Azure CloudServices

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform. Instead of buying and running your own servers, storage and networks, you rent them from Microsoft over the internet and pay only for what you use.

Azure launched in 2010 and is the second-largest cloud platform in the world. It offers more than 200 services, from computing and storage to databases, networking, security, analytics and artificial intelligence. Microsoft runs these services from data centres around the world, including several regions in India and the United States.

Businesses use Azure to host applications and websites, store and back up data, run databases, connect their own data centres to the cloud and build new services. Azure works especially well for organisations that already use Microsoft products such as Microsoft 365 and Windows Server.

Azure offers hundreds of services, but most businesses rely on a core set.

For computing, Azure Virtual Machines provide virtual servers, Azure App Service hosts web applications, Azure Functions runs code without servers to manage and Azure Kubernetes Service runs containers. For storage, Azure Blob Storage holds files and backups, and Azure Files provides shared file storage. For databases, Azure SQL Database runs managed SQL Server databases and Azure Cosmos DB offers a fast non-relational database.

For networking and security, Azure Virtual Network creates your private network in the cloud, Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) manages user identities and access, Azure Monitor tracks performance and Microsoft Defender for Cloud protects your workloads. Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery cover backup and disaster recovery.

Azure AI is Microsoft's set of artificial intelligence services on Azure. It lets businesses add AI to their applications and processes without building models from scratch.

It includes Azure OpenAI, which gives access to OpenAI models such as GPT inside Azure's security and compliance controls. It also includes ready-made AI services for speech, vision, language, translation and reading documents, and Azure Machine Learning for teams that build and train their own models. Microsoft Foundry brings these tools together in one platform for building AI applications and agents.

Businesses use Azure AI for customer service chatbots, document processing, search across internal knowledge and automating routine work. Because it runs inside Azure, you keep control over where your data is stored and who can access it.

Yes. Azure mainly charges on a pay-as-you-go basis, so you pay for the resources you use, with no upfront hardware costs.

Different services charge in different ways. Virtual machines are billed by the time they run, storage by the amount of data you keep, and data transfer by the volume that leaves Azure. Many services also charge per request or per transaction.

If you run workloads continuously, you can lower costs through reservations and savings plans, which give discounts in return for a one- or three-year commitment. If you already own Windows Server or SQL Server licences, Azure Hybrid Benefit can reduce costs further. Microsoft offers a free account with credits for new customers, and a pricing calculator helps you estimate costs before you start.

A Microsoft Solutions Partner is a company that Microsoft has recognised for its skills and customer success in a specific area. Microsoft introduced Solutions Partner designations in 2022 to replace its old Gold and Silver partner levels. There are six designations: Infrastructure, Data and AI, Digital and App Innovation, Business Applications, Modern Work and Security. Partners earn them by meeting Microsoft's requirements for certified staff, customer growth and successful deployments.

Procain is a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Infrastructure (Azure), Security and Modern Work. We help businesses at every stage of their Azure journey. We plan, design and implement Azure infrastructure, migrate existing applications and data to Azure, and optimise and improve existing Azure environments. We also manage and maintain Azure infrastructure day to day, covering monitoring, security, performance optimisation and ongoing support, and we keep your Azure hosting costs under control.

Our Azure-certified professionals bring specialist knowledge that many businesses don't have in-house. You also get one partner for all your Azure services instead of managing several vendors.

Microsoft offers several Azure support plans. Every Azure customer gets billing and subscription management support at no extra cost. The Developer plan suits non-production and trial environments, with an initial response to technical requests within one business day. The Standard plan is designed for production workloads and gives you 24/7 access to support engineers by email and phone. Professional Direct is for business-critical environments. It adds faster responses, operational support, training and proactive guidance. Large organisations can also buy Microsoft Unified Support, which covers Azure along with other Microsoft products.

Microsoft's support plans help with problems in Azure's own services. They don't design your environment, run it day to day or fix issues in your applications. As part of our Azure managed services, we monitor, secure and support your environment, and we work with Microsoft support on your behalf when a platform issue needs Microsoft's help.

We recommend that your organisation owns its Azure tenant and subscriptions, in your company's name.

When you own them, you keep full control of your data, your systems and your billing. We manage your environment through secure, role-based access with only the permissions our work requires. You can review or remove that access at any time, and Azure logs every action we take.

This setup protects you if your needs change later. If you decide to bring management in-house or work with someone else, you keep your environment exactly as it is.

Azure Hybrid Benefit lets you use Windows Server and SQL Server licences you already own on Azure, instead of paying for them again. If your licences carry Software Assurance or a qualifying subscription, you pay only the base cost for virtual machines and databases, without the licence charge built in. It also applies to some Linux subscriptions, such as Red Hat and SUSE.

For organisations that already run Microsoft software, this can cut Azure costs significantly, and the savings grow further when combined with reservations or savings plans.

We review the licences you already own and apply Azure Hybrid Benefit wherever you qualify. We also make sure you use it correctly, so you get the savings without creating licensing compliance problems.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) gives you the basic building blocks: virtual servers, storage and networks. You manage the operating system, software and data yourself. Azure Virtual Machines are an example.

Platform as a service (PaaS) gives you a ready-made platform to run your applications. The cloud provider manages the servers, operating systems and updates, so your team focuses on the application. Azure App Service and Azure SQL Database are examples.

Software as a service (SaaS) gives you a complete application that you use over the internet, with the provider managing everything behind it. Microsoft 365 is an example. The further you move from IaaS to SaaS, the less you manage yourself, but the less control you have over the underlying setup.

Azure is the second-largest cloud platform. Its biggest strength is how closely it works with Microsoft products such as Microsoft 365, Windows Server, SQL Server and Microsoft Entra ID. It is also strong in hybrid setups that connect cloud services to your own data centre.

Google Cloud is smaller but strong in specific areas. It's known for data analytics, with tools such as BigQuery, for artificial intelligence and machine learning, and for Kubernetes, the container technology that Google originally created.

Organisations that already rely on Microsoft often choose Azure, because it's easier to adopt and they can reuse existing licences. Organisations focused on large-scale data analysis often look closely at Google Cloud. Some use both, running each workload where it fits best.

Both give you lower prices in return for a one- or three-year commitment, but they work differently.

An Azure Reservation is a commitment to a specific resource, such as a particular virtual machine size in a particular region. It gives strong discounts, but it only applies to that exact resource. Reservations also cover services that savings plans don't, such as some databases and storage.

An Azure Savings Plan for compute is a commitment to spend a set amount per hour on computing. It applies automatically across virtual machine sizes, regions and several compute services, which makes it more flexible. Reservations suit steady workloads that won't change, while savings plans suit environments that change over time. Many organisations use both.

Yes. Microsoft regularly retires older services and features, usually with advance notice. For example, Microsoft retired the original Azure Cloud Services (classic) platform in 2024, and organisations still using it had to move their applications.

We track retirement notices and changes that affect your environment through Azure Service Health and Azure Advisor. When a service you rely on is due to retire, we warn you early, recommend the replacement and plan the move, so an end-of-support date never catches your team by surprise.

We also review new Azure services and features, and we recommend them only when they bring a clear benefit to your costs, performance or security.

Yes. Procain is a Microsoft Solutions Partner in three areas: Infrastructure (Azure), Security and Modern Work.

Each designation means Microsoft has assessed our certified staff, customer growth and successful deployments in that area. Infrastructure (Azure) covers building, migrating and managing Azure environments. Security covers protecting identities, devices, data and cloud workloads. Modern Work covers Microsoft 365 and the tools teams use to work together.

A general Microsoft partner listing only shows that a company has joined Microsoft's partner programme. Microsoft awards designations based on a partner's measured performance, not on what the partner says about itself. You can verify ours through Microsoft's partner directory on Microsoft Marketplace.

The team that designs and builds your Azure environment stays with you after launch. We don't pass you to a new team that has to learn your setup from scratch.

You keep the same named lead at Procain from the start of the project through ongoing support. If your environment moves into our Azure managed services, the engineers who built it take part in the handover and stay available when you need changes, reviews or help with a problem.

We document your environment in full as we build it. Knowledge about your setup stays with the team and in writing, not with one person.

In most cases, no. You pay Microsoft for the Azure services you use whether or not you work with us. Our fees cover the design, migration, management and optimisation work, which usually saves more than it costs.

Hiring and keeping in-house Azure expertise is expensive. Working with us gives you access to Azure-certified professionals without that cost. We also reduce your Azure bill by using resources efficiently, applying Azure Hybrid Benefit to licences you already own and recommending reservations and savings plans where they fit.

Microsoft also funds some projects through programmes such as Azure Accelerate, which can offset part of the cost of migration and modernisation. Where your project qualifies, we help you access this funding.