What Are the Top Reasons You Should Move to Azure?
WatServ
May 3, 2022
There are several major companies selling cloud infrastructure solutions, but in our experience at WatServ, after working on hundreds of cloud adoption and cloud migration projects, Microsoft Azure stands out from the pack.
But why Azure? Many people think initially of the cloud as a source of unlimited storage. This is true, but a great cloud installation is about much more than just storage alone.
Azure offers some important benefits, such as:
- It’s highly scalable – meaning it can grow with your business
- Data safety and compliance is built-in
- It allows you to reduce the cost of operating data centers and maintenance
- It’s easy to plan a migration path
- It’s extremely fast
- Azure has global reach – therefore your business can operate anywhere
But these are just the most basic or important points. Look at what the technology analysts and journals say about Azure and you can see the argument developed in much more detail.
The hybrid operating options in Azure are unmatched. So, during a cloud migration, and even after a migration is complete, you can decide exactly where you want your storage and processing to take place. If you want to retain some in-house systems, then Azure makes it easy to blend your solutions.
An often overlooked, but critically important point, is that most modern software is developed using Microsoft development tools. This includes the Visual Studio, ASP.NET, and languages such as Visual Basic, C, and C++. All these languages and development tools are cloud-native and integrated into Azure so it is possible to develop cloud-based enterprise applications.
Azure also has unmatched analytics and business intelligence options. Azure is the only cloud platform that offers Blockchain as a Service (BaaS), Machine Learning, the ability to use Bots, and Cognitive APIs. It facilitates SQL and NoSQL data services and has built-in support to dig much deeper into your data.
Scalability is not just about supporting a growing business. When your team has an innovative idea and wants to test it out quickly using a model of your regular production system then Azure can deliver. A Microsoft case study outlines how Duke University managed to reinvent hospital ventilators rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thanks to Azure their researchers could scale up to over 800,000 of compute hours over a single weekend working on new ventilator designs. They submitted their new design to the FDA just one and a half weeks after scaling up the compute time. That kind of flexibility and scale could never be achieved inside a regular data center.
This is perhaps the most important point. A robust Azure installation allows flexibility and the ability to rapidly scale your business. If a new business opportunity presents itself – or a global pandemic threatens to change how your company must operate – you have the ability to change your approach overnight.
To maximize all the benefits offered by Microsoft Azure, it makes sense to partner with WatServ for your migration, integration, and continued advisory and management functions.
Our experience and expertise working with Azure can help your business succeed after a cloud migration.
To learn more about this, read our case study about how WatServ helped modernize EchoVera’s business by fully migrating it to Microsoft Azure services.
About
WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.
Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.
Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.
With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.
