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reviewer1453347 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Architect at a legal firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A classic solution in jeopardy of losing its flexibility due to becoming SaaS
Pros and Cons
  • "If you're interested in going with Microsoft, my advice would be to do it. Everybody's using Microsoft."
  • "The support, the cost, the way they have the tiers, this could all be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I work for a Naval Shipyard. We build fighter ships for fighter aircraft. The Navy is our sponsor. Everything that we do is Navy or Navy-related. A lot of what we do is classified; however, I can say that we do some robotic AI work. 

Microsoft is our corporate authentication piece, so everything has to authenticate to Microsoft Azure. Everything in the whole entire company has to authenticate there. Even if you're building something, you have to be leading up to the point where it's going to authenticate to Microsoft. They are the vendor of choice, as far as authentication, but they're not the vendor of choice as far as all things at the shipyard. 

Our entire organization uses this solution. Size-wise, we're similar to a small city.

What is most valuable?

No features really stand out in particular. The reason that we use Microsoft Azure is that Microsoft has left us no choice — that's what I would say. If you use Microsoft, you've been curtailed in your on-prem data center. There are certain things we can do with Azure on-prem that we can't do on the cloud. We're now fully in the cloud. But even most of the Office products, which are in Office 365, are still on-prem. I came to this company to do cloud, but the company isn't ready to go to the cloud. It sounds like upper management is going to be changing some of the business structures. The better information I can give upper management, as far as our features and capabilities, will help them to make better business decisions. That's kind of where I am currently.

What needs improvement?

The support, the cost, the way they have the tiers, this could all be improved. For example, our company has been purchasing Microsoft Office 365 cloud licensing for approximately five years, and we do not have any production. We have five divisions and these divisions have different classification and levels of data. This company has changed hands over the years. We now lead the was as far as IT, but the corporate office didn't do a top-down infrastructure. It's a long story, but the way that we do things is not the way that everybody else does things. Just because others are moving to XYZ doesn't mean we're going to go there today. We might look and see how everybody else is doing everything, and once we decide we're ready to go, then we'll go. It might be 10 years later. It might be next week, but we don't follow the crowd. We follow the Navy.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Microsoft since the very beginning.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Although I am not the administrator, there are some things that are kind of quirky. The biggest problem is that we're a really, really, really big SharePoint user. Everything that's 100% SharePoint online, is not a one-for-one into the SharePoint that we have on-prem. 

Security is a problem, that's why we only allow web products for Office 365. SharePoint doesn't give us everything that we need. These are a few of the drawbacks for us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is complex, but only because our company is complex.

How are customer service and support?

Support depends. For the professional services, they're usually pretty good.

For other divisions, the support hasn't been that good. Anytime we have problems and we try to ask for support, what we paid for is one thing and what we're getting is another thing. Because of this, we often have to renegotiations with Microsoft. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very complex because we're a complex corporation.

The review board has actually approved all of the Microsoft Office 2016 products and applications. We have the licenses, however, we're not using them.

Teams is the one collaborative product that everybody wants to use. We've approved Microsoft Teams on the web only. Because of our security constraint, we don't want our users to use every feature that's actually on Teams. We don't want to allow third-party vendors to use that application in order to get into our environment. 

For example, you can share your screen, but I can't share my screen. I can share an application if it's been approved, but I can't share my screen. The only way I can actually talk to you is if we talk about topical issues that you would read about in the newspaper or something like that. I can't tell you anything that's company proprietary.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Right now we're looking at Microsoft TFS, Azure on DevOps. However, all of the features have to be configured by someone. It's not that ADO can't do it, it's just that it would take a lot of time — we'd have to have someone physically come in and do it. That would require Microsoft Professional Services which costs a lot of money. Often, people can just buy stuff off the shelf when they want to use another product. For example, all the ALM tools actually integrate with TFS. So, if we have a product that already has that capability, why are we purchasing those new products? Why are we doing a POC for that? So that's what kind of hat I wear here.

What other advice do I have?

If you're interested in going with Microsoft, my advice would be to do it. Everybody's using Microsoft.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of seven.

The problem is that I'm an old Microsoft engineer. I like to build it the way I want to build it.  I don't want it to be SaaS. I liked the fact that you could build your servers in the AWS environment and build out the servers the way you want. They're actually taking away a lot of the applications. More and more companies are switching to SaaS or IAS, etc.

Now, the structure is going towards SaaS. I think I have a three-year lifecycle on my licenses and then I will have to drop or either migrate my data to SaaS. It's probably cheaper for people to go that way, but it gives you less flexibility. There's probably more security, but you're depending on the vendor's security or however they have that set up. You lose a lot of your flexibility when you go into SaaS.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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great, an amazing organization to work with. You did a great job!

Roymell Santos - PeerSpot reviewer
ICT Officer at Intelligent Skincareinc Inc.
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Used to manage and secure users' email, but the initial setup is a bit complex
Pros and Cons
  • "We use the solution to manage and secure my users' email for the Active Directory."
  • "The solution’s initial setup is a bit complex."

What is most valuable?

We use the solution to manage and secure my users' email for the Active Directory.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s initial setup is a bit complex.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for seven months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Only two users are currently using the solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay a monthly licensing fee for the solution, which could be cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

We are currently evaluating how to maximize the use of services to back up our database. Microsoft Azure is a cloud-based solution. I would recommend Microsoft Azure to other users because it has many services that will benefit companies.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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November 2024
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reviewer2402727 - PeerSpot reviewer
QA Manager at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Manages the sequence of tasks and sprints
Pros and Cons
  • "We use Azure DevOps' full hierarchy to manage our data workloads. From product management to development and QA stages, Azure DevOps provides tools. Additionally, we're implementing automation testing and integrating it with our CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps. This platform helps us manage all our processes."
  • "Microsoft Azure needs to improve its customization capabilities. Each organization has unique tasks and fields that it wants to use. Additionally, the search functionality could be more flexible."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution as part of the scrum agile methodology. 

What is most valuable?

We use Azure DevOps' full hierarchy to manage our data workloads. From product management to development and QA stages, Azure DevOps provides tools. Additionally, we're implementing automation testing and integrating it with our CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps. This platform helps us manage all our processes. 

The main advantage of using it is that it supports a smooth workflow from development to QA, following the Scrum Agile methodology. It manages the sequence of tasks and sprints. The tool's integration capabilities are good. 

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Azure needs to improve its customization capabilities. Each organization has unique tasks and fields that it wants to use. Additionally, the search functionality could be more flexible. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the product's stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the solution's scalability a seven out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't contacted technical support yet. 

How was the initial setup?

I rate Microsoft Azure's deployment ease as five out of ten. It takes around a month and a half to complete, while our sprints take two weeks. Moreover, we conduct three rounds of testing and development. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Wai KongWong - PeerSpot reviewer
Information security consultant at Ypsilon System
Real User
Top 5
Helps to deploy web servers but navigation needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Azure has proven to be beneficial for our organization due to its quick deployment capabilities. Setting up virtual machines or any required infrastructure is fast."
  • "The tool needs to improve its navigation."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to set up access to process queuing, configure virtual instances, obtain a domain name, acquire the necessary certificates, and deploy the web server to the internet.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Azure has proven to be beneficial for our organization due to its quick deployment capabilities. Setting up virtual machines or any required infrastructure is fast. 

What needs improvement?

The tool needs to improve its navigation. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for two to three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure's stability depends on the resources allocated. If you provision sufficient resources, it tends to be stable. However, choosing lower resources, like two gigs of RAM and CPUs, might lead to less stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. My company has five users. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't contacted the technical team yet. 

How was the initial setup?

Microsoft Azure's deployment is straightforward for me, given my experience and understanding of the Azure system. It is not difficult for me to handle.

What about the implementation team?

The tool's deployment was done in-house. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the product an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Darren Brodrick - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Owner at Transform8tion Limited
Real User
Top 20
Provides useful features and can be deployed within a few hours
Pros and Cons
  • "SQL Server has been most beneficial for our client’s workload."
  • "The security must be improved."

How has it helped my organization?

We had a cloud migration project from on-premise to the cloud. We used various components like Azure’s cost calculator to provide the ongoing running costs.

What is most valuable?

SQL Server has been most beneficial for our client’s workload.

What needs improvement?

Everything needs improvement. The tool must constantly improve to provide a better experience. The security must be improved. The scalability could also be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s scalability a nine out of ten. Our clients are medium to large businesses.

How was the initial setup?

I rate the ease of setup a five out of ten. The product is deployed on the cloud. The deployment took a few hours.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate the pricing an eight out of ten. All cloud services are expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution’s ability to support our client’s business growth a seven out of ten. We don't get direct support from Microsoft. I rate Azure's integration capabilities a seven out of ten. I will recommend the tool to others. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Co-owner at Min shan saw
Real User
Top 20
Can be used for operations, email, and office applications
Pros and Cons
  • "We use Microsoft Azure for operations, email, and office applications."
  • "The solution’s learning curve could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Our people are familiar with Microsoft Azure, and we use it for our day-to-day operations.

What is most valuable?

We use Microsoft Azure for operations, email, and office applications.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s learning curve could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for two to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Around nine people use the solution in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

We contact our local partners so that they can help us with our issues. For some difficulties, we try forums and open support. We don't contact enterprise support because we don't have it.

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup is very straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented Microsoft Azure through an in-house team consisting of two to three people. The solution’s deployment takes a few weeks.

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Azure is deployed on the cloud in our organization.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven or eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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reviewer1013517 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical manager at a non-profit with 201-500 employees
Real User
Quick, fluent and elastic; it's easy to build a new service and get it into production
Pros and Cons
  • "It's very easy to build a new service and get it into production."
  • "The solution is too expensive."

What is our primary use case?

I'm the technical manager of our company and we are customers of Microsoft. 

How has it helped my organization?

We're able to provide our customers with what they want and very quickly.

What is most valuable?

This solution is quick, fluent and elastic. It's very easy to build a new service and get it into production. 

What needs improvement?

The solution is too expensive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable, it's one of the main advantages. 

How are customer service and support?

Customer service is pretty good for what I need. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not very complex. It's quite straightforward to get a new platform and be in production. We carried out the implementation ourselves. We have 350 employees and everybody uses Azure. We have four IT professionals dealing with maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We spend around $10,000 per month on licensing and that's just for Azure. In addition, there is a per user charge for using Office 365.

What other advice do I have?

The policy of the company is to use Microsoft products. We took a look at Google and AWS, but very quickly decided to go with Azure. It's a well-known solution and the decision was taken by the finance department.

Stability and simplicity of use play an important role, so I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1666392 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Vice President Information Technology at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Vendor
Easy to understand, helpful technical support, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "We are using Microsoft Azure because our organization uses a lot of Microsoft solutions. We have used Microsoft technology for a long time and we have internal engineers with great capability that understand the technology. This is why Azure is the best for us."
  • "The quality of some components of Microsoft Azure is not that great. For example, Microsoft has not fixed issues in Microsoft Teams for many years. There are well-known issues that are submitted by customers two years ago and they still are not fixed."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft Azure for different use cases. For example, we are hosting our corporate website on Azure. We are a software development company and we have hundreds of development and testing environments in Azure. Additionally, we use different Microsoft services, such as Office 365 and Azure Active Directory. A lot of our services are based on these technologies.

What is most valuable?

We are using Microsoft Azure because our organization uses a lot of Microsoft solutions. We have used Microsoft technology for a long time and we have internal engineers with great capability that understand the technology. This is why Azure is the best for us.

What needs improvement?

The quality of some components of Microsoft Azure is not that great. For example, Microsoft has not fixed issues in Microsoft Teams for many years. There are well-known issues that are submitted by customers two years ago and they still are not fixed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

We have hundreds of users using this solution in my organization.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support has been great.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use Google GCP and AWS by Amazon.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not a problem it is similar to competitors, such as AWS.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing of Microsoft Azure is not very flexible.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.