For some enterprises, fear still lies in the cloud. As a result, many businesses fail to take advantage of what platforms like Azure can truly offer.

To combat these fears, we’ve debunked eight myths about Azure to show how it can help, not hinder, your business.

Myth 1: On-premise servers are more secure

First and foremost is security. Many businesses still believe that their data is more secure on a closed private server instead of the cloud. But private servers are often outdated, expensive to maintain and leave little wiggle room when disaster strikes.

If you’re hacked on an on-premise server, the chances of recovering data are slim. Our Azure Disaster Recovery as a Service solution, however, uses failsafe measures to ensure you can still access a backup copy of your cloud data from a different, unaffected server, outside of the affected data centre region. 

Myth 2: You lose control of your data in Azure

Nope. Not true. If anything, you have more control over your data in Azure, and can even customise it to suit your business needs.

This myth exists because, when you’re in the cloud, you offload server management to the cloud vendor. This means that they’re accountable for things like maintenance, compliance and security. Many businesses would rather control these aspects themselves for fear that a third party won’t manage them properly.

However, in-house management often leads to lax security and missed compliance. As an enterprise cloud platform, Azure is subject to rigorous third-party audits to ensure it is compliant with:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• ISO 27001
• HIPAA
• FedRAMP
• SOC 1 and SOC 2
• Country-specific standards, including Australia IRAP, UK G-Cloud and Singapore MTCS.

To name just a few of the compliance certifications Microsoft Azure holds.

Audits, such as those done by the British Standards Institute, verify Microsoft’s devotion to the strict security controls necessary to protect data. Pair this level of regulation with the high security standards here at Cloud Direct, and you can begin to understand the unparalleled levels of compliance and trust our partnership provides your business.

Myth 3: Azure isn’t the choice for rapidly growing businesses

Wrong. Azure has 54 data centre regions across 140 countries:

(Source: Microsoft blogs)

With so much choice, a business can expand into almost any new market across the globe and still have access to its data from a localised source.

Compared to AWS and Google Cloud Services, Azure has more data centre locations than any other public cloud vendor:

(Source: Atomia)

This gives businesses the opportunity to capitalise on fearless growth. Think globally, act locally.

Myth 4: We don’t have the skilled workers needed to run and optimise Azure

This myth was once true, but today it’s an outdated excuse to stop any business moving to the cloud. When you deploy to Azure, you often do so through an expert managed service provider (like us!) who takes care of the heavy lifting for you.

And once you’re up and running, we’re always on-hand to provide you with consultation and training to ensure you’re getting the most out of Azure. A skills shortage is no longer a good enough excuse.

Myth 5: Azure is riddled with hidden costs

Nope. This isn’t true, either. Azure has one cost: the cost of a subscription. It’s a pay-for-what-you-use licensing model with no up-front expenses. No need for server maintenance, hardware or software upgrades, standards compliance or money lost on server downtime.

Azure lets you scale and pay for only what you need. No more, no less, no hidden costs.

Myth 6: The main benefit of Azure is efficiency, not innovation

Gartner believe Azure is an industry leader in both IaaS and PaaS, rapidly catching up with leaders AWS in the race for public cloud market share.

(Source: Microsoft Azure)

The Microsoft team are constantly adding new and improved features to Azure to give users a more customisable, accessible experience on the platform. For a list of updates, visit here.

Myth 7: Once we go to Azure, we’re locked in with one vendor

On the contrary, RightScale found that 81 percent of enterprises operate using a multi-cloud strategy, the majority of whom use a hybrid cloud approach.

Azure isn’t a ‘my way or the highway’ platform. It’s designed to work between on-premises and cloud servers, letting enterprises move between the two as they see fit.

Myth 8: Azure doesn’t support open source

Many businesses have existing investments in software, and to ensure a good ROI, they require a cross-compatible platform. Enterprises will look at Azure and think that once they deploy, their existing systems won’t work anymore.

Here’s the thing, though: One in four Azure virtual machines run Linux. It’s a platform designed to give you choice. Whether it’s Java, Linux or PHP web applications, Azure supports open-source components, giving you the freedom to continue using platforms of your choice.

The truth is out there

There are a lot of misconceptions with cloud computing. And Azure is no exception. But the truth is, Azure is designed to provide your business with the tools to operate as you see fit.

We get it. The unknown is scary. But the cloud is no longer unknown. We’ve conducted the ordinance survey so you don’t have to. And with over 15 years of experience helping customers with cloud migrations under our belt, we know from experience that Azure is the perfect tool to help your business achieve fearless growth.

It’s built to allow innovation, to scale and to offload the legwork to a trusted partner. By doing so, you can focus on driving business growth and working towards a healthy return on investment.

If you’d like to learn more about what Azure can do for your business, speak with one of our Azure experts today.