We use the solution to manage and secure my users' email for the Active Directory.
ICT Officer at Intelligent Skincareinc Inc.
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?
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.
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December 2024

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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.
Last updated: Jul 30, 2024
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QA Manager at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
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.
Last updated: Jul 11, 2024
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Microsoft Azure
December 2024

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Managing Owner at Transform8tion Limited
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
Quality Assurance Engineer at OAD
Easy to set up and has high stability
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has high stability."
- "We have reported some bugs we encountered, and it would be good if those bugs were resolved more quickly."
What is most valuable?
The solution has high stability.
What needs improvement?
We have reported some bugs we encountered, and it would be good if those bugs were resolved more quickly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for more than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Currently, we are happy with how the solution scales. Around 60 users use the solution in our organization on a daily basis.
I rate the solution an eight out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup was quite easy, and you can get support to help you with the installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
We use management tools for APIs. A few people were involved in the solution’s deployment and maintenance. I would recommend the solution to other users.
Overall, I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Solutions Architect at MTN
Has an easy-to-use portal, but its initial setup is a bit complex
Pros and Cons
- "The portal makes it easier to work with the solution."
- "The solution's initial setup was a bit complex in the beginning."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Azure for migration purposes.
What is most valuable?
The portal makes it easier to work with the solution.
What needs improvement?
The solution's initial setup was a bit complex in the beginning. We had to go through a major learning curve before we got hands-on familiarity with it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft Azure a seven out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure is a scalable solution. Less than 20 users in our organization use Microsoft Azure.
I rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
I rate Microsoft Azure a five to six out of ten for the ease of its initial setup.
What about the implementation team?
The solution's deployment time depends purely on the size of the application. On average, the solution's deployment would take us anywhere from two weeks and longer. Depending on our testing, it would take us about a month to design and deploy the solution.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Azure is deployed on the cloud.
I would recommend Microsoft Azure to other users, but they should have a strong system integrator or someone working with Microsoft to assist. The strength would lie with the organization deploying the solution; they have to be on par to understand better what is happening.
Overall, I rate Microsoft Azure a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Head of Service Delivery at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Includes automated connectors for our critical systems, and has a helpful library of use cases, but the support needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "The automated connectors to some of our critical enterprise systems are an important feature. These are very large, critical, global HCM systems."
What is our primary use case?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Microsoft Azure for the past 18 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is definitely a stable platform. I haven't seen issues in that respect.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
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.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This is the first such solution that we put into place.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
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.
Market Tech Partner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
An agile, scalable and stable solution with good tech support
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has given us more agility, scalability and opportunity to optimize the cost."
- "There should be be better support for microservices and containers."
What is our primary use case?
The solution does not have a specific version. We are talking more about a resource group. Whichever is the latest version is the one we use.
The solution is used across the industry. Currently, I am working on something involving the education industry. My previous assignment focused more on clinical trials or medical data. These are two of the most recent and largest projects I have undertaken.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution has given us more agility, scalability and opportunity to optimize the cost.
What needs improvement?
The solution should have better interface capabilities.
There should be be better support for microservices and containers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure since 2010. I have used it within the past 12 months.
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 gives our organization scalability.
We have plans to increase its usage.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft Azure's technical support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another solution prior to Microsoft Azure.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
The deployment does not take long. In fact, the deployment time is not really applicable. When it comes to Azure, we are talking more about a platform than a proper product. I'm more into migration.
What about the implementation team?
In our case, it is we who are the consultants. As such, we are mostly into deployment at the moment and not maintenance. There are other providers who handle the latter.
What was our ROI?
I am not in a position to comment on whether we have seen a return on our investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing is pay per usage, so it can be both monthly and yearly. It supports all.
There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees. There are various licensing programs, so the customer may choose the one which aligns with his needs.
What other advice do I have?
The solution provides platform as a service and infrastructure service, both of which are good.
Since Microsoft Azure supports close to 200 or 300 products, we are not talking about a single product or solution and this makes it difficult for me to provide advice. Being a platform, there may be thousands of users who are making use of it. However, in my organization, we are talking about nearly 200.
I don't have specific advice to give. This product lends good support when it comes to Microsoft tech. If the organization is a part of the overall Microsoft ecosystem, employing things such as O365 or M365, then Microsoft Azure does a better job than the competition.
I rate Microsoft Azure as a nine out of ten.
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.
IT Technical Manager
Technical simplicity in terms of implementation; flexible and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "Provides a high level of availability and 99% uptime."
- "Lacks flexibility in terms of storage or resource allocation."
What is our primary use case?
We are customers of Microsoft and I'm the IT technical manager.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature for me is the high level of availability and the 99% uptime of the system. I also appreciate the technical simplicity of the system in terms of implementation.
What needs improvement?
I'm currently based in the Philippines and the availability of services locally could be improved. Technically speaking, I'd like to see more flexibility in terms of storage or resource allocation. Resourcing is currently quite fixed so that if you want to move between level two and level three resources, or customize resources, you can't do that. The discrepancy in terms of costing is around $200. If they improved flexibility for selecting resources it would be easier for us to get the costing approved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for around two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable, one of the most reliable in the Philippines. The downside is that currently all the services are outside the country. Singapore and Hong Kong provide the closest service but we have laws that prohibit certain amounts of data residing in other countries. None of that affects stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
One of the key takes from using cloud services is scalability and flexibility. If a company hits some roadblocks financially, they can reduce infrastructure and also reduce what they use in the cloud lowering the cost.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've had several outages or major issues and I've had good experience with technical support. They resolved the problems in less than a day. The only downside is that in the Philippines you're dealing with the vendor and not Microsoft direct. I have two steps of support; if the vendor can't provide the support, then they escalate to Microsoft.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite simple. We currently have 20 users on the infrastructure side in addition to 20+ developers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have difficulty in getting the costing approved. We pay for a virtual machine and the resources currently implemented there, then we need a license from Microsoft Windows OS and the database itself. In our latest license purchase, the manager approved a monthly fee of around $2,000 for the resources we use. If you're going to the cloud, that's currently included in the cost and will be less if you have the software assurance from Microsoft; on-prem is more expensive.
What other advice do I have?
The big takeaway on this product is the high availability of the system on cloud and reduction of on-prem costing. There are no concerns about the electrical doing some redundancy in between, cooling, purchasing, procurement of IT equipment. Instead of budgeting based on CAPEX, we're doing it from an OPEX point of view. One of the key takes for moving to the cloud is the cost. You can leverage with the cloud and let go of some things required to maintain a system on-prem, the kinds of things that alleviate some complexity in doing maintenance of the system. The solution is suitable for any size company.
I highly recommend Microsoft Azure. Everyone knows Microsoft so the learning curve is easier. I rate the solution nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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