Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform with more than 200 products and cloud services designed to be configured to meet your specific business needs. Azure stores, secures, and processes your data and enables you to build, run and manage applications in the Microsoft cloud or Azure hybrid cloud.  

Security, privacy and threat protection are at the heart of Microsoft Azure. Azure is built on a foundation of first-class security and multi-layered protection provided by Microsoft. This includes security and defence across physical datacentres, infrastructure, and processes in Azure. Unique threat intelligence from Azure detects, analyses, and protects you against potential threats. 

Microsoft Azure is a popular cloud solution in the enterprise space, with 95% of Fortune 500 companies using Azure.  

Azure is a cloud solution for a variety of different industries, business types and sizes. The following companies are some of the biggest users of Microsoft Azure: 

• eBay  
• Boeing 
• Samsung 
• GE Healthcare 
• LG Electronics  
• LinkedIn 
• Adobe  

With Azure you only pay for what you use, so you have the freedom to scale storage and usage options based on the changing demands of your business. Azure has flexible purchasing options to suit the size of your business and your budget.  

Furthermore, using cloud infrastructure over on-premises IT systems will save time and money in your IT department. Maintaining IT equipment and computer hardware is an ongoing timely and costly task. Azure takes care of updates and maintenance automatically, so you don’t have to.  

As of 2021 Microsoft Azure will operate across 56 cloud regions in 21 countries, including Microsoft’s recent addition to its cloud region – Israel. Azure services are accessible in 141 countries – however not all services are available in all countries and regions.  

All of your data is stored in the cloud which means your workspace can be accessed from any location, on any device. This provides you and your workforce with the flexibility and convenience to connect with the right people, with the right information, at the exact time you need it.  

No. With Azure you have choices, you can use the tools and applications that you’re used to, as Azure supports open source technologies. Using your data source, you can run virtually any platform with your operating system on any device.  

Azure hosts a variety of cloud products and services that address industry-specific business challenges. Microsoft has helped thousands of businesses across an array of industries to digitally transform and continuously innovate.  

There are a multitude of benefits to operating in the cloud – discover more on our cloud services webpage.  

Here are a few key business changing benefits that the Azure provides: 

• Security and compliance  
• Reduced costs 
• Access from anywhere 
• Simplified IT management and low maintenance  
• Empowered workforce  
• Data backup and discovery  

Migrating your business systems to the cloud will not only increase your accessibility of information and speed of performance, but it also saves your business the cost and complexity of acquiring and running resources on premise. The cloud provides a future-proof solution that can grow and expand with you, whilst reducing IT infrastructure costs. 

Hybrid clouds combine a private cloud, or on-premises infrastructure, with a public cloud. Hybrid clouds enable data and apps to move fluidly between the two computing environments. With a hybrid cloud approach, you can operate your business with agility, flexibility, and full control of your workspaces. Microsoft Azure is a leading hybrid cloud provider.  

Discover more about the hybrid cloud with 848’s cloud solutions.