Moving your business practices and data online is becoming more and more important. It allows for easier access, more reliability and better security, all elements we discussed in our blog – Creating a Modern Workplace. So, if your organisation is looking towards an online upgrade and improving your technological capabilities into the future, subscribing to Microsoft Azure is a certain step in the right direction.

Microsoft Azure by its most simple definition is a cloud-based computing service. It is a great option when considering moving your business practices into the cloud, but its capabilities reach further than that. In fact, many global organisations are already users of Microsoft Azure. But your business doesn’t need to be a large international corporation to reap the benefits of such an advanced program. It is tailored to suit your organisational size and needs, no matter how large or small.

A breakdown of how Microsoft Azure works

Although converting to a cloud-based system may seem like an expensive, complicated hassle -, you will in most cases, be better off for it in the long term. Microsoft Azure can be used with almost any operating system, language, tool or framework, and offers 600 different services that fall into three distinct categories.  Here’s a semi-technical breakdown of these categories and why this platform is worth considering for your organisation;

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): IaaS will provide you with an instant infrastructure upgrade by replacing your old physical server and moving it securely into the cloud. Just pick the service components your organisation needs and subscribe to them, for only as long as they’re required. This customises to your demand or needed use, which means you only need to pay for what you’re using in any given month.
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS): PaaS is a service within Microsoft Azure that transforms and delivers simple cloud-based applications, to complex cloud-enabled applications. What’s great about PaaS is that it’s designed to support the complete lifecycle of your web applications, including; building, testing, deploying and updating. Better yet, if relevant to your organisational needs, it can allow you to host your apps without needing to worry about additional spanners being thrown in the works for you such as maintenance of your servers or operating systems.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS): Do you have a Gmail account? Or maybe a long-neglected Hotmail account? That means you are already using SaaS. It encompasses all three categories and allows you to connect to and use cloud-based apps in a subscription model. It provides infrastructure, middleware, app software, and data in the provider’s data centre.

We know this may sound a little technical, but in practice, it may make your operations more streamlined in the long run and you only pay for what you use. It’s customisable, changeable and simple. At the end of the day too, you won’t have to worry about the technical side of this or relevant implementation of the service… That’s why the team at Centrered is here, to support you and assist you in making this transition more straightforward, within the context of your specific organisation’s needs.

Why is Azure a secure option?

Microsoft invests $ 1 billion every year into security for their systems. This means constant innovation and improvements in their security systems, which you get to benefit from. In part, this involves 3,500+ experts working behind the scenes to maintain the platform’s security, with 6.5 trillion threats analysed daily.

Not only that, they have 99.95% availability and 24/7 technical support available.

If you want to know how to implement Microsoft Azure, Centrered can help you establish what will best work for your individual business. Get in contact with one of our staff members and they will be able to walk you through the process. It is easier than you may think.