Andrew Snodgrass

Andrew Snodgrass

Analyst

Andrew analyzes and writes about Microsoft's data management, business intelligence, and machine learning solutions, as well as aspects of licensing

Before joining Directions on Microsoft, Andrew was vice president of IT for a global Fortune 500 company, where he directed overall IT activities and strategy for the company‘s global operations, including work sharing and collaboration, application design and development, communications, data center operations, security, compliance, procurement, and vendor management. Andrew also started and sold an independent software firm specializing in disparate data integration, cleansing, and analysis.

Andrew received a B.B.A. in information systems from Boise State University and an M.B.A. from Colorado State University.

Latest Content by Andrew Snodgrass

Roadmap

September 15, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

Synapse Analytics Synapse Analytics is not disappearing overnight, but its future is becoming a managed runway to Fabric—stable enough to run today,...

Roadmap

September 15, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

HDInsight Warning: HDInsight is now several years behind the services and open-source components it depends on, leaving customers on an aging...

Roadmap

September 14, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

Confidential Ledger Confidential Ledger receives modest investment with backup, offline audit, Power Automate integration, and previews for tags and user-defined functions.

Roadmap

September 11, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

Azure Analysis Services AAS may remain supported, but Microsoft’s BI momentum is clearly moving to Fabric—making migration planning a strategic necessity, not just...

Roadmap

September 11, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

Cosmos DB The roadmap brings AI-agent tooling, stronger resilience, and migration pressure that may reshape deployments and cost models.

Roadmap

September 11, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

Azure Data Factory ADF is starting to lose components that are now showing up in Fabric Data Factory. The move is expected, as...

Roadmap

September 11, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

Databricks Azure Databricks is rapidly becoming a more integrated, governed, and AI-ready Azure data platform—but customers must navigate a dense 2026...

Video

Updated: September 10, 2026 · by Multiple Authors

How and Why We Built an AI Assistant. Season 5. Episode 14. Directions on Microsoft built its own AI Assistant to help with Microsoft technology and licensing queries. Analysts Barry Briggs and...

Analyst Report

August 31, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

Protecting Power BI Premium Pricing During the Move to Fabric Customers forced from Premium P SKUs can preserve equivalent capacity pricing through negotiated discounts, but they vary in benefit and...

Roadmap

August 28, 2026 · by Andrew Snodgrass

SQL Data Sync SQL Data Sync’s 2027 retirement leaves customers without a direct Microsoft replacement, making early migration planning essential—especially for complex bidirectional...