Choosing an IT infrastructure is crucial for any company. The transition from traditional IT infrastructure to cloud-based computing has become a trend over the last decade. In fact, 60% of the world’s corporate data is stored in the cloud, which shows that cloud storage has become a must-have for organisations. To add more, optimisation of cloud use is becoming a priority for businesses. Another interesting fact is that enterprises use an average of 2.6 public clouds and 2.7 private clouds. These statistics predict that around 200 ZB of data will be stored in the cloud by 2025. [Statistics Reference: explodingtopics]
At present, there are numerous cloud platforms to choose from. In this blog, we will look into details of Microsoft Azure, Azure Cloud Infrastructure, and the benefits your business can relish with Azure MSPs.
What is Managed Cloud Service?
Managed cloud services are the partial or full management and control of a client’s cloud platform, cloud resources, or infrastructure, migration, maintenance, configuration, and optimisation. Such Cloud Managed services can be for private, public, or hybrid cloud environments.
What is an MSP?
A managed service provider (MSP) is an organisation or company that offers to manage and deliver cloud services to other businesses.
MSP can be in charge of the entire organisation’s cloud infrastructure or simply specific services or apps. Furthermore, an MSP assesses the client’s apps and data before developing a tailored strategy outlining the procedures to construct and operate the best cloud environment. Overall, MSP ensures clients’ cloud infrastructure functions well.
Why do businesses need managed services?
- A certified managed services partner offers a flexible service model to choose what assistance a company requires, freeing up an organisation’s employees to focus on their tasks.
- Managed services reduce labour expenses and eliminate the need to hire and educate new IT personnel. Organisations do not have to worry about unexpected servicing fees when they sign an SLA with MSP.
- MSPs use remote monitoring and management to detect, diagnose, and resolve problems before they become a problem. They react in real-time and make you avoid system downtime as much as possible.
- An MSP offers 24/7 flexibility, on-call options, and weekend support.
- When you partner with an MSP, you’ll get a dedicated team that knows your company and your business solutions inside and out, led by a customer success manager (CSM).
- MSP can partner with the organisation’s legal team to find out which regulations it should be aware of and what precautions to take.
What is Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Azure (also known as Azure) is a cloud computing platform that provides access, management, and development of applications and services. In fact, to get access to these resources and services, all you need to have is an active internet connection and the ability to connect to the Azure portal. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities like software as Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Azure service as a (SaaS), and Azure platform as a service (PaaS).
Facts about Microsoft Azure
- Azure was announced in October 2008 as an internal project codename “Project Red Dog”. On February 2010, it was officially launched as Windows Azure and later renamed Microsoft Azure on March 25, 2014.
- More than 200 products and cloud services are available in the Azure cloud platform.
- There are 722.22 million Azure users.
- 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Microsoft Azure Cloud.
- In the cloud computing industry, Azure’s market share was reported 21%.
- Azure supports almost any language, Operating System, tool, or framework.
- It offers SLA(Service Level Agreement) of 99% availability and 24×7 tech support.
- It has data housed in geo-synchronous data centres.
Key Feature of Microsoft Azure
- Azure offers DevOps services. With a DevOps development model, different teams in an organisation can work together on an app’s entire lifecycle.
- Azure offers hybrid storage like StorSimple, which is used to provide data storage and backup solution for both on-premise and cloud Infrastructure.
- Azure integrates your BCDR (business continuity/disaster recovery) strategy to protect the security of your data and organisation. Also,
- Azure Site Recovery (ASR) integrates with Azure Backup, allowing organisations to restore data and sites to operational status quickly.
- In the context of azure synapse analytics, the concept of workload management comes up. Workload Management manages resources, ensures highly efficient resource utilisation, and maximises return on investment (ROI).
Some Terms related to Microsoft Azure
- What is an Azure Environment?
The Azure environment is a collection of Azure resources on which your application is deployed.
- What is Azure Security Center?
It is a platform for complete security administration across hybrid cloud systems, intending to address data loss that can occur when an organisation shifts to cloud migration.
- What is Azure Monitor?
Different Types of Azure Services
Microsoft Azure offers a set of services to its customers. Some of them are explained below.
- Azure Cloud Architecture
The Azure Cloud Architecture has an extensive network and server clusters that aid in operation. Also, Azure Cloud Architecture services also offer techniques for executing Hybrid, PaaS, and LaaS models.
- Azure Cloud Management
Azure Cloud Management is about providing help in maintaining the functionality of the business architecture, resources, and application. It helps alert, update, monitor, and patch tasks.
- Azure Cloud Migration
It is concerned with migration planning, assistance in migrating, providing cloud strategy, and conducting migration in three phases – ‘the migration stage’, ‘during migration’ and ‘post-migration.
- Azure Services Optimisation
With this service, an organisation can benefit from the already deployed solutions while also simplifying the daily IT functions of organisations.
- Infrastructure Managed Services (IMS)
Under IMS, services related to Networks, Big Data storage, Cybersecurity, Application Infrastructure, Data warehouse, and Onsite data centres are included.
- End-to-End Security Management Services
End-to-end security management services help manage and protect securities on technologies and interconnection. Also, it helps in rectifying network policies as well as responding immediately to cyber threats.
Azure managed services pricing
For flexible purchasing, you can purchase Azure-managed services directly from Microsoft, the Azure website, or an Azure sales specialist. You can also work with an Azure partner for a managed cloud solution. Overall, the pay-as-you-go model is available in Azure, which means you only pay for what you use.
What is Microsoft Azure MSP?
Microsoft Azure Managed Service Provider is a business( IT Support Company) that runs its core operations on Microsoft Azure. When IT company become Azure MSP, they can have access to Microsoft productivity tools such as Office 365, Outlook, and SharePoint. Microsoft MSPs can store an immense amount of data of your business and your clients. Also, organisations can get seamless data access regardless of where they are. In addition, Azure has invested heavily to ensure they have robust Cloud Security. Also, they have services that enable automatic compliance with most regulatory requirements. This offers great threat management to MSPs.
When MSPs offer Azure Managed Services, they avail hybrid approach to help businesses/clients who are hesitant to move to public cloud models. Furthermore, Azure can be MSP’s additional marketing tool helping them in auditing clients’ IT environments. This kind of audit helps in delivering better performance.
What about Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP)?
When an IT Support Company becomes or transitions to Azure Expert MSP, they can enjoy the following benefits.
- They can get an exclusive Azure Expert MSP badge and gain top priority in Azure’s referral engine.
- They can get better customer engagement and get prioritised for co-sell engagements.
- They can get support for sales and business development and developing new practices.
- They can access training and support in monthly calls with Azure engineering.
10 benefits of Microsoft Azure Managed Services for your business
Here are some great advantages your business can enjoy by using Azure managed services.
1. Reduced costs
IT departments of organisations focus on innovating their cloud environments. When working with managed services of Azure, it cuts expenses by optimising organisations’ deployments and cutting costs. Also, with Microsoft Azure, organisations can get a server configured to the exact specifications in less than 20 minutes, so there will always be plenty of server capacity available with flexible pricing.
2. Increased efficiency
An Azure MSP assists organisations in automating and streamlining their workflows. This brings efficiency and eventually increases the productivity of the IT team. Further, it can also enhance the efficiency of software products and brings betterment to the end-user experience.
3. Improved and Managed security
Microsoft Azure offers numerous security configurations and solutions. Companies can reduce hacking risks with Azure Active Directory and its Secure Identity & Access Management capabilities. Secure Identity & Access Management (IAM) also removes the downtime for the IT staff in order to set up accounts and passwords in SaaS applications. Also, Azure security includes Asset Management( includes controls to ensure security visibility and governance over Azure resources) and Incident management(a series of steps taken to identify, analyse, and resolve critical incidents). An Azure MSP offers you security with a proactive plan to optimise tools to protect your data. They can also establish best practices for credentials and password management to ensure better cybersecurity threat management.
4. Expertise
When it comes to service delivery, Azure MSP makes sure to do it in the best way. Azure MSP has a team of Azure experts with years of experience. These experts ensure the clients receive the full benefit of the Azure cloud management platform.
5. Flexibility
Azure MSPs services focus on making organisations use all Azure tools in flexible terms. So, organisations can check available services/tools and select the level of support that meets their budget and business goals.
6. Compliance
Microsoft Azure managed service providers already understand the Azure architecture and what a typical Azure cloud journey looks like. Hence, these Azure cloud experts can help you prepare for audits and ensure your architecture meets compliance rules.
7. Scalability
Cloud computing features the ability to scale up and down without maintaining extra hardware. In fact, in a cloud environment, autoscaling (the process of dynamic resource allocation to fulfil performance requirements) can be performed easily. Azure scaling, better known as Azure autoscaling, helps businesses to scale up to meet growing business demands or scale down to reduce costs. Overall, Azure MSP help organisations scale up or down their Azure deployments. This scalability helps in meeting changing business as well as cloud requirements.
8. Seamless migration
When using Azure, the initial migration of data and applications to the platform can be challenging. If the Azure migration does not go in right, it can lead to extended downtime, security risks, and incomplete or lost data. The good thing is that most enterprises, before making it to the enterprise cloud shift, are familiar with Microsoft technologies; this makes the transition to Azure easy. In both scenarios, an Azure MSP with Azure cloud migration specialists can oversee the entire migration process—from planning to execution.
For seamless Azure migration, Azure MSPs take the following steps:
- They first identify a business’s unique challenges and desired outcomes.
- They craft a tailored plan and design an Azure solution to meet the goals.
- Using a suitable migration approach, they deploy rapidly and accelerate time to value.
- They optimise your azure solution time-to-time in order to match with the latest technology.
9. Real-time monitoring and support
Azure Monitoring tool performs end-to-end monitoring and detects issues in applications or infrastructure. Further, Azure Monitoring solutions provide the benefits of better infrastructure visibility, notifications, and automatic resolution. As an existing enterprise or a growing business in Australia, when you partner with an Azure MSP in Australia, real-time monitoring is part of the deal. These MSPs offer 24/7/365 monitoring to ensure your entire Azure setup remains safe from threats.
10. In-depth reporting
Detail reporting comes abreast with other services of Azure cloud managed services. In fact, Azure MSPs’ regular data collection and reporting is standard. These data and reports can help organisations meet business goals. Hence, when you hire an MSP, you can enjoy intelligent reporting, which is massively beneficial.
What to look for when assessing an Azure MSP?
- Check their Microsoft partner status i.e. make sure the MSP is Microsoft Certified Partner.
- The size of their Microsoft Azure Practice.
- The Talent in MSP must have strong knowledge of the Azure cloud ecosystem, Azure cloud operations, Azure cloud networking, Azure cloud adoption, Azure cloud deployments, etc.
- Check if the MSP and its team are certified cloud experts.
- Find out if their solutions and services support your specific needs.
Why choose NSW IT Support as your AZURE Managed Service Provider?
Looking forward to integrating Azure in your cloud computing? If so, NSW IT Support is here for you. We are a Microsoft partner offering Managed Azure Services in Australia, especially for SMBs. Using Azure, we manage your business transformation, enhance accountability, address specific industry requirements, and ensure the highest data sovereignty. To access or know more about our Azure Managed Service, kindly contact us.
