Why experience matters when delivering Azure solutions

When moving infrastructure to the cloud, organisations often look to manage costs by using either internal teams or a non-specialist IT supplier without considering the value an experienced Azure partner can bring to their business both in efficiency and return on investment.

In this article, we explain the six key reasons why an ISV that is thinking of moving applications and infrastructure to Azure should use an expert partner.

Planning and architecting the right solution

In-house IT teams will often feel that solutions like Azure should be owned and managed by them. This means that they will jump in and implement solutions without understanding the business objectives of moving to the cloud, the requirements, and how best these can be achieved.

An experienced Azure partner, such as IG CloudOps, will take the time to work with all stakeholders to understand what they want to achieve by moving to the cloud and what results they expect. They will then use this knowledge and experience to architect the best Azure solution, select the relevant tier and then plan the move. This ensures that costs are managed and the move to Azure will be as seamless as possible.

Fault diagnosis and resolution

One of the biggest benefits an experienced partner brings to the table when implementing Azure is the knowledge and understanding they have of the solution from previous experience.

Microsoft developed Azure as a plug and play solution, but it is not possible for one system to meet every business need and as such there will often be problems when moving infrastructure and applications to the cloud. Expert partners can quickly diagnose and resolve problems when delivering Azure solutions or, in most cases, using their knowledge of having implemented the solution for similar companies, avoid the issue altogether.

Improve efficiencies and ROI

Due to their experience of Azure the right consulting partner has a greater understanding of the solution than an in-house team member. Specialists understand the capabilities of the cloud platform and how best to plan, implement and manage it correctly.

This means they can help a company realise the benefits of Azure quickly and give a better return on investment as well as supporting the in-house teams knowledge.

Introduce new updates / increase productivity

Working with a certified Azure partner means that your business benefits from their close relationship with Microsoft. Unlike in-house teams, experienced partners will be working directly with Microsoft account managers to bring new features to customer environments before these are available generally.

This means that when an expert team are delivering Azure or looking at supporting and managing an existing solution they know about, they can introduce new updates and features which bring even greater efficiencies and returns.

Resources

For many organisations looking at implementing Azure, the choice of using an in-house team can initially seem like a good idea as they understand the business.  This can be a double-edged sword however as their tendency may be to do things as they’ve always been done rather than developing a solution that fully utilises the flexibility of the cloud.

Experienced Azure partners will bring their specialist knowledge to the table and provide a solution that takes full advantage of the features of Azure and marries these to the commercial goals of a business.

Training and specialist skills

Any company looking at introducing Azure or upgrading an existing solution must first look at the skills they have in house or with their existing IT supplier. As a constantly evolving solution, keeping up to date with all the new features and how it can be applied to a business can be both time consuming and expensive.

Specialist support partners who have experience in delivering Azure solutions have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality solutions to Microsoft. They have invested considerable resources to ensure that their team members have the right skills and then bring these to all their Azure services.

If you are looking for an experienced partner who can help deliver an Azure solution that is right for your business, talk to the specialist team at IG CloudOps. 

You might also be interested in: