Azure Solves the Supply Chain for IT Hardware

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Guest Author:  Kirk Evans

[this post first appeared on pavliks.com]

Keep your business moving forward instead of being stuck in neutral waiting for bottlenecks in the Supply Chain to open.

There are many things I miss about owning my own business.  The freedom to decide on what opportunities to pursue.  Decisions on how you will perform and present yourself as a business.  What I don't miss are the challenges you all face daily.  Workforce shortages, increasing costs, and a problem that is becoming more prevalent with no signs of going away, supply chain issues.

The last issue is the purpose of this blog.  While I cannot offer a solution for global issues, I may have a cloud-based alternative to get your business moving forward instead of being stuck in neutral waiting for bottlenecks in the IT hardware supply chain to open.

Secure Solution is Paramount

 If you have been reading our posts in the past, you will understand that pavliks.com's paramount principle for supporting our clients is security.  Whether that be your backup, your firewall, your monitoring solution or your antivirus, we know that without a solid base of security, any "tower" of IT infrastructure will topple.  On the topic of investing in security, did you know that Microsoft invests nearly one billion dollars a year to secure their cloud service referred to as Azure?

Azure is the fastest growing segment of our business currently, with good reason.  Not only is it a reliable, secure and accessible solution for our clients, it also offers a cloud-based alternative to the server hardware you may be waiting for.  Azure presents an option for our clients that gives them a subscription-based platform that is much more predictable from a budgetary perspective while allowing them to enjoy the maximized security that Microsoft has invested in.

So why isn't everyone on Azure?

 In my experience, many of us are not "early adopters".  It may be that moving to a cloud-based solution doesn't solve an immediate need or that we want to wait until the costs and potential issues are sorted out before we commit.  I do liken Azure to the music industry and how we consume it as individuals.  We started off with records, tapes and CDs. Items you could hold in your hand and admire in your home.  As the industry evolved, we arrived at streaming platforms like spotify and apple music.  Now, if you buy a new vehicle, they don't offer a CD player unless you special order it.  Why?  Because the ease of use and reliability of streaming services trumps the few individuals who nostalgically want to look at their CD case and select music from their collection.

This mirrors the IT world.  Instead of needing a server room and a budget for replacing hardware every 4-6 years, you merely subscribe to Azure and choose the level of hardware you need in their data center to provide your business with tools it needs to be more efficient.  It also offers you an avenue to get the upgraded hardware you need without waiting for the world's supply chain to catch up.

If you would like more information or are curious if Azure is right for your business, drop me a line.  We can even have an IT professional perform a free assessment, gathering the information you need to decide.