might arise for businesses, regardless of the size of the companies.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support was very good.
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial setup phase was simple. There are some complexities attached to the solution when it comes to certain niches and during migrations.
The solution is deployed on a public cloud.
What was our ROI?
The product helps save costs for our company since we need not refresh the hardware part every four years. The box provided by the solution can be turned on and off. Most of our company's clients save a fair bit of money with Microsoft Azure.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Microsoft Azure offers a better all-in-one package than Google Workspace or G Suite. Compared to its competitors, Microsoft Azure is a much better option for mature businesses.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the product to those who plan to use it.
I rate the overall tool a nine 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: Partner
Last updated: Mar 6, 2024
Flag as inappropriateIT Administrator at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Secure, easy to use, and provides good reporting features
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is secure and easy to use."
- "The support team is not responding to my emails."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product for Exchange, Microsoft Intune, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
What is most valuable?
The solution is secure and easy to use. It meets the security guidelines. It is approved by the state and the shareholders. MFA is a good feature. The reporting features are also good. The management and the logging of incidents are good. It’s a good solution for our use cases. I don't have any negative opinions about it.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, I need better support. Microsoft must acknowledge support cases for the product. There have been some data leak issues lately. The support team is not responding to my emails. I had a call with an engineer on a weekend, and he told me he would follow up on Monday, but he hasn’t shown up yet.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is 99.99% stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is scalable. We have 50 to 100 employees. We're a startup, but we are growing.
How are customer service and support?
Overall, the support team is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The tool was easy to install. The maintenance is fairly easy. When I have issues, I contact Microsoft, and the team helps me.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool is cheap.
What other advice do I have?
We are not allowed to store data in Azure. Our data is encrypted via third-party software. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Feb 28, 2024
Flag as inappropriatePrincipal Consultant Data & Analytics Strategy at INFOMOTION GmbH
More intuitive and easier to handle compared to other cloud platforms
Pros and Cons
- "I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy."
- "With a Synapse environment, we might need to switch to Databricks for better scalability."
What is most valuable?
Compared to other cloud platforms, I find the Azure portal very user-friendly. It's more intuitive and clearer than some, but it depends on your specific needs because Azure offers many services.
For instance, working with Synapse, a complex technology with diverse processing engines, requires deep knowledge. In our experience with clients, using Databricks, a third-party service, on top of Azure can be helpful.
What needs improvement?
There's an ongoing development, particularly concerning the Data Fabric offering launched a few months ago.
Data Fabric is an additional offering which is Software as a service "as a service" application, unlike the core Azure platform initially focused on "platform as a service." It sits on top of Azure.
We thought Azure could be more flexible and cost-effective, but our experience suggests this separation might simplify things for some customers. It's worth exploring as a potential improvement for specific needs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for several years. We have used it, or we have architectures. We consult about Azure.
We do a lot here in this area because it's also a big topic for us. But it's a more general consulting topic for me. I have some experience with it, but I do not implement it. Internally, we use some Azure services.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have all kinds of typically, ranging more towards larger size customers, midsized customers, and a lot in the financial area.
For example, with a Synapse environment, we might need to switch to Databricks for better scalability. But overall, the platform itself scales very well. Based on my experience, I'd give it an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Azure is the best in Germany compared to AWS or Google. It has the best German footprint, so the support is better locally.
But globally, it's good, not always the best. Some users have very good experiences with Google's support as well.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
From the consulting perspective, we consult on every technology on the market. For example, Snowflake is a big topic on our side.
I have a lot of history in SAP. With current or former SAP solutions.
In our company, we are more Microsoft-based and Microsoft CRM.
How was the initial setup?
The technical part of setting up such a platform is typically the smaller part. And for an experienced consultant, it's okay. It's nothing special. It's more about the processes and organization, which is important to consider here.
So, I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy.
Typically, in Germany, we see that setting up is very complex; enterprises work well with Azure setups if users are already experienced at different points with Azure. But it's a little bit more easy compared to Google or Amazon. But it depends a little bit on the service and the environment you need.
From a technical perspective, it can set up something in a day or in some hours. That's not a problem.
The thing is more the organizational level here, what is allowed, who can do it, where the costs are going, and so on. The process is typically much more about the deployment or, depending on whether you have already built a platform and just have to automate the deployment process.
For example, it works very well, typically, but the initial setup of a platform is more for organizational things, but this is not what I do.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Last updated: Feb 2, 2024
Flag as inappropriateProduct Architect at Wolters Kluwer
Limited maintenance, good interface, helpful support
Pros and Cons
- "The valuable features of Microsoft Azure are that it is cloud-based and has good storage. The storage is completely managed by Azure. We do not need to do any patching of security because it is handled by Azure which is a benefit. The solution is fully compatible with the Microsoft technology stack and is very scalable."
- "The solution should improve the shared cache. For the shared cache, Microsoft uses RADIUS third-party services. We have a lot of trouble with RADIUS and I suppose that is due to the fact that is not owned completely by Microsoft."
What is our primary use case?
Our target markets are advisors and all the staff they need to manage for their customers, such as regulatory information, accounting tax, tax income, tax regulation, accounting, balance sheets. We have also targeted different niche countries. It's a very regulated market and these are our principal customer.
At the corporate level, we have another division. That does not produce or sell software, but content, normative content, educational content.
For the software division, we work with advisors and payroll consultants.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Azure has helped organizations because they no longer need to do a lot of server maintenance.
What is most valuable?
The valuable features of Microsoft Azure are that it is cloud-based and has good storage. The storage is completely managed by Azure. We do not need to do any patching of security because it is handled by Azure which is a benefit. The solution is fully compatible with the Microsoft technology stack and is very scalable.
All the Microsoft Azure's interface for managing the portal is very good and responsive.
What needs improvement?
The solution should improve the shared cache. For the shared cache, Microsoft uses RADIUS third-party services. We have a lot of trouble with RADIUS and I suppose that is due to the fact that is not owned completely by Microsoft.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure is scalable in my experience.
We have approximately 400 customers with many terabytes of data. We have some customers that are using this solution that has 400,000 customers.
At the moment our product is intensively being used by the advisors that are onboarded because our software is the primary tool for the advisors.
How are customer service and support?
If we have a problem with Microsoft Azure we open a ticket with Microsoft and they respond very quickly and are very helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used other solutions but nothing comparable to the Microsoft Azure cloud solution.
We chose Microsoft Azure because it's tied to Microsoft technologies. We are already working with Visual Studio and other Microsoft technologies, such as .NET, and other on-premise products. The migration path is all shorter and our corporation suggested using Microsoft Azure.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is difficult because when you move into a fully managed cloud environment with a lot of services, you change your mind completely about how you operate and in the first month we had to learn a lot of tasks.
Looking back to the past the difficulty was not the interface of the solution, there was a lot of information to know and to have knowledge about concepts for cloud service that took time. There was a lot of documentation and finding the correct one can be difficult sometimes. When I used Google to find something, I can find a lot of information but the problem is to find the current information or the most effective information.
There is a lot of different elements you need to set up or configure, such as the environment, monitoring, deployment of applications, preparing the dashboard for monitoring, and the continuous development integration by clients.
We have two kinds of deployment, a continuous integration deployment when we don't change the database schema. This is fully unattended and can be done online with no problem for the users. It takes approximately 30 minutes but the time can vary.
Once a month, or less, there is a major release. In this case, often we modify the database schema. This requires stopping all the applications, no user can have access while the modification to the database is taking place. The operation takes from half an hour to an hour and a half depending on the database schema and the types of modification required. When we change the structure of tables we have hundreds of thousands of records that can take a lot of time.
We are moving to a more continuous development strategy. We are trying to have more applications because at the moment we have approximately seven web apps and a lot of services, but they are too tightly bound to the database. They're trying to divide them for more flexibility and to have continuous deployment. We had no continuous deployment. Normally we deployed some minor releases once or two a week, and there is a major release once a month. We are moving to have more continuous deployment.
We are working this year on test automation from unit test integration. They're investing a lot in this because we managed numbers for the tax declaration. Regulation can be problematic.
What about the implementation team?
We are producing, maintaining, and are selling solutions for our customers, such as Microsoft Azure. We do not use an integrator.
We have a two-person team that does the implementation and maintenance of the solution. Once you prepare the infrastructure, sometimes we have to improve by changing some things. Recently we had to prepare for the disaster recovery from Europe to Europe, and we had to invest time in the pipelines and deployment.
What was our ROI?
When you have on-premise solutions you have to manage lots of aspects, such as security, patching, large expense, and acquiring hardware and servers. With Microsoft Azure, you have the ability to activate a lot of processing power and then dismiss it when you do not need it. It saves you a lot of money not have to have the infrastructure or the maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of Microsoft Azure depends on the services that are used and there can be a discount at a corporate level from Microsoft.
What other advice do I have?
In the next release of Microsoft Azure, they will be addressing the problem of the continuous ETL workload to continually extract the data and ingest it in a docker analysis database. This will be released in the next version released in 2022. Microsoft Azure is continuously improving the solution for the market.
It is important to know that cloud services work differently than on-premise solutions.
I was talking with our colleague in the internal department to let me test the scalability of his system because we have a process from our application to the online shop. They are having a problem with the scalability test because of their hardware. They have hardware that they can't scale the testing environment. Using Microsoft Azure we do not have these issues because it is on the cloud.
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.
Future Datacenter Consultant: Microsoft Azure Cloud. at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Great environment assessment tools and monitoring features with pretty good scalability
Pros and Cons
- "The user interface is very nice and makes everything easy to use."
- "Support could be improved. If you pay for a higher plan, it's okay, however, the lower plans don't offer as good of a service experience."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is basically a platform as a service for web applications, virtual machines, Azure identity, et cetera.
My day-to-day is to migrate servers using Mover or some other app to access on-premises data centers. We then use Azure Migrate to move the servers in order to take advantage of the new functionalities and things like that.
What is most valuable?
The solution offers good monitoring features that allow us to configure items better in the customer environment. The monitoring is really awesome.
Occasionally, clients have specific requirements for their applications and we can move them onto Azure services or apps.
Overall, it offers a better way to move the applications and monitor or configure the applications with higher availability. For example, there are load balancers, different types of layers that load balancers use, traffic managers, Front Door, and things of that nature that are available to us and the client via Azure.
Overall, I like how the solution works. It offers everything I need, for the most part.
The user interface is very nice and makes everything easy to use.
The power share modules have been improved, and the AC module was introduced - which has been great. There are ten or 15 more regions on the way as well.
The tools on offer are excellent. It has some really great environment assessment tools as well.
What needs improvement?
There are preview features we are waiting on. When I contact Microsoft support, there is no timeline given or clear information about when those preview features are going to be on GA, general availability. It would be ideal if they could finally give us at least an estimation of how much longer we have to wait.
Support could be improved. If you pay for a higher plan, it's okay, however, the lower plans don't offer as good of a service experience. It also seems as though each different tier doesn't talk to the other. they should be able to communicate and share details internally with each other so that they are learning from each other instead of staying siloed.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for the last few years. I would estimate it's been about five years at this point. It's been a while. I've definitely been using the solution over the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, for me, it works. However, depends on the type of project that's happening. If you're going to have just a virtual machine running there then it can fail. That said, the platform offers a lot of options to improve the capability, so it depends on how much money a client wants to invest.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability works just fine. I've had some issues before with Azure App Service, with an App Service environment allocation, however, Microsoft has improved that, making a bigger rack. Since then, I haven't seen issues with scalability. That was maybe a year ago.
We currently have three clients on Microsoft Azure.
How are customer service and technical support?
There is room for improvement with technical support. I work with premium support and therefore don't really face issues. We have good engineers. There are some issues when you get a new support person. They have a lot of rotation in their personnel. They train people for a couple of months. They're trying to help however, it's not the same as getting a seasoned professional. It really depends on the support line you buy. If you go for a lower tier, you're likely to get less experienced assistance.
How was the initial setup?
For the most part, the initial setup is straightforward. It was not overly complex. I worked with a Microsoft support engineer. I had contact with the product group and know the technical advisors and technical matters, which made it very easy for me.
For example, in comparison. I tried to use Amazon Web Services by myself, and I got confused as I didn't have that level of support. With Azure, the interface is nice, and it's pretty straightforward. Anybody with a little bit of technical knowledge about working, virtual machines, or similar items can use it with little to no problem. The implementation is pretty good.
The time it takes to deploy the solution depends on the customer environment. If they have 25 servers versus five there will be radically different deployment times.
Typically, we use Microsoft strategies as a foundation assessment. We'll look at the customer environment and be in the background for a couple of weeks to pull some data so we can have a better understanding of the customer environment. After that, we create a plan to start migrating the servers. Each client is unique.
What about the implementation team?
I worked alongside a Microsoft support engineer who assisted in the process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You do need to pay for technical support and there are different tiers of support you can get. The higher the tier, it seems, the better the service you can expect.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I haven't used AWS or Google Cloud, therefore I don't really ever compare this solution to them. I don't say "this platform has that and I like how this works". For me, Azure just works and it's fine and I don't need to go in-depth and look at other options.
The company I am working at new does use AWS and we're planning to introduce new cloud technologies as well.
I'm not a salesperson, however, I can say that we would move the client to whichever technology made sense to them after doing an evaluation of their requirements. That, of course, is handled by a different department.
What other advice do I have?
We are a reseller and a Microsoft Gold partner. We are a CSP, a Cloud Solution Provider. We offer managed services to our customers. We are moving data centers to Azure, however, we are a managed service provider. We have access to the customer's environment in order to pull analytics data to help them with consulting services, and things like that.
My basic advice to those considering the solution is that planning is essential. Microsoft does a good job of advising their customers at the outset to ensure they get what they need, however, it's helpful to go in and understand deeply what it is your company needs overall.
That said, Azure is a strong cloud and its technology is great. Microsoft offers good implementation with service legal agreements and good practices.
Overall, I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Updated: March 2024
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Learn More: Questions:
- Gartner's Magic Quadrant for IaaS maintains Amazon Web Service at the top of the Leaders quadrant. Do you agree?
- PaaS solutions: Areas for improvement?
- Rackspace, Dimension Data, and others that were in last year's Challenger quadrant became Niche Players: Agree/ Disagree
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Platform?
- Which backup and recovery solution can backup Azure machines to its own (dedicated) cloud?
- Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?
- Which solution do you prefer: Alibaba Cloud or Microsoft Azure?
- How does Microsoft MDS (vs Informatica MDM) fit with Azure architecture?
- SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC): how to migrate to Microsoft Azure?
- Does F5 Advanced WAF work with Azure App Service?
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