Compared with its rivals Amazon and Google, Microsoft Azure is sometimes perceived to be the “enterprise cloud”. It’s true that Azure is business-centric, with capabilities such as AI, IoT, and blockchain putting it at the cutting edge. However, our Azure migration consultants have helped organisations of all sizes make effective use of the Microsoft cloud.

From SMEs needing simple environments through to enterprises with large server farms, the benefits of migration to Microsoft Azure span the whole business spectrum. In this article, we want to highlight the top benefits we have seen as Azure consultants.

1. Reduced costs

The great advantage of Azure is that costs reflect usage—not infrastructure, maintenance, or support. Azure is incredibly cost effective when set up correctly, an area where experienced Azure migration consultants show their worth. A well-configured Azure service is five times less expensive than the Amazon equivalent. And whenever you need to scale up, Azure is ready to meet the demand.

2. Greater productivity

Compared with on-premises computing, IT teams typically spend 40 percent less time on support with Azure. And the Microsoft cloud also has a host of services that enable end-user productivity. Azure Active Directory, for example, allows single sign-on to thousands of cloud applications such as Office 365, Salesforce, and DropBox. That means faster onboarding and the ability to work effectively at any time, anywhere.

3. Stronger security

Cybersecurity experts are a rare commodity, beyond the reach of many smaller organisations. Azure guarantees your security with a team of 3,500 cybersecurity experts who are constantly monitoring and adapting to counter global threats.

The vast majority of Azure security issues are caused by incorrect configuration, rather than platform failure. This is why a professional Azure consultant is a crucial asset in ensuring a secure migration.

4. Faster recovery

Azure Site Recovery has a recovery time objective (RTO) SLA of two hours. That is a massive reduction on the typical on-premises recovery time of eight hours.

The Site Recovery service works by replicating workloads running on physical and virtual machines (VMs) from a primary site to a secondary location. When the primary location is running again, you simply fail back from the secondary location.