To survive the world today, modern businesses require powerful tools we refer to as ‘software’ to help them execute tasks, communicate, share data, plan strategies, analyze performance, market the business etc. Business apps can also be seen as such a tool, if not one of the most effective ones, which benefit the organization as a whole.
But before using such tools or digital solutions, businesses will have to decide where to deploy them. On-premises infrastructure is the generally opted deployment platform. However, such facilities demand considerable investment from the business as they will need to buy and configure servers, keep them running in datacenters, and secure and maintain the datacenter itself. It’ll all work out if the business has time and enough budget for a capital investment to protect their data.
This used to be the case till the advent of the cloud.
The Cloud – Business Connection
The cloud came with a pay-as-you-go pricing model providing businesses with a way to cut infrastructure costs while giving them access to computing hardware, storage, and network. They need pay only for what they use. However, even the cloud’s attractive features failed to gain many business’ attention mostly due to security and privacy concerns. This led to the development of the hybrid cloud approach where the cloud considers the on-premises and cloud infrastructures to be connected, and being used at the same time.
Enter Microsoft Azure
Businesses have been relying on enterprise solutions powered by Microsoft technologies for a long time. Azure is one of those solutions that uplifted quite a lot of businesses. The cloud-based Microsoft technology solution offers a broad range of services that cater to multiple scenarios.
For instance, consider the requirements of an organization with sufficient on-premises resources and wants to deploy their business app. They want the users to have a single sign-on experience, for which they use Active Directory for access management. The organization wants the data in the application to be private, and not expose it to the internet.
In such a scenario, the ideal way is to set up a network and have the on-premise infrastructure connected to a cloud infrastructure. So basically, an isolated network with a defined IP addresses range in the cloud is needed. A virtual network service can achieve just that, thus making it easier to integrate the cloud network with the on-premises network.
Once the virtual network is created, the organization’s datacenter should be connected with the cloud using a VPN Gateway service.
And once the network is configured and ready, the organization can integrate their Active Directory with the cloud. This is where Azure comes in. Its Active Directory services provide a managed Active Directory that can be integrated and synced with the organization’s Active Directory.
OR
The organization can deploy their own Active Directory configuration on the Virtual Machine.
The business app can then be deployed on servers, and configured to make use of the Active Directory the organization deployed earlier.
Perks of Using Azure for Businesses
- Move from capital expenditures (Capex) to operational expenses (Opex) with its pay-as-you-go pricing model
- Easy access to resources means reduced time to market
- Choose from a wide range of virtual server configurations to meet the business requirements
- Easier to set up a network connection using services like Virtual Private Network (VPN), VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute etc.
- Enhanced security and streamlined access management thanks to managed services like Azure Active Directory
- Flexibility in making infrastructure-related decisions
- This flexibility also gives them a way to respond faster to business challenges