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7 reason why you should migrate from aws to azure

16 Jul 2022
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Should you migrate from AWS to Azure?

A battle of the Titans! Although AWS and Azure may look similar in their service offerings, we at Alphavima find that Microsoft Azure has the edge over Amazon AWS. Read on to find out if Azure is the right choice for your business. Or perhaps, if both AWS and Azure are a good fit for your business and IT strategy.

Some may think that AWS is a market leader and, hence that would be an obvious choice. However,

you must know all the pros and cons of each of these cloud service providers first before making a choice. Ultimately, it all depends on what you will use the cloud for and which provider will be more cost-effective for your business.

Now let us unravel the mystery on should you migrate from AWS to Azure. Let's look at the below factors in more detail.

1. Usability

When it comes to usability, Microsoft Azure is an easy choice. As most small and medium-sized businesses use Microsoft programs, integrating with Azure becomes easy. The development requirements are simple to implement. For small businesses that may not have the budget for IT professionals, Azure is an ideal choice. While AWS also offers similar features and greater customization, the implementation is more challenging mainly because it requires a steeper learning curve. So, if you do not have resources already familiar with AWS, this part can get tricky.

2. Flexibility

Small and medium-sized businesses require greater flexibility and agility. As their needs constantly change, they require multiple apps to be deployed every now and then. Azure and AWS both offer a wide range of apps. This said, Microsoft is faster in adding new features and apps into its cloud services portfolio in a bid to offer the most comprehensive cloud environment for its clients.

3. Ease of migration

Cloud migration comes with its own set of risks and threats. These include unclear cloud migration strategy, security threats, loss of data, cloud compatibility to existing system architecture, lack of visibility in the public cloud environment, and unnecessary expenditure on cloud costs. If your business has already invested in Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics 365, then migrating to Azure becomes a breeze. And because Azure has native integrations with Windows development tools, it becomes a lot cheaper than AWS. If your business is using Oracle, MySQL, or other non-Microsoft databases on a Linux or Unix server, then AWS is a better choice as it makes data migration easier. But Azure has an edge here with its hybrid cloud capabilities that are superior to AWS.

4. Hybrid Cloud

Cloud deployment is a critical stage during migrating from AWS to Azure. Microsoft defines hybrid cloud as, ‘A hybrid cloud—sometimes called a cloud hybrid—is a computing environment that combines an on-premises data centre (also called a private cloud) with a public cloud, allowing data and applications to be shared between them.’ The choice of opting for a hybrid cloud environment depends upon the nature of your business and your IT strategy. To understand this, it is important to understand the meaning of latency in cloud computing. Cloud service latency is the delay between a client request and a cloud service provider's response. So, if latency is a critical element for your business, a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environment becomes important. Also, companies that store sensitive data, like banks, are likely to opt for a hybrid cloud model where they can store some data on the public cloud as well as their own private, on-premises servers. Azure recognized the need for a hybrid cloud environment earlier and provides more extensive range of hybrid options than AWS.

5. Cost

Which one is better in terms of pricing? Well, it depends on your use case. Both AWS and Azure have a pay-as-you-use policy. The difference is AWS charges users by the hour, while Azure users pay by the minute. Microsoft charges customers twice if they are running Windows workloads on AWS. Hence, AWS is five times more expensive than Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server. You can use the Azure Pricing Calculator and AWS Pricing Calculator to get a basic idea of the cost difference.

6. Security

Both AWS and Azure are fully capable of keeping your cloud data secure. It is worthy to note that Microsoft has pledged to invest heavily in security to protect customers’ data from cyber threats - a $1B investment per year. Azure also boasts of more enhanced security features. Azure’s features to control user permission to access the resources on your cloud are more enhanced and simplified. The Azure Directory is a more robust, secure, efficient, and user-friendly interface.

7. PaaS Capabilities

Platform as a service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model where a third-party provider delivers hardware and software tools to users over the internet. The major advantage of PaaS is its ability to improve a developer's productivity. It does this by saving their time as there is no need of setting up/maintaining the core stack as well as speed up the process of creation of apps. Both AWS and Azure are alike in their PaaS capabilities for virtual networking, storage, and machines. Though, Azure stands out here because it delivers more effective and faster PaaS capabilities which is a more critical part of cloud infrastructure.

Above were some of the reasons why 95% of Fortune 500 companies trust Azure. So, keep the above benefits in mind if you plan to migrate from AWS to Azure. Migration to the cloud involves a series of steps. Executing those strategically so you can avoid the migration risks is important. Choose a technology partner that understands your business objectives and guides to strategize and get the implementation right. The choice between AWS and Azure depends on your individual use case. AWS is a complex and highly customizable platform that works best for companies that run non-Windows services. Azure is best suited when your company has already invested in the Microsoft technology stack. Some businesses also find it better to use both AWS and Azure to avoid complete dependency on a vendor. Ultimately, it all depends on your organization’s needs and objectives and how you can use the best of Azure or AWS or both to align with those needs.