Enterprise cloud · Microsoft Azure
Leave the server room behind without stopping the operation
Running your own servers means taking on the hardware, the backups, the security and the risk that one failure stops the business. Microsoft Azure shifts that burden to managed infrastructure, and BETABOX designs the architecture, runs the migration and keeps the cost under control.
Who it is for
Who this is for
For companies whose business depends on systems running today on their own servers or on providers with no service agreement, and for those already in the cloud who have no control over what they spend. The decision usually involves the CEO, the CFO and the technology lead.
Signs you need it
- Your operation depends on physical servers that have already reached the end of their useful life.
- You have never tested a full restore from your backups.
- A power or connectivity outage at one site stops the entire company.
- You have critical applications running on operating systems or databases the vendor no longer supports.
- Your cloud bill grew with no explanation and nobody can attribute it to a department or a project.
- You need to enable secure remote access and today you solve it with improvised workarounds.
- You are about to implement an ERP or a data project and need a clean infrastructure foundation.
Problems it solves
- Your own infrastructure ages and is paid for either way
- Servers depreciate, need refreshing, maintenance and space, and are sized for peak demand even though they sit idle the rest of the year. It is capital tied up in an asset that loses value.
- Continuity nobody has ever tested
- Having backups is not the same as being able to recover. Without restore tests and a documented recovery plan, the company discovers the real state of its continuity on the worst possible day.
- Systems the vendor no longer supports
- Applications running on versions that no longer receive security patches are an open door and, in many industries, a compliance failure. Migrating or modernizing stops being an improvement and becomes an obligation.
- Cloud costs with no owner
- Resources left running that nobody uses, test environments that stayed active and inherited sizing make the bill grow with no relation to the business. Without tagging or department budgets, nobody can correct it.
- Remote access held together by hand
- Remote desktops exposed to the internet, shared passwords and temporary exceptions that became permanent. It is the most common entry point in the security incidents we see.
- Data and AI projects with no foundation
- Analytics and artificial intelligence projects stall when the information lives on isolated servers, with no integration and no governance. The infrastructure foundation is what makes them possible.
Capabilities by process
Migration and modernization
- Inventory of servers, applications and dependencies
- Assessment of what moves as is, what gets modernized and what gets retired
- Migration of servers, databases and applications using Microsoft tooling
- Functional testing and a cutover window agreed with the business
Infrastructure and compute
- Windows and Linux virtual machines sized to actual usage
- App services and containers for modern workloads
- Virtual networks, secure connectivity to your sites and managed remote desktop
- Scaling with demand instead of sizing for the peak
Data and analytics
- Managed databases, with backup and high availability included
- Data source integration and Microsoft Fabric
- Tiered storage based on how often data is accessed
- Publishing indicators in Power BI
Integration and applications
- Integration services between your ERP, your CRM and third-party systems
- Automation of technical processes and task scheduling
- Application programming interface (API) management with access control and traceability
- Separate development, test and production environments
Continuity and recovery
- Managed backups with a defined retention period
- Replication and disaster recovery to another region
- Recovery objectives agreed with the business, not assumed by IT
- Periodic, documented restore tests
Security and governance
- Identity with Microsoft Entra ID, a second factor and conditional access
- Least-privilege access with just-in-time elevation
- Monitoring, alerting and incident response with Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Configuration policies, mandatory tagging and audit logging
Cost control
- Tagging by department, project and environment to attribute spend
- Budgets and consumption alerts
- Right-sizing of resources and scheduled shutdown of non-production environments
- Reservation commitments when the workload is stable
- Periodic spend review with the budget owner
Outcomes and KPIs
Continuity you can demonstrate
Recovery proven, not assumed. With agreed recovery objectives and periodic tests, leadership knows how much time and how much information a failure would put at risk — before it happens.
Suggested indicators
- Recovery time objective (RTO)
- Recovery point objective (RPO)
- Restore tests performed and passed
- Unplanned outages
Variable cost you can attribute
Spend stops being a hardware investment every few years and becomes an operating cost each department can explain. The valid comparison is against the full current cost of your infrastructure, not against a list price.
Suggested indicators
- Monthly cost by environment and by department
- Percentage of resources tagged with an owner
- Idle resources identified and retired
- Variance against budget
Exposed surface under control
Centralized identity, minimum access and continuous monitoring replace improvised remote access and permanent exceptions.
Suggested indicators
- Resources exposed directly to the internet
- Accounts with standing privileges
- Security alerts handled within the agreed time
- Outstanding security recommendations
Room to grow without buying hardware
Opening a site, adding users or launching a project stops depending on a procurement cycle. Infrastructure follows the business decision instead of constraining it.
Suggested indicators
- Time to stand up a new environment
- Idle capacity maintained
- Projects stalled for lack of infrastructure
How BETABOX works
Inventory and assessment
We document servers, applications, dependencies, licenses and current costs. That determines what moves as is, what gets modernized, what gets retired and in what order. The initial assessment is 100% free.
Architecture design
We define subscriptions, networking, identity, security, backup and recovery before a single workload moves. We also define the tagging and budget model, because cost control is designed in, not corrected later.
Migration in waves
We start with low-risk workloads to validate the design and move toward the critical ones with agreed windows, functional testing and a rollback plan in every wave.
Handover to operations
We turn on monitoring, alerting, backups and restore tests, and we document who responds to each type of incident.
Continuous optimization
We periodically review sizing, spend and security recommendations. We apply cloud financial management (FinOps) practices so cost stays aligned with usage.
Support
24/7 support with a response time under 1 hour on the platform, with named owners and a direct channel to our team.
Integrations
- Microsoft Entra ID as the identity shared with Microsoft 365
- Dynamics 365 Business Central: integrations, data services and test environments
- Power Platform and Microsoft Fabric over data hosted in Azure
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Sentinel for security and monitoring
- Azure AI Foundry and Azure OpenAI for artificial intelligence solutions
- Hybrid scenarios with your on-premises servers during the transition
- Third-party systems and your own applications through integration services and APIs
Security, governance and local adaptation
- Identity and least privilege
- One corporate identity, a mandatory second factor, conditional access and just-in-time privilege elevation. Nobody keeps standing administrative permissions out of convenience.
- Policy and traceability
- Mandatory configurations enforced by policy, mandatory resource tagging and an audit log of changes. Order only holds if it is automated.
- Data residency
- Azure lets you choose the region where your data is stored. We review with you which region fits your latency, business and compliance requirements, and we document the decision.
- Compliance
- Microsoft maintains a compliance and certification program for its platform. The specific requirements that apply to your industry and country, and how they are evidenced to an auditor, are reviewed case by case with your legal team.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- What is Microsoft Azure?
- It is Microsoft’s cloud platform: infrastructure, databases, integration, security, data and artificial intelligence delivered as a service, from data centers Microsoft operates in regions around the world. You consume what you need instead of buying and maintaining the equipment.
- Is moving to the cloud going to cost us more?
- It depends on how it is designed. If you replicate the sizing of a physical server and leave everything running, the cost comes as a surprise. The right comparison includes hardware, refresh cycles, power, space, licenses, backups and administration hours. We run that comparison with your numbers during the assessment, not with a market average.
- Can we migrate our current servers exactly as they are?
- In many cases yes, and it is a reasonable way to reduce risk in the first stage. During the assessment we separate what is worth moving as is, what is worth modernizing to managed services and what should simply be retired because it is no longer in use.
- Where would our data be stored?
- Azure operates in multiple regions and you choose where your data lives. We review the right option with you based on latency, business requirements and compliance, and we document it in the architecture design.
- Do we need a partner to use Azure?
- It is not mandatory, but the difference between an orderly cloud and an unpredictable bill comes down to the initial design: identity, networking, policy, tagging and backup. That work is done once and determines the cost and the risk for the years that follow.
- What if we need to keep part of the operation on our premises?
- That is a common and fully supported scenario. We design a hybrid architecture with secure connectivity between your sites and the cloud, and we define which workloads stay local for data sovereignty, latency or investment already made.
- How do we control monthly spend?
- With mandatory tagging by department and project, budgets with alerts, right-sizing of resources, scheduled shutdown of non-production environments and periodic review with the budget owner. The control is designed in from the start.
- How long does a migration take?
- It depends on the number of workloads, their dependencies and the windows the business can give you. We work in waves so value is delivered and risk is reduced from the first one; the schedule is set once the inventory closes.
How long would your company be down if a server failed today?
Request an infrastructure assessment. We build your inventory, review continuity, security and costs, and hand you a wave-based migration plan. The initial assessment is 100% free.
Contact
Request a complimentary assessment
Tell us what your company needs and a BETABOX advisor will get in touch to schedule a call at your convenience. The initial assessment is 100% free of charge.
- +1 (754) 209-2071
- Bookings
- Book directly on the calendar