You didn’t hear the news… and if not, where have you been – we’ve been raving about this for some time now! Anyhow, for those don’t know what I’m on about – July 2019 we were awarded and have been recognised by Microsoft as an Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP).
Great news… but what does that mean exactly?
In short, it means that through a pretty extensive audit (64-step) from an independent body, we’re in tip top condition to support and guide our clients to Azure, and look after them whilst they’re there – sounds lovely, doesn’t it?
It means that if you have a small footprint in Azure, we can help guide you, look after you, and most importantly get value for you. Even if you are not in Azure, we’re here to help and guide you on your journey! For those with massive footprints in Azure, we’re here to help you get the most from your investment! There’s a bit of a theme here.
It goes on
In wider news and on a more serious note, Azure is not a completed project – it needs continuous work and ongoing management. We’ve all been there when moving to something new – it’s exciting, it’s strange and at first, it’s odd to have that uncapped power – which is where we can help. Not keeping an eye on Azure can be expensive – you moved there for some efficiencies, right? One of them is probably cost and proving to the Accountants and Finance team, that cloud will be cheaper and how the organisation will benefit from scalability, without burning a hole in the annual budget – If unmanaged, Azure will naturally be spinning away on a cost of consumption model, which ultimately means when you’re not using it – it may still be working and costing you -and you may not even know about it! It’s like your friend borrowing your log in to a popular steaming service and using it every now and then… You’re paying for it, but it may be used elsewhere by departments un-tracked. I know it’s Halloween and I don’t mean to scare – but if you’re not looking after it, you may get a scare!
Anyhow I hope we both agree that Azure is a continual project and why wouldn’t you want to refine things?
It could be that over time, you move to the cloud, improve a number of things from efficiencies, cost, downtime, and freeing up staff to go driving innovation and not firefighting with maintenance. However, over time, it is important to reflect on usage – can things be moved around for better efficiencies? Has Azure got new machines we can use at lower cost? Can we auto scale so we can hit every client that comes to our website and wants to interact – we don’t want to miss any opportunity? Ultimately how do we do this and how can we begin to forecast cost? – This is where the Expert MSP community comes in, it’s our bread and butter – let us take the spooky stuff off your hands, let us manage it and report to you – We’re experts after all! 😉
Without going on too much – this is just one example of where we help – with Azure, there is such a lot to get your head around so why wouldn’t you lean on the experts?
To end I thought I’d share some comments from Microsoft on our appointment which back up some of my comments above:
Demonstrating Extensive Skills – risual have attained Gold Cloud Platform status and have a minimum of 15 full-time employees who have passed exams designated by Microsoft to demonstrate technical expertise in Azure.
Delivered Client Success – risual are committed to client success on Azure through high-fidelity managed services, validated through customer experience and case studies.
Invested in Advanced Support – risual have access to advanced Microsoft support offering to help resolve issues quickly and effectively.
Validated People, Process and Technologies – Have passed a stringent 64-step audit carried out by an independent auditor which validated our people, processes and technology for delivering robust managed services on Azure.
For any more information, feel free to reach out to the team over our website, give us a call or email me at jackt@risual.com – before things go bump in the night! (sorry – couldn’t resist a cheesy end)
