Executive Focus: Realities of Azure Adoption

• Azure services can help customers increase agility to respond to market changes and implement new business models that are challenging to deploy on-premises.
• Azure includes quick deployment and global reach, high-end security, and access to advanced features that can manage services in the cloud and on-premises.
• New skills and methodologies are required to control costs and manage the update cadence, and using Azure does not ensure customers are safe or compliant.
• Azure subscriptions may impact a business’s ability to conserve cash during downturns, compared to on-premises software on customer-owned hardware.

Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, has the potential to help organizations reduce cost and deploy services faster than possible in most on-premises data centers. However, not all workloads are suitable for Azure, and developing the skills to deploy and manage Azure services can increase cost and decrease savings. Migrating to Azure can be a difficult process requiring additional technology, management, and process changes within IT to keep pace with the rapid update cadence of cloud services.