Struggling to understand what Microsoft Azure is and why your organisation might need it? In plain English, we’ll explain what it is, compared to Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and what it can be used for.
Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 are both cloud platforms, which means they operate from, are managed and subscribed to in the cloud, but there are fundamental differences between them to do with their capabilities for providing computing ‘infrastructure’.
We’ll explain in more detail.
Let’s start with Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is a SaaS (Software as a Service) product. This simply means it’s a software service you pay to use, as you would for any other subscription-based service.
As you will know, software companies have been steadily moving their products to the cloud in recent years, including Microsoft. Instead of having a disk to install, for example, your Office suite of software and applications from, your business or organisation instead pays a subscription for a cloud-based service they can access via the internet; the beauty of which, can be run on any device from any location, as long as there’s an internet connection.
Excel, Word, Publisher, PowerPoint and the rest of the Microsoft 365 software applications can all be used by you and your colleagues to complete your daily work and tasks, and collaborate. Documents and messages are all stored in the cloud and you all login to access and work on these.
Microsoft 365 is portable, flexible and a powerful range of office applications. But keep in mind that it is software only; SaaS you pay to subscribe to and utilise.
Microsoft Azure
You will still need software even if you use Microsoft Azure, because Azure is cloud-based ‘infrastructure’ rather than just software. Think of IT infrastructure as the typically physical components of an IT setup, for example, the hardware, facilities and services that support your systems and IT processes. Azure is cloud-based machines, networks and storage.
In more technical language, whereas Microsoft 365 is SaaS, Azure is both Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS), depending on what it is used for.
With IaaS, organisations do not need to invest in hardware and services, as there is an instant, and scalable, IT infrastructure available, with data centres, security and servers, all managed via the internet.
Platform as a Service (PaaS) means that it’s possible to run SaaS platforms within it, like Microsoft 365, and any other SaaS solutions you need to run. PaaS means there is a secure environment within which your developer can control and configure your operating system and software according to what your business needs.
What is Microsoft Azure used for?
Azure is flexible and secure so it can be paid for even by the hour, but certainly to service defined projects and the demands of your organisations.
You can create a fully managed network for your in-house workgroup that has its backup and security taken care of with a simple server. Or have Azure just to take care of your logins and security protocols only, as a simple server.
You can use Azure just to manage and take care of your backup only and enjoy the complete peace of mind of business continuity and disaster recovery plans in place.
Or maybe you need to test new apps and procedures, and need a separate secure computing environment; Azure is perfect for this.
The possibilities are literally boundless with Azure. And with pay-as-you-go options, the savings made on having to fund computing infrastructure by other means are significant; promoting business innovation and use of better, more enabling technology.
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