You’ve heard it spoken about and you probably use it already in your workplace, but if somebody asked you ‘What is Microsoft Azure?’ you wouldn’t be able to tell them. We want to change that today with a dive into the basics of Microsoft Azure.
Do you rely on the Microsoft 365 stack to fuel your business workflows? If so, you’re using Azure in some form, as it’s the infrastructure under many of the products there.
It’s essentially a cloud provider, offering a platform from which businesses can run apps, store data and manage cloud infrastructure. To do this, you don’t need to have your own servers – you use the Azure servers and pay for what you use. It offers an immense set of tools that can scale as you grow while integrating with the software you use.
With operations spanning 60 regions worldwide, Azure has data centres in Sydney and Melbourne. That helps meet compliance requirements for Aussie businesses and provides local users with faster performance.
Three Cloud Computing Models of Azure
There are three categories of delivery model in Azure. It’s important to understand these to help comprehend the platform.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): The best way to think of this is you’re renting a building (Microsoft’s physical hardware) instead of buying it. Your team has access to virtual machines, storage and networking on demand. Your team controls operating systems and applications sitting on these. And it’s all done without having to purchase servers or other hardware – you just pay for what you need and what you use.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): You get a ready-made environment where developers can build, test and ship applications. No time is wasted configuring servers – the infrastructure, operating system and middleware is good to go. Azure does the heavy lifting, allowing users to focus on coding and production.
Software as a Service (SaaS): SaaS delivers software over the internet, typically on a subscription basis, without any installation or infrastructure on your end. It’s already a part of every modern business – every time you open a Microsoft 365 app, that’s SaaS in action. It’s not just 365 though – Azure hosts a wide range of third-party SaaS products too.
Key Microsoft Azure Services
Azure carries an extensive catalogue of services. The following examples represent a fraction of what is available, but they give a clear picture of what the platform can do for your business today.
Security with Entra ID
Azure comes with an identity and access management layer called Entra ID. You may have heard of Azure Active Directory – they did a name change to Entra ID. It creates a tightly governed environment where features like multi-factor authentication, conditional access policies, and single sign-on control who has access to your systems.
AI in Azure
Microsoft Copilot is the AI chatbot that has taken team productivity to another level. It’s a powerful tool that has quickly become embedded into our work lives. Copilot is built on Azure – specifically the Azure OpenAI service. The infrastructure, supercomputing, security and privacy of Azure create the backbone that allows the Copilot ecosystem to exist.
Azure AI is an enterprise-grade platform where apps and agents can be developed and deployed. Developers can create their own chatbots, virtual assistants and other AI tools, taking advantage of the access to over 11,000 AI models, from GPT-4 to Llama.
Hybrid Environments with Azure Arc
Most businesses do not get to start fresh. There are servers on-premises, maybe another cloud provider in the mix, and a migration timeline that does not move as fast as anyone would like. Azure Arc lets you manage all of it from one place. Consistent governance across your entire environment, without forcing a full migration before you are ready.
Analytics with Azure Synapse Analytics
Useful data is data that’s readily available, fast. With Azure Synapse Analytics, data warehousing, big data processing, and business intelligence are streamlined into one service. No need to jump between platforms – you can absorb large volumes of data, query it quickly, and feed results into reporting tools like Power BI. The gap between having lots of data and doing something useful with it is closed by Synapse.
Business Benefits of Azure
Cost
Owning physical infrastructure means paying for it whether you are using it or not. Azure works differently. You only use and pay for what you need. It’s a consumption-based model – your spend will match your demand.
Compliance
If compliance is important to your business, Azure makes it easy. It holds more than 100 global compliance certifications, including ISO 27001 and meeting the Australian Privacy Act requirements. Demonstrating due diligence is simplified for businesses in regulated industries.
Availability
Azure is built on a network of paired regions and availability zones. If there is an outage in one region, there’s instant failover to a new location. Resilience is built into the platform – which is great for businesses trying to avoid costly downtime. The Azure SLA’s for individual components usually guarantee 99.9% uptime.
Flexibility
Azure supports a wide range of operating systems, programming languages, databases, and frameworks. This means your developers can work in what they are already familiar with. If your demand spikes during a big project, Azure will scale up and back down with you. That flexibility means no hardware commitments and no stranded capacity.
Innovation
Microsoft invests heavily in Azure’s development. Innovation sits at the core of this service – new updates and services are added at a startling rate. Access to AI, machine learning, and IoT provides a safe environment for forward-thinking teams to experiment and grow without taking on additional infrastructure.
Let Smile IT Figure Out Where Your Business Sits
Microsoft Azure is an expansive platform that covers a lot of ground. That’s where its strength lies, but it also makes it difficult for businesses to come to get their head around it.
That’s where Smile IT comes in. We can help you discover which parts of Azure are relevant to your business, and guide you through implementing them in a way that makes practical sense and has real-world value.
Get in touch with the Smile IT team and let’s see where your business sits with Azure.
When he’s not writing tech articles or turning IT startups into established and consistent managed service providers, Peter Drummond can be found kitesurfing on Moreton Bay or hanging out with his family!