DATA SHEET

Microsoft Azure Readiness Assessment

What is Microsoft Azure?

By extending your data centre to Microsoft Azure, your business will gain the agility to quickly build, test and deploy next generation applications without the constraints of traditional on-premises infrastructure. A hybrid cloud infrastructure can help you cost-effectively expand storage for growing data needs, quickly deploy servers and applications, provide off-site backup for your data centre and deliver your disaster recovery requirements. IT departments are coming under increased pressure from the business to provide greater value, agility, and quicker response times. Microsoft Azure can help prevent the business turning to Shadow IT and ensure that these requirements can be more easily met or exceeded.

There are many different business events that can trigger the opportunity to use Microsoft Azure to modernise your environment. Software reaching end of support, contracts or licenses up for renewal, and data centre consolidation are all examples of ideal times to consider utilising Microsoft Azure for your requirements. In doing so, traditional large capital expenses (CAPEX) can be converted to a more predictable monthly operating expenses (OPEX) model.

Why use Microsoft Azure?

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Microsoft Azure provides cloud computing services for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft managed data centres. Azure is a highly-available, hyper-scale cloud platform that delivers an ever-growing ecosystem of products and services that can be consumed on a subscription-based pay-as-you-use model. With Azure, you get the freedom to build and deploy wherever you want, using the tools, applications and frameworks of your choice. Building and running your solutions on Azure helps you reduce costs, gain agility and differentiate your business. Confidential data is the lifeblood of any company, and protecting it from compromise is mission-critical. Security and privacy are built right into the Azure platform and the Azure Security Center offers continuous security health monitoring allowing you to get a central view of the security state of your Azure resources.

By utilising Ultima’s Modern Data Centre solutions, we can help you transform your enterprise and take full advantage of the flexibility and opportunities offered by Microsoft Azure.

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Analyse A key activity within the engagement is the discovery and subsequent assessment of the existing environment and requirements. This information is gathered through workshop discussions and discovery processes to ensure the appropriate Azure solutions can be identified.

Review This process starts with a review of potential proposed services in line with the captured requirements and then matching solutions to ensure compatibility and completeness. Any incompatibilities with Azure which would affect potential solutions will also be identified at this stage.

Define A key objective of this engagement is to review the existing environment and provide a new, cloud optimised strategy using Azure. As part of any such engagement, there will be a requirement for Ultima to work closely with your IT team to produce a jointly developed strategy document.

Present Ultima will present the strategy document back to the business in a structured workshop, and field questions against each of the sections. This presentation allows us to fully explain the various options proposed, the reasons behind them and next steps forward.

Steps to your Azure Cloud Strategy

Ultima’s Azure Readiness AssessmentUtilise Ultima’s Azure Advisory Services to plan your journey to the cloud.Delivered as a cloud advisory service, consultants from Ultima’s Modern Data Centre team use a tried and tested approach to interrogate your current operating model and identify the prerequisite steps and investments needed to begin using Azure services. Ultima will start by gaining an in-depth knowledge of your environment and requirements. This is reviewed to enable us to identify suitable Azure solutions, along with migration options, infrastructure prerequisites and indicative costs. These findings will then be fully documented, presented to you and discussed to help guide you through the transition process.

Ultima can advise on all aspects of Microsoft Azure, such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) including backup and disaster recovery, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), cloud application architecture and DevOps.