Microsoft Azure Consultants Aren’t the Best Option for Azure Support

Regular readers of our blog will know that we’ve discussed the importance of cloud support in great detail recently.

To briefly recap, a cloud environment is highly complex, with many moving parts, and it will always be changing based on your usage and plenty of other variables. This requires continual, ongoing monitoring and support, to keep things running smoothly and keep your costs at bay.

When the Azure cloud is supporting your critical applications and processes, you can’t afford any down-time or poor performance from the system. Azure support helps to maintain business continuity and minimise the related risks.

But many businesses find they have a skills gap when it comes to the cloud, especially in comparison with supporting their legacy IT estate. That’s why it’s so common to turn to Microsoft Azure consultants to handle cloud support.

Working with Azure Consultants

Working with a Microsoft Azure consultant is one of the most popular ways for businesses to put cloud support in place. You might even have a partner already doing this for you now.

With an Azure consultant, you’ll usually hire one of these experts temporarily and they’ll use their specialist skills to do a specific job. This is a proven way of using a trusted service provider to accomplish a specific outcome.

Generally, your consultant will only be available to do one-off pieces of work or individual projects, or they may work with you on a retainer for more long-term needs, such as support.

The Cloud Requires Constant Support

Unfortunately, that typical arrangement of working with an Azure consultant is rarely sufficient for the requirements of successful cloud support.

As mentioned earlier, your cloud infrastructure is ever-changing, so an external consultant won’t be able to provide the level of cloud management and support you deserve.

A cloud-based IT infrastructure must have:

• Continual optimisation
• Constant real-time monitoring and analysis
• Proactive cost management
• Ongoing support and maintenance.

With so much at stake, it’s crucial to have total confidence that your critical IT systems are being taken care of at all times. To make that possible, you need more than just a consultant.

Final Thought

While bringing in an Azure consultant to support your cloud may seem like a good option, this will only take you so far before you run into limitations and challenges.

Thankfully, there are more reliable solutions available that offer all the expertise of a consultant while also providing the necessary 24-7 management and support.

To learn more about the limitations and pitfalls of working with Microsoft Azure consultants for your cloud projects, read our latest article here where we explore this topic further and provide advice for overcoming your top challenges.