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It’s a fast-paced digital world requiring businesses to innovate and adapt to stay ahead. CIOs are at the helm of organisations, steering them through the digital transformation maze, which is supported by emerging technologies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. Constantly innovating and evolving to remain compliant and elevate operations continues to challenge leaders. However, Azure, Microsoft’s fastest-growing division, can help by enabling digital transformation and new operational efficiencies.
In their latest financial reporting, Microsoft’s cloud revenue soared by 22 per cent to USD$38.9 billion, with Azure driving 34 per cent of that, demonstrating significant growth. According to Morningstar, enhancing its AI offering contributed to Microsoft’s strong revenue growth, and its recent earnings reflect the appetite for agile digital transformation solutions. According to Gartner, Microsoft Azure’s market share increased to 24 per cent of the cloud computing market in Q1 2024. AWS maintained the top spot with 31 per cent, leaving GCP in third place with 11 per cent of the market share.
In Australia, there has been a solid uptake of Azure, and its digital advantages have been felt far and wide, especially in the financial services sector. Industry leaders such as the Bank of Queensland, National Australia Bank and Westpac have recently embraced Azure, highlighting its growing prominence in the cloud platform market.
Before diving any deeper, however, let’s explore what Azure is –and isn’t.
What does Microsoft Azure do?
Azure is akin to a conductor leading a symphony of digital resources. It is a premier, trusted public cloud computing platform that opens pathways for businesses to benefit from enterprise-grade security, improved compliance, hybrid connectivity and more. Azure offers trusted solutions including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). It is not, however, a computing silver bullet (but it comes close!) or only for large enterprises, two common misconceptions.
One of its biggest strengths is that Azure enables seamless integration with the Microsoft ecosystem and a wide selection of other popular applications such as SAP, Oracle, and Salesforce. What does this look like? Basically, if you’re already operating on Microsoft365, all your security features, user accounts and licenses are effortlessly integrated into Azure without any additional steps. Nice, right?
Azure also excels in these three key areas:
1. Security first
Azure fosters trust by delivering multiple layers of security to businesses with advanced threat protection, identity management, and encryption. Ever heard of the Azure Security Centre? It can help monitor and protect workloads, giving CIOs real-time insights and automated threat detection.
2. Built-in compliance
Azure aligns with a variety of global and business-specific compliance standards, such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS and CPS234. Its compliance framework was designed to meet regulatory requirements efficiently, which is key in highly regulated industries such as finance and the government.
3. Data protection you can trust
Businesses can protect their sensitive information with Azure’s built-in data protection capabilities, offering encryption, access controls, and regular security audits. Additionally, Azure’s Backup and Site Recovery boosts resilience against data loss.
The top business applications of Azure
Businesses dedicated to driving digital transformation while trying to keep up with compliance regulations can find support in Azure. IT leaders can leverage Azure’s access tools that offer built-in compliance controls, configuration management tools, implementation and guidance resources, and third-party audit reports. Nifty tools such as Azure Security and Compliance Blueprints can also help businesses quickly build, deploy, and revise compliant environments, including certifications like ISO:27001. There’s also an Azure Security Centre that can combine security management and advanced threat protection throughout hybrid cloud workloads.
In Australia’s heavily regulated financial services sector, leaders can be rest assured that Azure meets compliance requirements for APRA CPS 231 Outsourcing, APRA CPS 234 Information Security, Australian Privacy Act, and PCI DSS. Azure’s strong focus on compliance means that CIOs can trust that their sensitive information is safe, a strategic and essential imperative in a world rife with data breaches and cyber incidents.
Azure’s scalability is also incredibly attractive for organisations, as it enables operational efficiency through scalable resources and integrated services that empower industries to streamline their operational workloads, boost productivity, and cut IT costs.
Next stop – embrace innovation with less complication through Azure
In summary, Azure unlocks endless possibilities for businesses to thrive in an unsecure, complex digital world. Its integration capabilities are appealing, allowing CIOs to orchestrate the modernisation of operations regardless of the platform. Azure ensures CIOs foster a unified IT ecosystem that supports operational efficiency and accelerates digital transformation.
To ensure seamless integration, we recommend leveraging Azure’s certified partner programs that align with various types of specialisations like infrastructure, data, and applications. A trusted partner such as Experteq can also help organisations find their feet, allowing them to walk and then run toward digital transformation success.
To learn more about how to apply solutions like Azure strategically, contact us today.
