Azure Professional Services
Microsoft Azure is a comprehensive cloud platform that offers a wide range of services and capabilities to meet businesses' diverse needs. As a leading Cloud Service Provider, Cloudworks empowers organizations to harness the power of the cloud and drive their digital transformation.
- We have certified Azure Solutions Architects and Engineers
- We undertake all aspects of Azure engineering for our clients
- We are experts in Azure migrations
Unlock the full potential of the cloud with Azure services. In today's technology-driven world, businesses increasingly embrace cloud computing to streamline operations, enhance scalability, and fuel innovation. Azure - Microsoft's comprehensive cloud platform, offers an extensive range of services designed to empower organizations of all sizes to harness the power of the cloud.
From infrastructure to artificial intelligence, Azure provides various capabilities that cater to diverse business needs. Whether you're looking to deploy virtual machines, build applications, store and analyze data, or leverage cutting-edge AI technologies, Azure has you covered.
Cloudworks Azure Services
At the core of the Azure ecosystem are the various service categories that cater to different aspects of business operations and IT infrastructure. These service categories include compute, storage, networking, databases, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and security and compliance. Each is designed to address specific challenges and requirements, allowing businesses to select the services that best fit their needs.
Cloudworks chooses Azure primarily for our clients because of its seamless integration and interoperability. Azure services are designed to work together, enabling businesses to create comprehensive cloud-based solutions that leverage the synergies between different services. This integration allows for streamlined workflows, efficient data exchange, and the ability to build complex, end-to-end applications and systems within the Azure ecosystem.
Azure has global reach and scalability. With data centres located around the world, Azure allows businesses to deploy their applications and services in multiple regions, ensuring low latency, high availability, and compliance with local regulations. This global footprint, combined with Azure's robust infrastructure and scalable resources, allows organisations to expand their operations and easily reach new markets.
Furthermore, Azure offers a wide range of tools, frameworks, and services that cater to the diverse needs of developers, IT professionals, and business users. From low-level infrastructure services to high-level platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, Azure provides a comprehensive set of tools and resources to support the entire software development lifecycle, from ideation to deployment.
Understanding the benefits of Microsoft Azure
One of Microsoft Azure's primary advantages is its scalability and flexibility. Azure's cloud-based infrastructure allows businesses to quickly scale their resources up or down, depending on their changing needs. This means that companies can easily accommodate fluctuations in demand, ensuring that their systems and applications are always available and responsive without the need for costly and time-consuming hardware upgrades.
Another key benefit of Azure is its cost-effectiveness. By moving to the cloud, businesses can avoid the heavy upfront investments required for on-premises infrastructure, such as servers, storage, and networking equipment. Instead, they can pay for the resources they use on a pay-as-you-go basis, allowing them to manage their IT budgets better and align their expenses with their actual usage.
Azure Professional Services Frequently asked questions
Below are some of the questions we frequently have to answer about Azure deployments by our professional services team.
Is Azure expensive?
We have seen Azure implementations that aren't cost-effective, but that's usually due to incorrect configuration or deployment. Our Azure clients are usually pleasantly surprised about the ongoing costs of the Azure services we implement. In summary, correctly specified and configured Azure solutions are nearly always cheaper than their on-premises equivalent.
Why should we use Azure and not on-premises infrastructure?
For the most part, Azure is more cost effective, secure, scable and faster than any on-premises infrastructure. It can be a complex subject however and most of our clients have some form of hybrid infrastructure, with some servers / services on-premises and other services in Azure. Our experts can advise you on the benefits of extremely complex on-prem/hybrid/cloud-based deployments.
Can we do this in-house without your help?
While this may be true for some businesses with a solid cloud-savvy IT team, Azure's complexity and the rapid change in the cloud landscape can make it challenging to maintain the necessary in-house expertise. Cloudworks Azure professional services can provide the specialised knowledge and resources to complement your business's internal team, ensuring your Azure environment is optimised and secure.
What are the key benefits of IT managed services?
In a nutshell, access to a team of skilled and experienced IT professionals, on-premises IT staff cost savings, improved cybersecurity, access to cutting-edge technology and industry-leading best practices and most importantly - peace of mind, knowing your critical IT systems are safe and secure.
Can we get free assistance from Microsoft?
Microsoft provides free trial subscriptions for a set amount of money and online guides, but it doesn't offer assistance with the specific technicalities of deployment or migration or aligning business objectives with Azure services. Cloudworks can fill this gap and ensure your investment in Azure has the best ROI and most secure environment.
We're only a small business, is Azure suitable for us?
If you have a requirement for servers, storage, web app or similar technology then Azure can be scaled to suit your budget. If you use Microsoft 365's productivity tools, you're actually using some services in Azure already - these can be expanded out to suit any requirement.
Can you work with our in-house team?
We usually find that in-house teams need specialist advice when it comes to Azure. We can assist you by taking care of everything for you, or enabling your on-premises teams with advice and support. We've completed many successful projects for all types of engagements. We have been working with on-premises teams for decades and understand that gaining the trust of any on-premises team is critical to the project success.
Do you work with project-based pricing, or blocks of days?
For professional services, we can work with either a day rate, or project cost. We can work with any project cost having project milestones that have a set number of hours and timelines associated with them. We can also operate on a day rate, which works well if you have a clear understanding of the scope and timeline of the project or we are part of a larger project. For Managed services, we usually build any required time into the Managed Services monthly costing.
Managing and securing your Azure resources
One of the foundational elements of Azure management is Azure Resource Manager (ARM), a powerful service that allows you to define and provision your infrastructure as code. With ARM, you can create and manage your Azure resources using declarative templates, such as virtual machines, storage accounts, and networking configurations. This approach promotes consistency, repeatability, and version control, making deploying and managing your Azure resources at scale easier.
Although the Azure portal is usually the first choice for Azure Management, Azure provides a robust set of command-line tools and APIs, such as the Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell, which enable you to automate and streamline your management tasks. These tools can be integrated into your existing workflows and DevOps processes, allowing you to programmatically and efficiently manage your Azure resources.
Securing your Azure resources is a critical aspect of cloud management, and Azure offers a comprehensive suite of security features and services to protect your data and applications. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a foundational security service that provides identity and access management capabilities, enabling you to control who has access to your Azure resources and what actions they can perform.
Azure also offers advanced security services, such as Azure Security Center, which provides a unified view of the security posture across your hybrid cloud environment. Security Center monitors your resources for potential threats, provides recommendations for improving your security, and helps you quickly detect and respond to security incidents.
Cloudworks Microsoft Azure Services
Azure is a very complicated Cloud platform and without expert advice, you could have an expensive, insecure or inefficient platform. Azure looks easy to configure and many of our competitors implement services incorrectly.
Cloudworks can help you implement Azure in the most cost-effective and efficient way - saving you time, giving you peace of mind and ensuring your Azure infrastructure is operating in the most secure and efficient manor. Cloudworks has a proven track record of successful Azure deployments, as well as a deep understanding of the platform's capabilities and best practices. This is demonstrated through our certifications, case studies, and references from previous clients.
How Cloudworks can help you with Microsoft Azure
Cloudworks have been helping clients with Azure for over a decade. We're qualified and experienced - here are the core ways which we help our clients. By leveraging these key components of Cloudworks Azure professional services, businesses like yours can ensure that their cloud journey is a success, with the right expertise and support to guide you every step of the way.
Azure Consulting and Advisory Services
Cloudworks can provide strategic guidance and advisory services to help organisations align their cloud initiatives with their overall business objectives. This includes assessments, roadmap development, and identifying opportunities for optimisation.
Azure Architecture and Design
We help businesses design and architect their Azure environment, ensuring it is scalable, secure, and aligned with industry best practices. This can include the design of infrastructure, application, and data components, as well as the integration of Azure services with on-premises systems and third-party tools.
Azure Implementation and Migration
Cloudworks Azure professionals handle the end-to-end implementation and migration of workloads to the Azure platform. This can include the migration of existing applications, data, and infrastructure, as well as the deployment of new Azure services and solutions.
Azure Managed Services
The Cloudworks support teams provide ongoing management and support for our client’s Azure environments, including monitoring, maintenance, and optimisation. This can help ensure the Azure infrastructure runs smoothly, securely, and cost-effectively.
Azure Training and Enablement
We provide training and enablement services to help our client’s IT team develop the necessary skills and knowledge to manage and leverage Azure effectively. This can include hands-on workshops, certification preparation, and the development of custom training materials.
Azure Cost Savings
If you don't pay close attention to pricing, Azure costs can spiral out of control. We've saved hundreds of thousands of pounds for our clients with intelligent cost analysis and migration to different sizes and SKUs without affecting the performance of the dependant platforms and services.
We help businesses in Nottingham with their IT requirements
We've partnered with the most advanced IT solutions businesses and support prominent Nottingham brands.
We know Azure better than any other IT company in Nottingham
Cloudworks have worked with Azure for over a decade. We've worked with 5 seat clients and 100,000 seat clients with intelligent solutions to solve real-world business problems.
Trusting by leading brands, including:
“ Cloudworks have been a great choice for us to move our IT support to. Whilst we didn't think we had any issue with our previous support company it has soon become apparent that they were not always acting in our best interest. Paul and team have been approachable throughout, happy to offer explanations and cost-effective options. We look forward to progressing our business with them. “
Rex Gooding Estate Agents
“ Cloudworks have been a huge support to me this year, having recently been set up with Office 365 - they have efficiently helped me install this on all devices and answered any questions I have had since in order to ensure a smooth transition into it with me not being too tech savvy! - I highly recommend! “
RSViP Network
“ I have used Cloudworks for several years, they set up and manage my IT services. Extremely professional, but what I am most impressed with is the level of ongoing support, which I have found other companies lack. “
Harrison Dental
“ We have used Cloudworks for our IT strategy, security and support since 2015. Our initial requirements were to remove any reliance on our in-house IT systems and to ensure we had the most secure platform available. This was delivered with minimal interruption to our daily operations. We are very happy with the on-going help we receive - especially the reporting system which gives us the assurance that our cloud-based systems are fully secure and professionally managed. “
RWB Chartered Accountants
How we enagage with our Azure clients
Cloudworks Azure professionals bring a wealth of technical expertise, industry-specific knowledge, and proven methodologies, which can help businesses like yours to accelerate your cloud adoption, mitigate risks, and optimize your Azure environment for maximum performance and cost-efficiency.