Microsoft Azure Reviews

We are currently working with Microsoft Azure services.

We use Microsoft Azure extensively in our solutions, as well as our customer solutions. We do cloud deployments which require deployment of Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Azure is vast; we talk about the solutions on top of Microsoft Azure, and the infrastructure can include VMs, data environments, and whatever you deploy, which might take multiple people in terms of the knowledge base.

We use Microsoft Azure mostly for advanced data analytics to enhance business processes in our specific industry.

The favorite Microsoft Azure service or the most critical in workload management depends on the kind of solutions we run for our customer.

The commonly used feature that makes Microsoft Azure stand out from other services is the service or SaaS application within Microsoft Azure that we use the most, which is ADF.

Microsoft Azure's scalability feature obviously supports business growth by scaling with the growth of the business, which is great, and it also scales with your requirements and aligns with your data strategies. In the customer's environment, Microsoft Azure influences cost savings and business efficiency by allowing you to run pay-as-you-go models that enable you to scale up and down, meaning your costs reflect your operational usage.

Most of the challenges we encounter when integrating Microsoft Azure with existing IT infrastructure are related to the lack of documentation when they release new products on the Microsoft side.

In our specific industry, we utilize Microsoft Azure to enhance business processes by implementing cloud services, and we use this for Active Directory. We use it for Office and have requirements to move services to Office 365, incorporating security measures and multi-factor authentication.

Microsoft Azure is used across multiple departments, and practically every device is involved in its usage.

We utilize Microsoft Azure to enhance business processes through cloud implementation, Active Directory, and Office services. We have requirements for Office 365 services, security measures, and multi-factor authentication.

The scalability of Microsoft Azure is very good for growing and adapting to company requirements. For us and our technology neighbors, there is increasing concentration on cloud environments. In the near future, we might not need hybrid solutions, leading to a transformation from hybrid to cloud.

When we use Microsoft Azure, it provides enhanced security from our perspective, though I am not certain about the financial return on investment or benefits for our users as I do not have that information.

We have some cloud services on Microsoft Azure, such as hosting computers and using automation tools to connect with our Power Automate services.

Data integrations are effective on Microsoft Azure, particularly with our banner services that we automate through Power Automate.

Microsoft Azure supports our company growth through its robust features.

Data integrations are particularly effective on Microsoft Azure, especially with our banner services that we automate through Power Automate.

My experience primarily revolves around modernization, IT transformation, and infrastructure as a service in the cloud, along with managed services, cloud service provider strategies, designing cloud services, and monetization strategies.

So, I'm mainly focused on consulting for customers. However, I also use it personally. 

My customers integrate Microsoft Azure into their existing IT infrastructure. They adopt a hybrid approach, and they tend to move as much as possible to the cloud. It's a transition to fully cloud-based solutions, dealing with legacy systems through temporary hybrid solutions until everything can be migrated.

Projects often leverage Azure for data handling, using Microsoft's data platform, Power BI, and Azure Synapse Analytics. Innovations with Azure are increasingly driven by integrations with OpenAI and tools like ChatGPT, enabling rapid project initiation and delivering substantial results in artificial intelligence applications.

It's very exhaustive and very comprehensive. Regarding the security features, the security stack of Microsoft has made a lot of improvements in the last two years. We really appreciate the offerings, particularly what they have done with Microsoft Sentinel, a platform that helps manage what is happening within your organization, which is very good. 

An improvement could be a version that is more adapted for small companies. Microsoft Sentinel is great for large companies but less so for smaller ones. I also appreciate what they have done with Microsoft Purview. The cybersecurity stack of Microsoft is very good.

Microsoft Azure is a ticketing system that provides support services to Microsoft partners based on their partnership tier. Partners can raise support tickets, particularly for production-related issues. When we had issues with our Cosmos DB instance in production, we would submit a support ticket with screenshots detailing the error. We usually receive a call from a support engineer the same day.

Once a support engineer was assigned, the process was well-organized. Each engineer worked shifts of about eight to nine hours, and before their shift ended, they would email us to let us know who would be taking over, for example, "John Doe." They would also provide a summary of the issue, progress made, and next steps, ensuring a smooth handover without the need to re-explain the problem to the next engineer. It was a very efficient process.

Microsoft Fabric is a new service that integrates various functionalities into one platform, such as data engineering, data science, and data visualization. While promising, some complexities and limitations become apparent only after you use the service.

Fabric is a comprehensive and expensive service with tier-based pricing. For someone new to the platform, like those coming from Snowflake or Databricks, it can be difficult to grasp the cost implications and potential limitations without extensive exploration. The documentation outlines these limitations.

We host all of our production workloads in Azure, including all environments like UAT, development, and production. 

All our mission-critical workloads run in Azure, and that includes Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure API Management (APIM), Application Gateway, Load Balancer, and a full suite of security products, including Azure Sentinel, virtual machines, Azure Monitor, and ExpressRoute for private network connectivity.

Additionally, we've recently begun using Azure Synapse for data warehousing, and our SaaS solutions include Office 365 and Dynamics 365.

We use so many services, and it's constantly evolving, so there are many features I like. 

For example, Azure DevOps is good for deployment.

Additionally, different Azure products integrate well to create unified security solutions.

I really like the security features in Azure. Defender integrates everything, so I can handle all security posture management tasks within a unified solution. It outperforms SIEM, CIEM, and even Security Access Broker solutions. It's a complete package with unified support within Azure.

For compliance, we follow specific industry standards and government regulations. Azure provides a strong baseline, making compliance maintenance easier.

Microsoft Azure is a very dynamic cloud service that allows you to migrate your workload, applications, and data. We can use cloud services to run those environments or transform those applications into better services with high availability and resilience. It has multiple zones and multiple data centers.

When running any service on the cloud, the best advantage is that you can scale up and scale down. You can scale up your environment if there's a high-selling season for your application and services. Once that season is over, you can downscale and run operations.

The customer support can become pricey at times if you don't have proper plans.