The cloud has become one of the biggest enterprise trends of the 21st century. At least 72% of businesses now use cloud computing to some degree. This would suggest that every business knows exactly what the cloud can do and what it can offer. But there remain some seeds of doubt around cloud computing. Especially around security, adoption, and pricing. These are common misconceptions around the cloud. In this blog we’re going to focus on pricing. Specifically, Azure storage pricing and how it’s more affordable than you think.
Microsoft Azure is a set of cloud services that allow businesses to create their own IT infrastructure in the cloud. Rather than running your own hardware and servers, Azure grants you access to a pool of computing resources provided by Microsoft—from web and email servers to databases, file storage, and everything in between. When you need additional resources, you don’t have to buy physical hardware, which can help smaller businesses scale faster.
Platforms like Microsoft Azure are the reason many companies are moving to the cloud. But there are still those who don’t believe a migration is worth their time and money.
The belief is that an Azure migration is expensive, complex and time-consuming. This is true if you were to invest in Azure directly from Microsoft. With this approach, you simply pack up your existing servers and content and move it over to your new cloud environment. You may be able to get your business operating in the cloud sooner, but you won’t be set up to take real advantage of your cloud environment. A standard Azure migration creates, above all, a missed opportunity for cost savings and improved productivity.
The right approach to take (and one Microsoft also encourage) is finding a Microsoft Partner who can design and implement your Azure cloud solution. With the help of experts, you can turn what would otherwise be a long and tiresome migration into an opportunity to streamline your environment as it moves from on-premises to the cloud.
A Microsoft Partner can help you migrate the essential, leaving the servers, content, and applications you no longer need behind. You cut away the ‘dead weight’ to make your environment easier to manage and perform at a higher level. The same can be said for end users. Their new environment will only include the content and applications they need, reducing the chance of distractions. And the applications they do use are ones that empower collaboration, communication and improve productivity—factors that make the cloud such an appealing destination.
Azure is a subscription-based service, meaning you pay on a recurring basis for everything you use. An Azure SQL Database, for example, costs £0.016 per hour and a Virtual Machine is £0.006 per hour (and free for the first 12 months). By calculating the size and usage of your environment you can estimate the cost of your future Azure environment. And those decisions aren’t set in stone. With ongoing management, you can reduce database servers, app services or anything else that’s no longer being used but is still a burden on your IT budget.
Both pre and post-migration, spending time to decide exactly what you need, what you can leave behind, and showing users how to work in the cloud will help your environment run more efficiently. This can, however, keep you busy and it’s hard to get right. That’s why Microsoft suggest investing in the help of an expert Microsoft Partner.
Cloud computing is a necessity for any business not content with losing ground to competitors. But, as discussed, an Azure deployment isn’t a case of ‘one-size-fits-all’. Your cloud migration must be scaled and tailored to resolve your business’s pain points and help achieve its goals.
Centrality are a Gold Partner for Cloud Platform & Productivity, meaning we understand every nuance of an Azure deployment. Having moved our own business from on-premises to the cloud and having performed migrations for many of the leading organizations in the UK, we know exactly how it’s done and the ways it can transform a business.
We can assess your environment in depth to figure out how many subscriptions you would need to work in the cloud successfully. Anything you don’t need you can leave behind, and we’ll make sure it stays secure or is removed correctly. This way, you’re guaranteed to get the most value for money.
Find out more about setting up an Azure deployment here. If you’d like to know how to get started, get in touch with us today.