We use Microsoft Azure for blob storage and for a lot of the components that they have inside the cloud.
Data Science Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Good stability with good Databricks integration and comparable in price to AWS
Pros and Cons
- "The integration with Databricks is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
- "The design of the platform is not so easy to navigate. It's not very user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The integration with Databricks is the most valuable aspect of the solution. It's easy to use and to put on the pipeline. Data Factory and Databricks together build a pipeline. They really integrate very well.
The stability is very good.
The solution is comparable to AWS in terms of pricing.
What needs improvement?
The design of the platform is not so easy to navigate. It's not very user-friendly.
Some services are more difficult to use in AWS and GCP. I have projects on the three clouds, and some things are easier to do on AWS. On the other hand, using Databricks on Azure is easy, as they are integrated well. However, some products are more difficult to use than other products.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable in terms of performance.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 30 people using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
I don't really deal with technical support. I'm the data scientist manager. The engineering team would be the ones that would reach out for help if they needed support.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of deployment, each product requires a number of staff to deploy the model of machine learning or to build the stature to consume the data. It really depends.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't handle the licensing or payments aspect of the solution. I can't speak to the costs involved or what the license looks like.
In AWS, our monthly cost was something around $10,000 or something close to that. We had to pay around $120,000 a year. It's most likely something close to that.
What other advice do I have?
We are a customer and end-user. We don't have a business relationship with Microsoft.
We deployed the solution in multiple ways. We've used the solution both on-premises and on the cloud.
I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Solution Architect at a sports company with 201-500 employees
Stable with a good application gateway and helpful technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The product has been quite stable."
- "The solution should emulate what MuleSoft is doing. At the moment MuleSoft has a lot of other features compared to Azure API integration."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution as a platform for our applications and security.
What is most valuable?
The application gateway is very good.
We like the WAF feature.
The product has been quite stable.
The scalability potential is very good.
Technical support is very good.
The configuration process is very minimal and happens very quickly.
What needs improvement?
The solution should emulate what MuleSoft is doing. At the moment MuleSoft has a lot of other features compared to Azure API integration. Just the coverage of the features, for example, could improve. Azure should offer more coverage of the features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution scales very well. If a company needs to expand it, they can.
We have about 1,000 users on the solution currently.
We do have plans to continue to use the solution and may even increase usage in the future.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support has been good overall. They are helpful and responsive. We are satisfied with the level of service we receive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I don't really have experience with other solutions at this time. I typically work with Azure.
How was the initial setup?
There isn't much of an implementation process as the solution is in the cloud.
However, you do need to do some configurations in order to ensure it's set up as you need it to be. This part of the process takes a minimal amount of time.
We have about 60 to 70 people who can handle deployment and maintenance within our organization.
What about the implementation team?
While I could handle the process myself, in our case, we had a network architect handle the configuration process.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a consultant.
As we are using the cloud version of the solution, we are always using the latest version as well. It updates automatically.
I'd recommend the solution to other organizations.
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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Easy to use, stable, and affordable
Pros and Cons
- "It is easy to use. It is also stable."
- "Its subscription price could be cheaper."
What is our primary use case?
We are using it for disaster recovery and application hosting. We always have its latest version because it is cloud-based.
What is most valuable?
It is easy to use. It is also stable.
What needs improvement?
Its subscription price could be cheaper.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 40 users of this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is fine.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Google Cloud. We switched because we're a Microsoft Partner.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't do the installation, but its installation is easy. For its deployment and maintenance, we have two engineers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is affordable, but its subscription price could be cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others. 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
IT Manager at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Easy to use, very scalable, and powerful in terms of data backup and Blob storage
Pros and Cons
- "It is a very easy-to-use platform, and it is very powerful in terms of data backup and Blob storage. It has very good features, especially if you are using Microsoft products, such as Windows, Microsoft SQL Server."
- "They should optimize their pricing so that we can use more features. I would also like to see more auditing and more security for the Blob storage feature. From a technical point, it has very good features for Microsoft products, but for non-Microsoft products, it may have some limitations. I have mostly worked with Windows-based integration, and now I am trying to use it for open-source systems. It is good but not as easy as Microsoft products."
What is most valuable?
It is a very easy-to-use platform, and it is very powerful in terms of data backup and Blob storage. It has very good features, especially if you are using Microsoft products, such as Windows, Microsoft SQL Server.
What needs improvement?
They should optimize their pricing so that we can use more features. I would also like to see more auditing and more security for the Blob storage feature.
From a technical point, it has very good features for Microsoft products, but for non-Microsoft products, it may have some limitations. I have mostly worked with Windows-based integration, and now I am trying to use it for open-source systems. It is good but not as easy as Microsoft products.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product, but it also depends on the configuration.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable.
How was the initial setup?
It is quite straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its price should be optimized so that we can use more features.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten because my environment is Windows-based. For a non-Microsoft environment, I would rate it a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Managing Director at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
A stable and easy-to-use cloud computing platform
Pros and Cons
- "It's stable, easy to use, reliable, and cheap."
What is our primary use case?
It's cloud computing. It's just an alternative to buying physical servers and storage.
Within our organization, there are roughly 2,000 employees using this solution. We definitely plan to keep using this solution in the future.
What is most valuable?
It's stable, easy to use, reliable, and cheap.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for the past few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This solution is very stable.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is pretty good. I think they're doing pretty well.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used to use Amazon AWS.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. It only takes minutes because it's cloud provisioning.
What about the implementation team?
I installed this solution myself along with the help of three technical team members.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price needs to be lower because they're competing with AWS. AWS, price-wise, is sexier. In this case, Azure needs to do better in terms of pricing.
We are on a subscription; we pay on a monthly basis. It's consumption-based, so the price varies depending on usage.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight. I am satisfied with Microsoft Azure.
I would absolutely recommend this solution to others.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Enables our customers to obtain the results they need
Pros and Cons
- "The system is more secure, and this is valuable."
- "Sometimes performance takes a hit on a slow network."
What is our primary use case?
A lot of customers are turning to Microsoft Azure. We are using the latest version and we are a Microsoft Gold partner. We use it as a backup solution. It is also used for authentication and cancellations. We are providing these types of solutions as a live requirement, and we are moving customers to their Cloud Station.
What is most valuable?
The system is more secure.
What needs improvement?
It could be more stable, but we think this is due to Microsoft making changes too often to their setup. We also think the configuration could be easier. Sometimes performance takes a hit on a slow network. Microsoft does not appear to pay enough attention to the platform or the account solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Microsoft Azure for a few years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure is very scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
Microsoft does provide good support and enables our customers to obtain the results they need.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Initially, it was difficult to setup. The complexity comes in when there are more items to configure. We pay our bill in a monthly or 6 monthly billing cycle. The cost depends on how much you use during the period.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Azure 8 out of 10.
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: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
DevOps Lead at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable and flexible with an easy initial setup
Pros and Cons
- "We've found the solution to be extremely flexible."
- "It would be helpful if it offered more integration with other platforms."
What is our primary use case?
We are primarily using the solution for DevOps purposes.
What is most valuable?
The installation of the product is very straightforward. It's quite easy in general.
The product is very stable. The performance has always been reliable.
We've found the solution to be extremely flexible.
What needs improvement?
I cannot recall anything really specific that needs to be addressed within the solution. There aren't any features that are missing as far as I can tell.
It would be helpful if it offered more integration with other platforms.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for a couple of years at this point. It's been a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches. It is reliable and the performance is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability overall has been fine. We have about 500 users in the solution currently.
If a company needs to expand it, or scale it, it can do so. It shouldn't be that hard to accomplish.
We do plan to continue to use the solution into the future.
How are customer service and technical support?
I rarely have any issues with the solution itself and therefore don't have too much experience with technical support. We don't have any complaints, to be honest.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution before implementing Azure. This is our first tool in this area.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex at all. It's very easy and very straightforward. The process shouldn't give a company any trouble.
I can't recall the exact length of time it took to deploy the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is likely reasonable. If you compare it to other cloud providers, there isn't too much of a difference. It likely is competitive in the market.
What other advice do I have?
We are customers and end-users.
I'm not sure which version of the solution we are using at this time.
I'd recommend the solution to other organizations. Our experience so far has been mostly positive.
Overall, I would rate the product at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
CISO at a religious institution with 501-1,000 employees
Very stable, easy to set up, and allows us to scale up and scale down depending upon our needs
Pros and Cons
- "Its ability to scale is most valuable. There are certain periods of the year when we are busier, and we're able to scale up and scale down with Azure depending upon our needs."
- "They're already doing quite a bit. I'm not unsatisfied with anything that they're doing right now. They can maybe make the transitions a little smoother and improve its pricing. The pricing for the end-user packages is a bit high."
What is our primary use case?
One of the use cases that we have is with our installation of SAP on private. We also have some apps that we have developed that are public, and we use the security system that they provide. We also use Microsoft Sentinel, which is the SIEM that helps us to align with the alerts and the incidents. We have a combination of public and private clouds, but everything is in Azure.
What is most valuable?
Its ability to scale is most valuable. There are certain periods of the year when we are busier, and we're able to scale up and scale down with Azure depending upon our needs.
What needs improvement?
They're already doing quite a bit. I'm not unsatisfied with anything that they're doing right now. They can maybe make the transitions a little smoother and improve its pricing. The pricing for the end-user packages is a bit high.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. It is very simple to scale.
How are customer service and technical support?
You have to go through a lot of preliminary levels before you finally get to someone, but you can get a difficult problem solved. There is a process that you have to follow.
How was the initial setup?
As far as the setup goes, most of it is pretty simple. When we started working with Microsoft Intune and a little bit on the unified labeling, it became a bit more complicated, but we're getting through it.
Shared active directory and multifactor authentication (MFA) are a little bit difficult to introduce because once you put something on it, it affects all of their Office products and anything that deals with Microsoft, whether it is SharePoint, OneDrive, or something else. Often, we want to activate it for an app and not so much for everything else, but that's our peculiar quirk. I don't think there is anything that Microsoft needs to change necessarily.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for the end-user packages is a bit high. It is full of very interesting services, but I would still like it to be less expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

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