Cloud Business Logo - white

Success stories

Our customers come in all shapes and sizes.

We work with organisations from all walks of life, with different ambitions and requirements. Explore how we’ve helped them reimagine everyday, and align technology with their culture and business goals.

Is Windows 365 right for your business?

Microsoft’s highly anticipated cloud PC solution, Windows 365, is now available for businesses. Read our blog to find out more about Windows 365, how it compares to AVD and if it’s right for your business.
View case study >

Hybrid working: how technology can support your move to a hybrid workplace

Technology can support the move to hybrid working to ensure employees can be product, collaborate effectively, and stay secure, no matter where they are located. Learn more here.
View case study >

How much does Microsoft Azure cost?

Thinking about migrating to Microsoft Azure? Our blog will help you understand how to estimate your Azure costs and use Microsoft's Azure Pricing Calculator.
View case study >

How Azure Virtual Desktop can improve your security posture

With remote and hybrid work, it can be difficult for businesses to maintain a strong security posture. If you want to find out how Azure Virtual Desktop can improve your security posture, read our blog.
View case study >

What is Azure used for?

Organisations looking to take the next step on the digital transformation journey, often ask "What is Azure used for?" Here we explain what Microsoft Azure is.
View case study >

5 ways Microsoft Azure cloud can help you reimagine everyday (and save your business time and money)

The Azure cloud platform has over 200 products and services. Migrating to Azure can save your business time and money. Find out how to reimagine everyday with Azure in this blog.
View case study >

Business cases for Azure Virtual Desktop

Explore business cases for Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly Windows Virtual Desktop) by industry in this blog post >
View case study >

The future is virtual: benefits of moving to Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Virtual Desktop (the new name for Windows Virtual Desktop) can completely transform the way a business does work. Moving to AVD has a plethora of benefits to any business, regardless of size. Learn more >
View case study >

How to make the hybrid working work effectively for your organisation

A recent study has shown that 73% of employees want flexible work options to continue once restrictions ease, and 67% are craving more in-person time with their teams. This combination of statistics show that business leaders would be wise to listen to employees and start planning for a hybrid work model.   A move to a hybrid workplace has many of the benefits of both remote working and a full-time return to the office. However, this decision should not be taken lightly as there are many factors that must be considered to ensure that a hybrid work environment is effective and sets employees up for success. Hybrid work needs to focus on employee wellbeing One of the key considerations for an effective hybrid workplace strategy is a focus on employee wellbeing. If managed correctly a flexible hybrid working model should increase employee wellbeing through better work-life balance, reduce commuting time and costs and increase motivation and communication. Although there are potentially many wellbeing benefits of hybrid working, business leaders must consider for some employees it will be a difficult adjustment period as many employees will not have been in the office for over a year. A sudden change to their place of work may be stressful and tiring due to a return to commuting, significantly more social contact, and the challenges of a new work-life balance. For business leaders, the best way to manage employee wellbeing is through communication and flexibility. Employees should be involved in the decision of when and how a return to the office will work and specific concerns and anxieties should be addressed. Leverage technology for collaboration and communication Technology has played a pivotal role in the move to remote working and will continue to if hybrid working is implemented. The difference will be that technology will have to support a seamless experience regardless of where employees are working.  From a hardware perspective this may be using a laptop with a dock in the office so employees can easily transport their device between work and home and not have to unplug cables each time. From a software perspective it is important to utilise communication and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams to their full ability. This is especially important if there are employees working in the same team but in the office on different days to ensure they do not feel disconnected from the rest of the team. It is also important to provide training and support with hybrid working technology as all employees will rely heavily on these features to enable productivity in the workplace. Don’t forget security In March 2020, when the first lockdown was announced, the move to remote work was abrupt and this led to poor security procedures for many companies. Cybercriminals took advantage of this, with cyber crime increasing by 72% in the first month of lockdown.  After a year of working from home most organisations have implemented security policies and procedures to ensure that employees are working securely on their own networks. As there is more time to plan a hybrid workplace, security needs to be considered from the start. This may include deploying multi-factor authentication, Azure Virtual Desktops (previously Windows Virtual Desktop) and centralising data so employees stay secure and productive, regardless of where they are working. It won’t be perfect straight away Business leaders need to be thoughtful with their implementation of a hybrid work model and consider the research as well as employees’ opinions to form a comprehensive framework to set everyone up for success. That said, just as remote work was a new experience for many over a year ago, hybrid work will be the same, and there will be an adjustment period and issues that require the model to be adjusted to suit each company and individual. Although this adjustment period may be not ideal, business leaders should regularly review and optimise their hybrid work environment to ensure it works effectively for all employees. The move from remote working to hybrid working, if managed correctly, has a plethora of benefits and can be the best of both worlds for employees and business leaders alike. If you want to find out more on how to optimise your hybrid workplace model or manage your IT and technology strategy to suit hybrid working – get in touch today!
View case study >

Is Windows 365 right for your business?

Microsoft’s highly anticipated cloud PC service, Windows 365 is now available for businesses of all sizes. Windows 365 promises to be the new solution for today’s hybrid workforce, providing a familiar user experience, whilst changing the way organisations view IT hardware. 

As Windows 365 is a new product, many businesses are unsure where it fits into their IT services, and if it is the right hybrid working solution for them. Below we will discuss what is Windows 365, what are the benefits, how it compares to Azure Virtual Desktop and whether Windows 365 is a good fit for your business.

What is Windows 365?

Windows 365 is a cloud PC service that streams the full Windows experience, including apps, data and settings on any device that has an internet connection. The user can log into their Windows 365 cloud PC using their Azure AD credentials through any browser or the Microsoft Remote Desktop app, and enjoy a fully functional Windows 10 experience. All the compute is through the Azure cloud, and businesses can change the levels of compute and storage quickly and easily to suit changing business needs.

There are other solutions that provide a similar experience, such as Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), however they are not quite as simple to deploy and manage. Similarly, other virtual desktop solutions often have complex pricing structures, whereas Windows 365 has simple per user per month pricing. Of course, Azure Virtual Desktop could be a better fit for your organisation’s needs, so compare both solutions to explore the pros and cons of each (see below). 

If you would like a quick chat with one of our consultants about the AVD vs. Windows 365, please get in touch. 

Benefits of Windows 365

There are many benefits to running workloads on the cloud with Windows 365. One of the key benefits is that it supports the move to a hybrid workplace. As Windows 365 can run on any device with an internet connection, it means that users can have a familiar Windows experience with all their previous settings, data and applications on any device, from any location. As all security policies can be set by the administrator this also allows businesses to introduce a Bring Your Own PC (BYOC) programme that can greatly reduce hardware costs. Similarly, many businesses that have an elastic or temporary workforce can benefit from the ease of deployment and simplicity of paying for the service only for the duration of an employee’s contract.

Another key benefit of Windows 365 is the built-in security and compliance, as the cloud PCs are streamed from the Azure cloud. Over the past decade, the cybersecurity threat landscape has expanded rapidly, making securing organisational and customer data more important and complex. Windows 365 was built with security in mind and moving workloads to the cloud not only greatly increases security, but it also simplifies disaster recovery if an incident does occur.

Windows 365 vs. Azure Virtual Desktop

Although Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) both provide Windows experiences using the Azure cloud, the solutions suit different business use cases. AVD is optimised for flexibility and suits businesses that require full control over the configuration and management of the virtual machines. With AVD it is possible to run multi-session Windows virtual machines, as well as remote app streaming. This is particularly useful when workloads require high levels of compute or are GPU intensive. The pricing for AVD is flexible consumption-based pricing and the level of compute and storage can be optimised for cost and experience.

Where AVD is optimised for flexibility, Windows 365 is optimised for simplicity. 

Windows 365 is a complete end-to-end Microsoft service with predictable per user, per month pricing. If a business wants to deploy cloud PCs, they do not need any VDI experience or skills, and if compute or storage requirements change, it is simple to scale each cloud PC to meet these requirements. Administration and management of cloud PCs is also simplified with Windows 365 as it is a direct self-service model for the Business edition and one-stop administration in Microsoft Endpoint Manager for the Enterprise edition.

Is Windows 365 a good fit for your business?

If your business is considering moving workloads to the cloud, Windows 365 may be the right solution. The introduction of Windows 365 can greatly increase security and potentially decrease overall hardware spend. For businesses that have employees working remotely or in a hybrid work arrangement and value simplicity over flexibility and control, Windows 365 will likely be a better option over Azure Virtual Desktop. This is especially true if a business has an elastic workforce or is going through a rapid period of change or expansion. 

If you want to find out more about Windows 365 and if it is right for your business, get in touch with us today.

View Case Study

Hybrid working: how technology can support your move to a hybrid workplace

The move to a hybrid workplace promises a myriad of benefits including increased collaboration, productivity and a better work-life balance. For this reason, it is no surprise that 91% of the global workforce expect to be working in some form of hybrid arrangement over the coming months. However, the hybrid workplace model will take some time to refine as there are many factors that must work together to support the changing workplace. One of the key factors that is integral to the long term success of hybrid working, is technology.

In the past 12 months most large technology companies have shifted their focus to adapting and creating technology that will suit hybrid working and provide a better experience for users, wherever they are working. 

In this article we identify key technologies to support your business’s move to a hybrid workplace.

Video conferencing with Microsoft Teams

Meetings with both physical and remote attendees are more complex than traditional meetings or virtual meetings. The key challenge is how to ensure that all attendees have the same experience, regardless of where they are located. Microsoft Teams aims to address these challenges with additional features such as the ‘Front Row’ along with changes to the user interface to increase productivity and collaboration in hybrid meetings. If you want to find out more about how to run an effective hybrid meeting read our recent blog.

Email protection

When employees moved from working in an office space to working from home there was a massive rise in phishing emails and phishing related cyberattacks. This trend will likely continue with the advent of hybrid work, with phishing being used as an attack vector to carry out ransomware attacks. User education and awareness is a key factor in avoiding a phishing attack, but it shouldn’t be the only line of defence. As businesses move to hybrid work, they should consider implementing a software defence to stop phishing attacks before they even enter an employee’s inbox. Mimecast uses AI to detect and quarantine any potential phishing attacks, keeping organisations safe from data breaches and ransomware attacks.

Work from anywhere with virtual desktops

Businesses that are trying to reduce hardware costs, or create more flexibility for employees, may have considered a Bring-Your-Own-PC (BYOPC) programme. A BYOPC programme seems ideal for hybrid working, however it poses a significant security risk as employees’ laptops may be infected with malware or may not have the same security policies as required by the business. This problem can be solved with virtual desktops through Azure Virtual Desktop and cloud PCs through Windows 365. These solutions allow users to connect to virtual desktops running on the Azure cloud. This gives the full Windows experience on any device, from any location with the security policies set up by the administrator. The recent release of Windows 365 has made it even easier for business to introduce cloud PCs to employees with simple per user per month pricing.

Employee experience platforms

The advent of remote and hybrid working can make it difficult for employees to stay connected with the wider business if not all employees work in the office on the same days. Similarly, many employees find it difficult to balance productivity and wellbeing whilst working from home. To solve these challenges, Microsoft has released Viva. Viva is an employee experience platform designed to foster an organisational culture where people and teams are empowered to be their best from anywhere. This solution contains modules to help employees stay connected to the wider business, increase productivity, organises content across the business and provide learning and development opportunities. The key to effective hybrid working is to focus on the employee experience, and Viva excels at this.

Phone call with Teams

For businesses that rely on telephone systems for day-to-day business, a traditional phone system may not be suitable for hybrid working. Transferring calls between an office and an employee’s home is difficult and can lead to a poor experience for customers. A cloud-based phone solution, such as Microsoft Business Voice, allows businesses to keep their existing phone numbers whilst allowing employees to make and answer calls from anywhere, on any device. Business Voice is also integrated with Teams, which means all calls, meetings, chats and files are housed in a single application. Moving to a cloud-based telephony solution is perfect for hybrid work and can reduce costs through streamlining technology.

Register for our next Microsoft Teams Business Voice Workshop here >

The move to hybrid marks a new era in the way the world views work. An effective hybrid work scheme can allow employees can be more productivity, have a better work-life balance and employers can potentially reduce overhead costs to increase profitability. For these benefits to be realised, technology will have to play a large part in supporting the new workplace.

View Case Study

How much does Microsoft Azure cost?

As mentioned in our previous blog post about Microsoft Azure, many organisations are trying to move away from CAPEX to OPEX to have a faster and more flexible cost model as the business scales up or down.

The cost of migrating to Azure is one thing, it’s also important to assess and predict what your costs would be living in the cloud. Microsoft makes this relatively simple for us by providing costs for all their resources in Azure up front, so all we need is a nice way to calculate all our complicated Azure costs to give us a reasonable estimate.

As with all large changes, it’s always advisable to carry out PoC (Proof of Concept) to ensure both Azure is the right fit for your workloads, but also your cost estimates are accurate, before you dive both feet in.

So where do we start to estimate our Microsoft Azure costs? Fortunately, Microsoft publish all their Azure pricing clearly online. However, calculating the cost of Azure from a never-ending shopping list of products, services, virtual machines (VMs) etc., would baffle the best of us. For example, to print out all the options for Windows Virtual Machine pricing would take about 50, without then looking at the associated disks or other items. 

Azure Pricing Calculator

Roll in the Azure Pricing Calculator… a fast web-based tool to build your shopping list of items needed.

From here you can search for products that you need, select from the common/featured section, or drill down the left hand side navigation to list the services under specific categories like “Networking”.

Here are our top tips for using the Azure Pricing Calculator:

  • Sign in – sign in at the top right of the site to save your Azure cost estimates. 
  • Naming – always try and name the VMs, and other items in your estimate to make it clearer on the purposes of each item
A picture containing application Description automatically generated
  • Export – when you have completed the estimate, export it into an Excel file to share with budget holders 
Graphical user interface, text Description automatically generated
  • Egress cost – always have at least 6GB for outbound data transfer to see the cost in the estimate. Of course, if you have more accurate figures, put those in
  • Hours – choose what operational hours you need for each service. If it’s a full month then; 744 hours = 31 days, 720 hours = 30 days and 730 hours = an average month across the year. I would advise using 744 hours in a month as a rule, to get the “worst case scenario” for budgets
  • VM Size – firstly chose the correct size of VM, there are specific models for storage, computer or memory optimised, or also general purpose sizes too. Within in each, there are several configurations. Pay particular notice to if they support certain features, like Premium SSD’s
  • Location – the cost of services such as VM’s can differ based on location. Pick a location close to your users, or meeting compliance needs. Also consider that test environments could be offshore at a cheaper location. Check https://azureprice.net/region
  • Currency – make sure you select your local currency to avoid any currency conversions
  • HDD type – where possible go for Premium SSD as the performance cost is not generally significant. However, if you select IOPs requirement this can increase the cost significantly 
  • Feature / type – it’s important to understand the difference in features and cost for certain services, such as VPN Gateway, as a Basic VPN would be around £20 per month, whereas a VpnGw5AZ is around £2,329 per month. With different capacities and features it’s worth knowing what you are paying for. For example, Basic VPN doesn’t support IKEv2 or RADIUS, making AlwaysOnVPN an impossible option, but VpnGw1 does supports it
  • Storage accounts – access tiers would be hot, cool, or archive. Each will cost to store and retrieve data, hot being more expensive to store, less expensive to access. Versus archive being the opposite and cool being in the middle. Also only purchase your current projected storage capacity, this can be changed in the future
  • More info – once you’ve added an item to your estimate, you can hover over the “i” for more information/links to Pricing Details (full list of options for that item and their costs), Product Details, and Documentation (quick start, troubleshooting, training, and other guides).
Graphical user interface, text, application Description automatically generated
  • Reserved instances – if you know your VM will be online all the time (like a domain controller), commit to either 1 year for ~37% discount, or 3 years for ~57% discount.
  • Azure hybrid benefit – if you bring your own licenses to Azure, you could save as much as 50% on some VMs.
  • Dev/test – if these VMs are for development or testing, flick the switch at the bottom of the VMs estimate to see a reduced cost for Visual Studio subscriptions. 
  • Share – you can share a URL for your Azure cost estimate if you need to send it to someone else to review.

Using the Azure Pricing Calculator with these top tips should help get an estimate of your Azure costs, but an Azure Assessment will provide a more accurate Azure cost estimate and ascertain whether your workloads are a good fit for Azure. 

To get started on your Azure journey, click on the link below to find out more about our Azure Migrate service.

View Case Study

How Azure Virtual Desktop can improve your security posture

One of the key challenges businesses have faced over the past 18 months of remote and hybrid working has been how to maintain a strong security posture whilst employees are not physically in the office. When employees work from an office space it is easier to manage the environment as it consistent and has more defined boundaries. When employees are working from home there are more unknowns, and this increases the risk of a cyberattack.

For businesses that are wanting to improve their security posture whilst remote or hybrid working there are many solutions that can be put in place, however few are as effective and comprehensive as moving workloads to the cloud with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). 

Explore our Cyber Security Posture Assessment service to benchmark your security posture now and prioritise steps to increase your organisation’s security. Details here >

What is Azure Virtual Desktop?

AVD is a virtual desktop interface (VDI) solution that is deployed through Azure and allows users to access Windows 10 and all necessary applications, from anywhere, on any device. AVD has many benefits to businesses and users, including increased flexibility, especially for hybrid workers, reduced costs, centralised management capabilities and better security. 

Below are six ways Azure Virtual Desktop can improve your security posture.

6 reasons why Azure Virtual Desktop boosts security

Baseline images

When an IT administrator is setting up Azure Virtual Desktop, they start by creating a golden image. A golden image is a pre-configured computer template for all AVD users. This image includes all necessary applications, security protocols and user settings. Shadow IT creates One of the key security challenges many businesses face is when users install applications or services without the consent of the IT department. Shadow IT increases the risk of an attack as your IT team cannot ensure user apps are secure. Using golden images reduces this risk as the only applications on the virtual machine are the ones that were pre-configured from the beginning. 

Updates and patch management

A simple method to improve security posture and reduce the risk of an attack is to keep all systems and applications up to date and run patches as soon as available. Although this is simple in theory, many users will delay updates and patches, especially if they require the computer to be restarted. If these patches fix security flaws within an operating system or application, delaying the update can leave systems vulnerable to an attack. With AVD it is easy to update all virtual machines at the same time to ensure all computers within an organisation are updated and secure. These updates can be run outside of working hours to ensure that there is no downtime for employees. 

Timely recovery after an attack

Malware attacks have been a constant threat for IT teams for many years now. This is where a piece of malicious software executes unauthorised actions on a victim’s system. These attacks can be difficult to recover from as it often leaves the victim without access to their system. Using a VDI makes recovery more efficient as if a virtual machine becomes infected with malware it can be turned off and reverted to its golden image. This can simplify disaster recovery and ensure business continuity, regardless of where employees are working.

Conditional access policies

Conditional Access is the tool used in Azure Active Directory to ensure only authorised users are accessing information and systems. It means that if a user wants to access a resource, they must complete an action. For example, if someone from HR wants to access an employee’s address, they must first perform multi-factor authentication to ensure it is not a threat actor trying to access personal information. Conditional access policies can also be applied to users accessing a virtual desktop. It is possible to prevent access to a virtual desktop if the user has an IP address from outside the geolocation of its employees. This improves security as it ensures that only authorised users can access sensitive data and systems

Hosted on Azure

One of the key security benefits of running a VDI solution on Azure, is that you benefit Microsoft’s security tools and expertise. Everything within the Azure environment is automatically encrypted and has sophisticated detection methods to prevent many cyberattacks. Microsoft also has over 3,500 cybersecurity experts who work on your behalf 24/7 to ensure all workloads hosted on the Azure cloud stay secure. 

Intelligent defences

With Azure Virtual Desktop it is possible to identify threats with real-time cybersecurity intelligence. The Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph gives actionable insights based off machine learning, behavioural analytics, and application-based intelligence. This greatly improves a business’s security posture as it constantly monitors usage to discover anomalies before it is too late.

Implementing Azure Virtual Desktop within an organisation not only improves its security posture, but also enables a hybrid workforce and can support business growth. We can offer you a Proof of Concept service for Azure Virtual Desktop to explore whether it’s a good fit for your organisation. Click on the link below for more information and next steps >

View Case Study

What is Azure used for?

What is Azure?

Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud computing platform. As Microsoft says, “more than 200 products and cloud services designed to help you bring new solutions to life – to solve today’s challenges and create the future.” Or as we like to say, “if you’ve got a clear business objective, Microsoft Azure helps you Reimagine Everyday and transform your business.”

In simple terms, Microsoft Azure provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) and Serverless compute, that can be used for services such as analytics, application development, virtual computing, storage, networking, and more. It can be used to replace or enhance your on-premise servers. Azure also delivers on key business outcomes such as increased security, improved compliance, cost optimisation and greater agility.

Azure can provide your organisation with an evergreen infrastructure, that is always up to date without the limitations of your existing on premises environment.  You can develop, deploy and maintain applications both internally or for your customers on a global scale, with the tools and frameworks of your choice.

Benefits of Microsoft Azure

Here are the most common reasons our customers transition from on-premise to Azure, or the hybrid cloud: 

  • Flexible – increase or decrease compute resources as needed
  • Open – supports almost any OS, language, tool, or framework
  • Reliable – 99.95% availability SLA and 24×7 tech support
  • Global – data housed in geo-synchronous data centres around the world
  • Economical – Only pay for what you use, when you use it

Migrate 5 servers to Azure with our Azure Migrate package. Learn more here >

How can Azure help your organisation? 

Azure is used by organisations across multiple sectors, for example: 

Healthcare – Azure meets security and compliance requirements for organisations with large quantities of sensitive and confidential data.

Education – Azure can resolve hardware issues allowing schools to offer BYOD programmes or use lower cost hardware with less computing power, as the processing power comes from Azure. 

Financial Services – Azure facilitates PCI-DSS compliance. Azure maintains a PCI DSS validation using an approved Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and is certified as compliant under PCI DSS version 3.2.1 at Service Provider Level 1. If you want to develop a cardholder data environment (CDE) or card processing service, you can rely on the Azure validation, thereby reducing the associated effort and costs of getting your own PCI DSS validation.

Legal – Azure reduces the risk of cyber threats and data breaches. Multi-layered security ensures the chance of a successful ransomware attack or data breach is minimised. 

Regardless of the industry, deployment of Azure can bring a plethora of benefits to many businesses. 

Azure versus on-premise costs

Cloud computing solutions like Microsoft Azure, use a OpEx cost model instead of the traditional CapEx. Below we detail the costs associated with each for deploying and running your IT infrastructure. 

CapEx IT infrastructure costs

The following shows the relevant costs associated with Capital Expenditure (CapEx):

  • Upfront cost on physical infrastructure
  • You need to plan your expenses at the start of a project or budget period.
  • CapEx computing costs:
    • Server costs – server clustering, redundant power supplies, and uninterruptible power supplies.
    • Storage costs – centralised storage and fault-tolerant storage for critical applications.
    • Network costs – cabling, switches, access points, routers, wide area networks, and Internet connections.
    • Backup and archive costs – backup maintenance/processes and consumables like tapes.
    • Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery costs – recover from a disaster and continue operating using backup generators. 
    • Datacentre infrastructure costs – costs for construction, building equipment, cooling, power with redundancy.
    • Technical personnel – technical expertise and workforce to install, deploy, and manage the systems in the datacentre and at the DR site.

OpEx IT infrastructure (Azure) costs

The following shows the relevant costs associated with Operational Expenditure (OpEx):

  • No upfront cost, you pay for the service/product as you use it
  • OpEx is particularly appealing if the demand fluctuates or is unknown
  • OpEX computing costs:
    • Leasing software/hardware and customised features – remove the Azure resources when they aren’t in use so that you can minimise costs.
    • Scaling charges based on usage/demand instead of fixed hardware or capacity – whether its seasonal requirements, or weekly off hours, increase of decrease your Azure resources around your budgets.
    • Billing at the user or organisation level – using budgets and cost centres you can tag all resources to bill to the correct department or team.
  • The cloud vendor also manages the cloud infrastructure, so you don’t have to.

Start your Azure journey

Whether it is for the security, flexibility, scalability, cost optimisation or access to the latest tech developments, Azure presents a host of flexible solutions around your business. 

If you’re thinking about moving to Azure have a look at our Azure Migrate service or contact our team directly >

View Case Study

5 ways Microsoft Azure cloud can help you reimagine everyday (and save your business time and money)

The Microsoft Azure cloud platform contains more than 200 products and cloud services. These products and services range from databases to virtual desktops, to quantum computing and machine learning applications. 

With such a vast product ecosystem it can be difficult to understand where Azure can fit into your IT infrastructure. To simplify things, Azure is designed to solve IT challenges, drive innovation and deliver business outcomes. One of the key benefits of using Azure is that it can save your business time and money so you can focus less on IT and more on building your business. 

Explore our Azure Migrate package here >

Here’s how to reimagine everyday with Azure…

Simplify access management with Azure Active Directory

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a cloud-based identity and access management solution. It’s an effective tool to increase security through enabling conditional access and offers six method multifactor authentication deployment. One of the key ways that Azure AD can save time is through its single sign on features. Azure AD supports thousands of SaaS applications, allowing users to sign in to all their necessary applications with a single login both saving time and increasing security.

Work anywhere with Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), formerly Windows Virtual Desktop, is a virtual desktop solution that allows users to access Windows 10 desktops and applications from anywhere, on any device. Moving desktops to the Azure cloud saves money as it allows businesses to spend less on powerful desktops and laptops, as the computing power is no longer needed on the individual device. This also supports Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programmes, further reducing costs associated with hardware.

One of the other key cost benefits to deploying AVD is that session hosts can be scaled automatically to balance loads. This increases the user experience for those using more computing power, whilst optimising the cost of each virtual machine.

Using AVD also bring a host of other benefits including increased security, centralised management and increased flexibility of working location and device.

Manage and reduce cloud spending with Azure Cost Management & Billing

Azure Cost Management & Billing is a product in the Azure suite designed to optimise cloud efficiency and decrease overall spending within your Azure subscription. Through Azure Cost Management & Billing organisations can analyse their previous and current month’s Azure spending in detail to check for correct invoice amounts, estimates for upcoming months and whether different cost entities are within budget. 

In the Budget feature, if the budget you set may be exceeded that month it will automatically shut down or change service tiers, to ensure bills are not higher than expected. Finally, the Azure Advisor can give recommendations on how to decrease overall costs and optimise usage by changing product tiers or through optimisation of database usage.

Centralise management with the Azure Portal

One of the key benefits of moving workloads to the Azure cloud, is it enables IT Admins the ability to manage all services from one portal. Within the Azure Portal it is possible to manage your organisations’ Azure subscription, including everything from simple web apps to complex cloud deployments. Having these centralised management capabilities greatly decreases the time involved in troubleshooting issues, deploying new products and services, and it supports the move to a hybrid workplace as IT Admins can manage the services from anywhere, on any device. 

Secure workloads with Azure Security Centre

Azure was built from the ground up with security in mind. Microsoft provides multi-layered security with over 200 physical data centres, and a team of more than 3,500 cybersecurity experts working together to safeguard your business assets and data. Azure also includes threat detection and centralised workload protection within the Azure Security Center. Having this visibility of all threats decreases the risk of a costly cyberattack and secures both your network and your data.

The Azure ecosystem is packed full of functionality to keep your business ahead of the game whilst saving you time and money. If you want to find out more how Azure can benefit your business, contact us today.

View Case Study

Business cases for Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) was released as Windows Virtual Desktop in 2019 and has continued to grow, both in its feature set and its user base. A key factor to the increased growth of AVD use is due to COVID-19, however, with a return to the office in sight, AVD continues to grow as a comprehensive solution for hybrid workers.

In this post we look at business cases for Azure Virtual Desktop and AVD supports key industries including healthcare, education, financial services, legal and manufacturing.

What is Azure Virtual Desktop?

AVD is a virtual desktop interface (VDI) solution that is deployed through Azure and allows users to access Windows 10 and all the necessary applications, from anywhere, on any device. AVD has many benefits to businesses and users, including increased flexibility, especially for hybrid workers, reduced costs, increased security, centralised management and increased scalability. These benefits align to many key industries’ specific needs, below are some examples.

Find out about our Azure Virtual Desktop PoC service here >

Healthcare – AVD meets security and compliance requirements

One of the key aspects of the healthcare industry that differentiates it from other industries, is the amount of sensitive data and confidential files that are stored. With AVD it is possible to set rules and permissions that allow only certain users to view information. Another reason why AVD is well-suited to the healthcare industry is that within a VDI, no data is stored on the device, but rather on the Azure cloud. Azure has some of the most secure data storage and can include multifactor authentication, and in-depth threat and vulnerability management to ensure all patient data remains in the right hands.

Education – AVD resolves hardware issues

For many education establishments, especially schools, it is difficult to procure enough machines for each student, and it is a costly endeavour to update the hardware when it becomes obsolete. Some schools offer BYOD programmes, but this can be a major security risk with unsecured devices connecting to a network. With AVD, schools are able to procure lower cost hardware with less computing power, as the processing power comes from the VDI. Similarly, with a BYOD programme, using AVD gives all end users the same experience, regardless of device, and each device has the same increased security measures of a school-issued machine.

Financial Services – AVD facilitates PCI-DSS compliant desktops

The financial services industry is an industry that is security conscious, and for good reason, as a data breach or cyberattack within this industry can cost millions for a business and erode the trust of consumers for years to come. Using a VDI solution keeps all information secure and makes it easier to deploy a PCI-DSS compliant desktop to workers, regardless of the device, or even if they are temporary contractors. Through AVD it is also possible to limit what users can do on a virtual machine to ensure that they are not transferring data or accessing systems they are not allowed to.

Legal – AVD reduces the risk of cyber threats and data breaches

The legal sector is a common target for cybercriminals due to the amount of money and sensitive data that legal firms process. Through the use of AVD the chance of a ransomware attack or data breach is significantly less likely as there is multi-layered security. With a VDI solution it also allows employees in the legal field to work from anywhere and keep up to date with constantly changing work demands.

Manufacturing  – AVD decreases hardware costs

The manufacturing industry differs from the previously mentioned industries as there are a high volume of employees, but they rarely all need to use a device at the same time. This means that manufacturing companies can have fewer devices with AVD, allowing employees to log in when they need to do work, increasing productivity whilst decreasing hardware costs.

Regardless of the industry, deployment of Azure Virtual Desktop can bring a plethora of benefits to many businesses. Whether it is for the security, flexibility, scalability or cost savings, a VDI solution like AVD can fundamentally change the way your business considers their IT infrastructure. If you want to find out more, get in touch today.

Explore
View Case Study

The future is virtual: benefits of moving to Azure Virtual Desktop

Before the days of cloud computing, virtual desktops were deployed by running VDI pods that end users would connect to and share the pod’s resources to run the operating system and business applications. This method of VDI often resulted in a poor experience for the end users due to the performance impact of sharing resources, and a costly endeavour for companies having to update the pod’s architecture as applications became more resource intensive. The move to cloud computing has vastly improved the VDI experience for end users and businesses alike, as there is no need for expensive, outdated on-premises hardware.

Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly Windows Virtual Desktop) is deployed through Azure and allows end users to access Windows 10 desktop and apps from anywhere, on any device. Regardless of the size of a business, Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) has a host of benefits and provides a comprehensive solution, especially as businesses are planning a hybrid workplace model. Below are some of these benefits.

We offer an Azure Virtual Desktop Proof of Concept service so that you can explore whether it’s a good fit for your organisation without the financial investment of a full deployment. Further details can be found here >

The benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)

Flexibility & mobility

One of the key benefits of AVD is that it allows users to access everything they need to work from anywhere on any device. This opens the possibility of implementing Bring You Own Device (BYOD) programmes as employees can use a Windows, Mac, iOS or Android device and still have the same experience as if they were using a corporate issued Windows PC. This is especially beneficial when considering a hybrid work environment: employees are able to work from anywhere with no loss to productivity or computing power.

Reduce costs

It can be difficult to manage IT hardware and devices as they need to stay up to date and there needs to be more devices than employees, in case a device fails. As a result many organisations have devices not in use that still need to be replaced when the technology becomes outdated. With WVD the device cost can be much lower as devices do not need to have high specifications. If a device can run HTML, it will be an effective work device for most users. With a BYOD programme this further reduces costs as there is no initial device cost for the business. AVD also reduces costs as there are no additional licence fees. It’s all included in your existing Microsoft 365 licence.

Increased security

Azure Virtual Desktop has built-in security features that keeps data safe no matter where an employee is working. As the name suggests, AVD is hosted on Azure so all data is stored in the cloud instead of the local desktop. Multifactor authentication is easy to deploy within Azure creating an added layer of security to prevent a security incident. Defender ATP also provides in-depth threat and vulnerability management to ensure the virtual desktop stays secure and identifies threats before they become a problem.

Centralised management

Virtual Desktops can be managed from a single point, making it significantly easier for IT administrators to patch and update all machines at the same time. This is an added benefit for hybrid working as devices can be updated and fixed without needing to be physically with the device. The benefit of centralised management extended to disaster recover too, as all data is stored on the cloud so if something does go wrong the IT administrator can restore to a clean desktop image to ensure business continuity.

Increase scalability

Business needs change over time, both in relation to the number of devices in use and the level of computing power needed per device. If a company were to hire multiple temporary workers during a busy period, this would traditionally mean buying a new device and licence for each employee. AVD makes it simple to deploy new virtual machines in minutes without needing to invest in new hardware. Session hosts can also be scaled automatically to balance loads to give a better user experience for those using more computing power whilst optimising their session host VM costs.

New name, new features, new pricing options

With the recent announcement from Microsoft that Windows Virtual Desktop is now Azure Virtual Desktop, come new features. These include:

  • Improved support for Azure Active Directory (AAD), and that will be in public preview soon
  • Automatically enrol virtual machines with Microsoft Endpoint Manager
  • Ability to manage multi-session Windows 10 Enterprise VMs with Microsoft Endpoint Manager
  • Streamlined boarding experience for Azure Virtual Desktop in the Azure portal
  • New QuickStart option for setting up virtual machines that will let users deploy them in a few minutes

And in the pipeline:

  • Future support for single sign-on, FIDO2 authentication, and more…

New pricing options for remote app streaming to external user

Microsoft also announced a new pricing option for Azure Virtual Desktop. Organisations can pay a monthly fee per user to make their apps available through Azure Virtual Desktop, instead of paying for more than what they need. This allows companies to make software available to external users as a streaming service, with each user covering their own costs.

While this new option will launch in full on January 1, 2022, Microsoft is launching a promotional campaign. From July 14 through the end of the year, companies can make apps available to external users at no extra cost. Please get in touch if you would like to find out more.

Virtual desktop technology has evolved extremely rapidly and the modern AVD is worlds apart from the original VDI pods of a decade ago. AVD is now an integral part of many businesses, both large and small as it reduces expenses, provides flexibility, and simplifies management. This technology is becoming even more prevalent with hybrid working becoming the new normal.

If you want to find out how Azure Virtual Desktop can benefit your business and save you money, book a discovery call to discuss further >

View Case Study

How to make the hybrid working work effectively for your organisation

A recent study has shown that 73% of employees want flexible work options to continue once restrictions ease, and 67% are craving more in-person time with their teams. This combination of statistics show that business leaders would be wise to listen to employees and start planning for a hybrid work model.  

A move to a hybrid workplace has many of the benefits of both remote working and a full-time return to the office. However, this decision should not be taken lightly as there are many factors that must be considered to ensure that a hybrid work environment is effective and sets employees up for success.

Hybrid work needs to focus on employee wellbeing

One of the key considerations for an effective hybrid workplace strategy is a focus on employee wellbeing. If managed correctly a flexible hybrid working model should increase employee wellbeing through better work-life balance, reduce commuting time and costs and increase motivation and communication.

Although there are potentially many wellbeing benefits of hybrid working, business leaders must consider for some employees it will be a difficult adjustment period as many employees will not have been in the office for over a year. A sudden change to their place of work may be stressful and tiring due to a return to commuting, significantly more social contact, and the challenges of a new work-life balance. For business leaders, the best way to manage employee wellbeing is through communication and flexibility. Employees should be involved in the decision of when and how a return to the office will work and specific concerns and anxieties should be addressed.

Leverage technology for collaboration and communication

Technology has played a pivotal role in the move to remote working and will continue to if hybrid working is implemented. The difference will be that technology will have to support a seamless experience regardless of where employees are working. 

From a hardware perspective this may be using a laptop with a dock in the office so employees can easily transport their device between work and home and not have to unplug cables each time. From a software perspective it is important to utilise communication and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams to their full ability. This is especially important if there are employees working in the same team but in the office on different days to ensure they do not feel disconnected from the rest of the team. It is also important to provide training and support with hybrid working technology as all employees will rely heavily on these features to enable productivity in the workplace.

Don’t forget security

In March 2020, when the first lockdown was announced, the move to remote work was abrupt and this led to poor security procedures for many companies. Cybercriminals took advantage of this, with cyber crime increasing by 72% in the first month of lockdown. 

After a year of working from home most organisations have implemented security policies and procedures to ensure that employees are working securely on their own networks. As there is more time to plan a hybrid workplace, security needs to be considered from the start. This may include deploying multi-factor authentication, Azure Virtual Desktops (previously Windows Virtual Desktop) and centralising data so employees stay secure and productive, regardless of where they are working.

It won’t be perfect straight away

Business leaders need to be thoughtful with their implementation of a hybrid work model and consider the research as well as employees’ opinions to form a comprehensive framework to set everyone up for success. That said, just as remote work was a new experience for many over a year ago, hybrid work will be the same, and there will be an adjustment period and issues that require the model to be adjusted to suit each company and individual. Although this adjustment period may be not ideal, business leaders should regularly review and optimise their hybrid work environment to ensure it works effectively for all employees.

The move from remote working to hybrid working, if managed correctly, has a plethora of benefits and can be the best of both worlds for employees and business leaders alike. If you want to find out more on how to optimise your hybrid workplace model or manage your IT and technology strategy to suit hybrid working – get in touch today!

Book a discovery call advert
View Case Study

Cloud Business Logo - white
Microsoft Gold Partner Logo - Cloud Business

Cloud Business Limited
8 North Street
Guildford
GU1 4AF

0845 680 8538
hello@cloudbusiness.com

Twitter Linkedin-in
Microsoft Gold Partner Logo - Cloud Business

2023 © Cloud Business Limited
Registered Company in England and Wales 06798438

Technology

Get connected

Work smarter

Stay safe

Who we help

Success stories

Legal

Public sector

Who we are

About us

Leadership team

Technology partners

Work for us

Resources

Blog

Knowledge hub

Get in touch

Contact us