Microsoft Azure Reviews

We use Microsoft Azure for database service and advanced analytics.

We have a process where we collect a large amount of data from different sources. By using a database, we can analyze and present it in business intelligence (BI). Oh, here's another example. Some months ago, we started using Power BI embedded, which helped optimize the number of licenses for our company. Additionally, with this development, we improved the centralization of tables. 

I believe the personalization model and the cost optimization are the most valuable features. With the model, you pay for what you use. For instance, in this development, we utilized Power BI embedded and deployed the entire web page using Azure resources. By leveraging Azure, we can easily control and adjust the platform as needed, resulting in cost optimization.

For additional features, I believe our team is interested in exploring SmartOps on Azure.

We are also exploring the power platform and have a keen interest in leveraging premium features. It would be beneficial if Microsoft could enhance the free version to allow for more exploration and development. That's my only suggestion regarding Azure.

I have been using this solution for over a year. 

I would rate it a five out of ten.

I would rate the scalability of Azure an eight out of ten. 

We had some issues with Microsoft's support team. In a project where we had to scale with Azure, it involved multiple people and sessions, and it took several weeks to resolve the issue. It was very difficult to get a resolution.

Negative

The initial setup was easy. It's a good platform for deployment.

There is a return on investment. It's worth considering.

I'm currently comparing it with AWS, and we don't have full knowledge of all the features and their inclusion in the price. AWS seems to have a slight advantage in terms of price. So, Microsoft Azure is slightly expensive.

I would recommend the suite. In our company, we use the Microsoft suite, which includes Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive. I believe that Microsoft offers a very good product.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use Microsoft Azure for many different services. For example, we use the Azure Boards for work and issue tracking. The Azure Repos is a place we store code, it is similar to a Git repository for us. Microsoft Azure has pipelines for the deployment of your applications across environments. There are different cloud services for different use cases in Microsoft Azure that I interact with on a daily basis.

Microsoft Azure has benefited our organization mostly because we moved all our infrastructure to the cloud. That has helped with cost optimization. We don't have to worry about operational maintenance for things such as patching or updates for any of the servers because everything is handled by the cloud itself. We are always using the latest version.

Microsoft Azure has hundred of services that they offer on the platform.

The Microsoft Azure platform in itself is very good. The documentation that is available I find very handy and the community behind it is helpful. If you have any problems or anything, you can easily reach Microsoft's community, and then there would be someone who would be willing to help. That's a very good plus point for Microsoft Azure.

There are times when using a service in Microsoft Azure can be confusing because you have four or five options that do similar operations. It would be helpful if there was a clear decision tree around those features. Microsoft does provide a lot of decision trees around a lot of their services, but it's not for everything.

This would be helpful for the users because sometimes it gets confusing what to use, what not to use. Then you start with something, and then after two months, you think you should have used something else. There are approximately 200 services and I have found this issue with approximately 10 of them.

I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately seven years.

Microsoft Azure is stable, I did not encounter any issues or anything in the platform. The uptime is very good. 

When you design your solution, you can make sure that everything is accounted for in your design, such as all the options are there. Microsoft Azure in itself is rarely down. If there is a complete blackout it can happen, but normally no. It's very reliable.

The scalability of Microsoft Azure is unlimited. You never have to be concerned with scalability. You only have to pay for it and then the scaling is available for you.

I have approximately 50 to 100 people using this solution in my organization. I use the solution on a daily basis.

I have not needed to contact the technical to Microsoft in my current experience. In the past, I have contacted Microsoft once or twice, but the process is straightforward. You raise a ticket, and then Microsoft's people reach out to you.

The initial setup of Microsoft Azure is very straightforward. You don't have to do any setup. You only have to sign up on the Microsoft Portal, and then you can start using it.

I did the implementation of Microsoft Azure myself.

There is not any maintenance required for this solution. If we build any solution on top of Microsoft Azure, then that's something that we have to take care of and maintain. The Microsoft Azure platform in itself does not need any maintenance from us.

Microsoft Azure is not expensive. You pay for what you use. If you are using it everything could be expensive.

We choose Microsoft Azure after doing the proper comparisons and proof of concepts. We did a complete pros and cons list for our vendor selection process.

I would highly recommend Microsoft Azure to others.

I would advise others that one of the most important points to make is to make sure that the security and governance of the platform have been thought of before you start building everything around it. Make sure you build your security framework and the governance framework around the platform that suits your company. Every company is different. Everyone will have different security and governance rules.

I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

We use Microsoft Azure in two places. The first use case involves the Chatbot framework, and we've been using that for 18 months. This is what we predominately use it for.

Our second use involves hosting some of our critical applications. It allows us to address some of our human resource use cases in the area of policy queries, as well as some backend actions.

The automated connectors to some of our critical enterprise systems are an important feature. These are very large, critical, global HCM systems.

The library of predefined use cases is very helpful and we found the HR use case that we needed within it.

There are improvements needed from a roadmap standpoint. Some of the roadmap items that they typically publish don't move at the same pace.

The predominant area in need of improvement is support.

Microsoft needs to continue working on out-of-the-box connectors to contemporary products in the market, specific to different verticals such as finance and HR. Investing in this would be helpful because it means deploying solutions faster. We've had challenges in terms of having to custom-build some of it and at the same time, the roadmap contains more connectors.

We have been using Microsoft Azure for the past 18 months.

This is definitely a stable platform. I haven't seen issues in that respect.

Azure is a scalable platform. We have more than 10,000 people in the organization that use it from an application standpoint. The end-users could be managers or other employees in a variety of roles.

Our in-house administration team has fewer than 40 people that work with it.

At the moment, we have no plans to increase our usage.

The primary support needs to be improved. I would rate them as moderate because from a technical and service guarantee perspective, they are pretty good. However, when it comes to new roadmap items or handling requests, or adding new activities, they are moderate.

This is the first such solution that we put into place.

The initial setup is pretty much straightforward.

Our initial deployment took between six and eight weeks. This period had more to do with our setup being compliant with some of the features on Azure. 

We worked with the Microsoft consulting team during the deployment.

The team was knowledgeable but there were some areas that they could have done better. For example, we had issues with our enrollment and some of our IT requirements at the organizational level. We could have perhaps used some architecting skills.

For permanent maintenance, so we have a hybrid model when it comes to maintenance. We've outsourced some of it, and that really comes from a fixed contract so we don't control the number of people that work on it.

Internally, we have two people; one who manages the services, and the other one is more of an administrator.

My advice for anybody who is implementing Microsoft Azure is to first, very clearly agree on the terms of deployment. Second, get the initial design and prototypes for your specific implementation vetted and signed off at an early stage because this will help with security clearances and data privacy clearances. These were the two major learning points for us.

In summary, this is a good platform but there are several areas for improvement.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

The fully integrated capabilities of a PaaS service.

Basically we would not be building the Healthcare IT application if it were not for Azure.

The management console needs work and the pricing calculator is truly user hostile.

I have been using the solution 3 years.

We have some issues with functional differences between Azure Active Directory and how Ad is implemented on a standalone server.

We have had a few outages with Visual Studio Online – though they have not been a major work impact.

None so far.

Customer Service: Mixed. Microsoft still has too many support queues and if you end up in the wrong one you can spend hours being bounced from one to the other. OTOH once you figure out how to get to the Business support queue – response times are fantastic for “business outage” issues.Technical Support: When in the right queue – the understanding is unparalleled.

I have previously used AWS and Amazon Elastic Beanstalk. Azure is a PaaS whereas AWS is a server stack environment and thus AWS does not provide the OpEx cost reductions that Azure does. Elastic Beanstalk is a PaaS but it is not as fully developed as Azure.NET is.

Very straightforward. In fact almost too much so. Its easy to try and overthink the setup and waste time looking for things you don’t need to be looking for.

Combination of in-house and vendor. Vendor team was new to Azure.

Full ROI on the current project is still to be determined as we are not shipping yet. But I would estimate a 100% cost reduction over the traditional way of building a server based app.

Our monthly dev costs for infrastucture are running $300-$500 for the initial work and we expect to have full OpEx costs of $1,000-$3,000/mo once we are launched.

AWS and Elastic Beanstalk.

Have a team that understands .NET development and particularly someone who understands Active Directory very well

We use Microsoft Azure for hosting websites. It provides comprehensive control over our infrastructure and services.

Azure is easy to use and visualize.

It should improve database performance and make the platform more user-friendly. Additionally, providing more tools for seamless migration from AWS to Azure would be beneficial. Performance testing should ensure that systems remain reliable and transactions do not drop unexpectedly.

It should be thoroughly testet before release. Additionally, in Kubernetes, detailed documentation should be included, especially for STO.

I have been using Microsoft Azure for five years.

The solution is stable.

Microsoft Azure is highly scalable. It enhance the application's performance by managing increased demand efficiently. For instance, if around one thousand requests per second are coming in, Azure can handle this load seamlessly. Its scalability ensures consistent performance even under heavy traffic.

If you have an issue with Microsoft Azure, they will help me resolve it.

Positive

We use Terraform to deploy and configure our infrastructure on Microsoft Azure, following a hub-and-spoke model for networking.

It is a continuous process. Mostly, it takes about one and a half months for approval and around one month for deployment. Based on customer requirements or new needs, we continuously update the resources within the Azure infrastructure.

If I create a Terraform script, it significantly reduces the need for support. Typically, just two or three people are needed to manage it.

Azure is a strong competitor to AWS. AWS has a competitive pricing strategy, but Azure offers unique benefits. Azure provides credits, which can reduce costs for a certain period. For example, you might receive yearly credits, resulting in zero infrastructure investment for that year. 

In comparison to AWS, Azure is user-friendly and has lower cost. Azure also provides good performance over time.

In Kubernetes, what we are using offers different features, which is good. We are enabling more drivers and integrations, which is beneficial. Regarding virtual machines, they also perform very well.

We are using cognitive services include the Face API.

We have built a comprehensive AI search feature, specifically Cognitive Search, and implemented it in our application.

If a product is supposed to include certain features, it performs as expected. The support team ensures it is a reliable product, without parts that don't work. Products are thoroughly tested to ensure quality. However, in Azure, maintaining new products can be challenging and requires significant work. AWS fixes these issues more efficiently. 

Some startups choose Azure because they may not have much funding. These startups find Azure services beneficial and cost-effective.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use the email accounts and SharePoint. We want to use the AI and OCR services, but we do not have many use cases.

I get all the features under one roof.

The subscriptions are complicated. The process is not user-friendly.

I have been using the solution for almost one year.

The tool’s stability is good.

The tool is scalable. Around 30 people use the solution in our organization. We are trying to get projects from Europe and North America. Once we get more projects, we will be scaling up.

The initial setup is straightforward. It took me around one week to set up the product. I did the deployment myself since I am into IT.

The return on investment is good because everything is in the cloud. We save a lot on infrastructure costs and server costs.

I pay a yearly subscription fee for the solution. The pricing is normal compared to other service providers. I can increase or decrease my subscription based on my organization's needs.

We are into data management. We do a lot of data consumption and data validation. We need a lot of virtual solutions and storage solutions to process data. I would recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Microsoft Azure is our principal could environment.

We use Microsoft Azure for Hosting Apps, Sites, and Blogs.

Advantages of Azure over On-Premises: Improved Performance and Cost Benefits.

It is easy to deploy.

The technical support is good.

The price is good.

I would like to see Internet content filtering included.

I have been working with Microsoft Azure for two years.

I am working with the latest version.

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

I have plans to increase my usage in the future.

Technical support is good.

I would rate them a ten out of ten.

The initial setup is straightforward.

It is easy to deploy.

We have seen a return on investment.

The pricing is reasonable.

I Conducted Evaluations of Google Cloud (GCP), Oracle Cloud (OCP), and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

We opted for Azure based on familiarity and expertise as a Microsoft-driven organization.

It's a good product and the correct choice.

I would rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

We have our data lake on it. In terms of deployment, I believe we have a hybrid deployment.

We can temporarily build out an environment for different scenarios, such as testing, and when testing is done, we can shut that environment down. So, we do not have an overhead in our own data center.

The ability to scale down is a big thing.

It can be improved in terms of ease of billing or monitoring of the billing. That gets to be a little difficult.

I have been using this solution for four years.

It is absolutely stable. Microsoft doesn't want to sell something that isn't.

Its scalability is excellent. You just turn something on, and it is there. We have not made any reservations on it. We can scale up and scale down as needed. There is nothing that we have that is a commitment.

We probably have about 500 users, and they are administrators, developers, BI folks who actually manipulate it and create reports, and then we have end-users for the data. They are the people that use those reports.

In terms of the plans to increase its usage, right now, we're going through a merger, which will impact the data a little bit. So, we are in a holding pattern in terms of scaling up anything until that merger gets completed.

We go through a third party for that, and their support is really good.

We were fully on-premise with some SaaS platforms, and we then moved to Azure for a part of that.

It was complex, and that was mostly because of the security needs. We had to understand how things fit together.

The original deployment, just for testing, took about half a day, but to really get it going and to be able to allow access to people, other than the administrators, took more time. We're a financial institution, so we had to have everything monitored and secure. It probably took about four months to get it functional on the production side.

We used a consultant. They were excellent. They knew exactly what they were talking about. They were able to give us not only what was needed presently for our deployment but also the things to think about as we let the environment grow in the future.

For its deployment and maintenance, I've got security folks who watch what's going on. They make sure that only the right people are getting the right data, and it is not being allowed to folks who shouldn't have access. I have nothing public-facing on it. I've got administrators. I've probably got three people in security and five people in the administration. We're a 24/7 business, so it is split across all of that time.

Originally, when we implemented it, it was basically in a like-for-like way, which is not the way the platform is designed. So, once we were able to really get in there and figure things out, we figured out that we could use a much smaller footprint. That helped us out quite a bit in terms of a return on investment. We are seeing probably about 75% of the regular data center cost in Azure, so there were 25% savings, but we could see that go down as testing was being eliminated over different platforms.

Currently, we do not have anything reserved. There are no reservations that we have built into the Azure environment, so all of our licensing is on a consumption basis. As things spin up, those licenses spin up.

In terms of the additional costs incurred beyond the standard licensing fee, such as for operations, it's kind of tough for me to judge because I already had a fully-staffed operations team in a fully on-premise platform environment. So, we didn't spin up anybody extra for that. It just changed what they were doing.

We evaluated other options. We decided to go with Azure because we understood the licensing and VMs and how all of that worked together. Prior to the merger, we were looking at bringing the platform onto AWS. It wasn't that we were necessarily exclusive; we just felt that this was our best first step.

I would advise understanding what data you're going to be putting out there, and what your security requirements are for that. You should be ready to have a workshop so that everyone involved knows what's going on. Get a good understanding from the accounts payable team about how the payments are coming in and how to monitor them.

I love the product. From a procurement standpoint, I don't have a lot of control over it. Unless we've got some contracting of what we plan on doing, I don't have a lot of control over licenses, etc. An administrator can just go out, do it, and put the licensing in place, and then it is like you've got to pay for it. It doesn't function well in a P2P type of environment.

I would rate it an eight out of 10.