What is Microsoft Azure?

Cloud computing is a concept used with increasing frequency in the past few years as its popularity in the business industry continues to skyrocket. Statistics show that roughly 94% of businesses already use a cloud service. Further studies revealed that the public cloud service market would surpass the $623.3 billion mark by 2023. 

The massive upsurge of cloud computing can mainly be attributed to the host of benefits it brings to small businesses, which include scalability, mobility, disaster recovery, cost savings, and security. More than anything else, cloud services provide small businesses with greater flexibility in navigating the evolving terrain of doing business. 

Perhaps one of the most popular cloud computing platforms today is Azure which was developed by Microsoft for creating, testing, distributing, and managing services or applications through their data centers. It is also responsible for helping businesses support a plethora of programming frameworks, tools, and languages that include Microsoft-built and third-party systems or software. 

How Can Businesses Take Advantage of Microsoft Azure?

Small and medium-sized businesses are moving to the cloud by leaps and bounds. Studies revealed that 78% of SMBs worldwide would completely adapt to cloud computing by the end of the year. 

The growth is primarily because of the cloud’s ability to provide small businesses speed, accuracy, and storage at reduced operational costs. Other than that, a cloud computing platform like Microsoft Azure can help businesses achieve the following:

1. Reduce IT Costs

Small businesses spend approximately 6.8% of their revenue on IT services, while mid-sized companies forked over 4.1% of their profits. This is because the spending on IT technology for SMBs needs to be based upon their unique needs. 

With Microsoft Azure, SMBs can enjoy significant savings in terms of capital expenditure as they no longer have to install or maintain the server hardware on-premise. Unlike other cloud computing services, businesses will only have to pay for what they need and use. Moreover, they are also not responsible for paying insurance, physical security, power, space, and maintenance, therefore, ensuring a higher return on investments. 

2. Promotes Scalability

Microsoft Azure enables SMBs to add resources and fire up added services as and when required. This indicates that they can scale up and down quickly to cope with massive projects or peak demand periods. 

Azure also enables the IT department to concentrate on your business without being anxious about in-house capabilities or maintaining tools that are underused or overtaxed. With an integrated development environment, SMBs can minimize the learning curve, thus, enabling teams to learn the platform efficiently. On top of everything else, Azure also has a global footprint providing lightning-quick content delivery while ensuring an optimized user experience. 

3. It Keeps Your Data Safe 

Roughly 11% of small businesses experienced a data breach in the past 12 months. In 2019, 69% of small enterprises were forced offline for a limited time due to data breaches. Adopting the Azure cloud enables businesses to stay ahead of the competition when it comes to protecting essential information. 

Azure consists of a myriad of compliance certifications and is a primary choice of high-risk industries like information security, government, and healthcare to provide cloud services. It also offers extra services like multi-factor authentication and top-notch disaster recovery features that can restore information immediately to prevent significant financial losses. 

Conclusion

The strategic significance of cloud computing in business enterprises depends on which cloud computing they use. Start adopting Microsoft Azure today and watch your business grow with lesser energy and carbon footprint. Reach out to one of our MicroAge locations for more information on how Microsoft Azure can help your business succeed.