By now, cloud computing has gone from a cutting-edge technology to a business best practice for companies of all sizes and industries. While migrating to the cloud is generally seen as an advantageous move, too many companies aren’t sure what to do once they get there.

 
In particular, the cloud presents a new opportunity for you to transform and modernize your legacy IT. Below, we’ll discuss three different Microsoft Azure cloud technologies—Microsoft Flow, Microsoft Power Apps, and Azure Functions—and how you can use them to enact digital transformation within your own organization.

1. Microsoft Flow

   Microsoft Flow is a tool for automating tasks and processes by connecting separate applications and services. Although Flow supports many cloud apps and services, it can also run on-premises, potentially serving as a “bridge” for your legacy IT.

   Microsoft Flow makes it simpler for organizations to achieve business process automation (BPA) through built-in connectors between apps and services. Flow includes over 100 pre-built connectors, including Salesforce, Microsoft SQL Server, Outlook, Twitter, Slack, and many more. Flow also includes dozens of pre-built templates, such as saving Gmail attachments to Dropbox or sending weather updates to Microsoft’s Yammer social network.

   The potential use cases of Microsoft Flow include:
    

   • Sending a notification such as a text message or email when a certain event occurs (e.g., when a new customer prospect is added to Microsoft Dynamics CRM).
   • Collecting data (e.g., monitoring social media for posts that mention a certain keyword, and then performing sentiment analysisto determine how popular opinion changes over time).
   • Copying files between different locations (e.g., between SharePoint, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive).

 

2. Microsoft Power Apps

   Microsoft Power Apps is a low-code solution for building robust, production-ready, mobile-friendly enterprise software applications. Power Apps empowers even non-technical employees to create and launch the software they need to become more productive and effective in their jobs.

   Power Apps benefits from a user-friendly, drag-and-drop visual interface, automatically handling the business logic behind the scenes. The Power Apps platform also easily integrates with other apps and services in the Microsoft ecosystem, including OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, and third-party services such as Google Docs and Oracle.

 

3. Azure Functions

   Azure Functions is Microsoft Azure’s serverless computing solution. The term “serverless computing” is a bit of a misnomer: applications still run on servers, but developers don’t have to worry about the tasks of provisioning and maintaining them. Instead, smaller functions are run only in response to a given trigger or event, and then the server is shut down once execution is complete.

   “Function as a service” solutions such as Azure Functions have multiple potential benefits:
    

   • Applications are decomposed into smaller, lightweight functions.
   • Functions are only executed on-demand, saving resources and cutting costs.
   • Serverless computing requires zero support and maintenance obligations for developers.

Conclusion

Microsoft Flow, Microsoft Power Apps, and Azure Functions are three Azure cloud technologies that can help digitally transform your business—and we’ve just scratched the surface of what’s possible with Microsoft Azure. Here at Datavail, we should know: we’re a Microsoft Gold Partner who has already helped hundreds of our clients successfully migrate their applications and database workloads to the Azure cloud.

To learn how we used Flow, Power Apps, and Azure Functions for one client to modernize their CRM software, download our case study “Financial Services Company Modernizes Their CRM with Azure Cloud.” You can also get in touch with our team of Azure experts today for a chat about your own business needs and objectives.

MariaDB is a powerful open-source relational database that can expand to even more functionality when you migrate it to Azure Database for MariaDB. This Microsoft cloud service is built off the community edition and offers a fully managed experience suitable for many use cases.

The Benefits of Moving to Azure for MariaDB

Azure’s cloud platform offers many benefits, especially if you’re migrating an on-premises MariaDB database.

• Scaling your capacity on an as-needed basis, with changes happening within seconds.
• High availability is built-in to the platform and doesn’t require additional costs to implement.
• Cost-effective pay-as-you-go pricing model.
• Your backup and recovery processes are covered, with support for point-in-time restoration reaching up to 35 days.
• Enterprise-grade security that keeps your data safe whether it’s in transit or at rest.
• The underlying infrastructure is managed, and many processes are automated to reduce administrative load on your end.
• Continue using the MariaDB tools and technology that you’re familiar with while taking advantage of Microsoft Azure’s robust platform.

Migration Options for Azure Database for MariaDB 

If you want to move your MariaDB databases to Azure, you have two migration options: Azure Database for MariaDB or MariaDB on an Azure-hosted virtual machine. The right choice for your organization depends on the feature set you’re looking for and how much control you want over the underlying infrastructure.

Azure Database for MariaDB

Azure Database for MariaDB is a Database as a Service (DBaaS) and handles the vast majority of underlying administration and maintenance for your databases. The platform uses MariaDB Community Edition. The pricing model for this service is pay-as-you-go, and you’re able to scale your resources easily based on your current demand.

You have high availability databases right from the start of your service, and you never need to worry about applying patches, restoring databases in the event of an outage, or fixing failed hardware.

Since this migration option is a fully managed service, you have several limitations to contend with. These include:

• You cannot use MyISAM, BLACKHOLE, or ARCHIVE for your storage engine.
• No direct access to the underlying file system.
• Several roles are restricted or not supported, such as DBA, SUPER privilege, and DEFINER.
• Unable to change the MySQL system database.
• Server storage size only scales up, not down.
• You can’t use dynamic scaling to or from Basic pricing tiers.
• Password plugins are not supported.
• Several minimum and maximum database values are dictated by your pricing tier.

MariaDB on Azure VM

MariaDB on Azure VM is an Infrastructure as a Service solution. Azure fully manages the virtual machine, but you retain control over everything else. One of the biggest benefits of this migration option is that it allows you to use the exact MariaDB version that you want to. You’re also able to make the optimizations and tweaks needed to get the most out of your database engine.

The biggest drawback of MariaDB on Azure VM is that you’re controlling everything other than the VM itself. You have a significant amount of configuration and maintenance tasks that your database administrators are responsible for.

Which MariaDB Migration Option Is Best for Your Organization?

Both MariaDB migration options have their merits. The right option for your organization varies based on your use cases, the technical resources at your disposal, your budget, and the pace of your MariaDB project.

Azure Database for MariaDB

• Azure Database for MariaDB is billed hourly with fixed, predictable rates. It offers a more cost-effective experience than a comparable Azure VM deployment.
• Another area of cost savings comes from not needing to manage the underlying infrastructure. Azure handles the database engine, hardware, operating system, and software needed to run MariaDB. Your database administrators don’t need to worry about patching, configuring, or troubleshooting anything relating to this part of the infrastructure. They can focus on optimizing your databases, tuning queries and indexes, configuring sign-ins, and handling audits.
• Your databases gain built-in high availability that comes with a 99.99% SLA guarantee.
• All of your MariaDB data is replicated automatically as part of the disaster recovery functionality.
• In the event of a server failure, your MariaDB database has a transparent fail-over in place.
• Azure Database for MariaDB scales seamlessly to handle workloads, with managed load balancing.
• Use the data-in replication feature to create a hybrid MariaDB environment. You’re able to sync data from an external MariaDB server to Azure Database for MariaDB. The external server can be a virtual machine, an on-premises server, or even another cloud database service.
• Advanced threat detection helps to identify potential cyberattacks proactively to protect your databases better.
• Customizable monitoring and alerting keep you in the loop on your database’s activity.
• The ideal use cases for Azure Database for MariaDB include projects that require a fast time to market, cost-conscious organizations, organizations with limited technical resources, workloads that need to handle fluctuating demands, and organizations that want an easy-to-deploy managed database.

MariaDB on Azure VM 

• Your costs include the provisioned VM, the MariaDB license, and the staff to handle the administrative overhead. However, these expenses are often less than an on-premises deployment.
• You can run any version of MariaDB, which offers more flexibility than the managed database service.
• You can achieve more than 99.99% database availability by configuring more high availability features for your MariaDB database, although this will drive up the cost.
• You have full control over when you update the underlying operating system and database software, which allows you to plan around new features and maintenance windows. Azure VM provides automated functionality that streamlines some of these processes.
• Install additional software to support your MariaDB deployment.
• Define the exact size of the VM, the number of disks, and the storage configuration used for your MariaDB databases.
• Zone redundancy is supported with this migration option.
• The ideal use cases for MariaDB on Azure VM migrating existing on-premises applications and databases into the cloud without needing to rearchitect any layers.

Preparing for Your MariaDB Azure Migration

Moving your on-premises MariaDB database to one of Azure’s cloud-based options is a complex process. Datavail is here to help with that process. We’re a Microsoft Gold Partner and one of Microsoft’s Preferred Azure Partners for Enterprise and Mid-Market companies. With over 50 Azure certified architects and engineers, we can take you from start to finish and beyond with your migration. Contact us to learn more about our Azure services and MariaDB expertise.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is Microsoft’s enterprise solution for customer relationship management, helping you keep track of all your contacts and relationships with clients and prospective clients. But as Microsoft increasingly becomes a cloud-first company, should you migrate Dynamics CRM from your on-premises deployment to the Microsoft Azure cloud?

 
Thinking about migrating Dynamics CRM to the D365 in Azure is especially timely, given a few important end of support (EOS) dates:

• Mainstream support for Dynamics CRM 2016has already ended in January 2021.
• Extended support for Dynamics CRM 2011ended in July 2021.

 
If you don’t want to fall out of compliance, or miss out on new features and functionality, and expose yourself to security risks, you need to upgrade your Dynamics CRM software—but should you remain on-premises or move to the Azure cloud? In this article, we’ll discuss the factors to consider, as well as a few tips for your Dynamics CRM cloud migration.

Should You Migrate Dynamics CRM to the Cloud?

For most Dynamics CRM users, migrating to the Azure cloud will be the right choice. Migrating Dynamics CRM on-premises to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online comes with several benefits, including:

• Higher availability: Microsoft guarantees 99.9 percent uptime for Dynamics 365 Online—that’s a total of less than 9 hours of downtime for every year you use the software.
• Greater flexibility: Cloud solutions such as Dynamics 365 Online are accessible from anywhere, at any time, improving users’ flexibility and productivity.
• Cloud integrations: In the Azure cloud, it’s easier to integrate your Dynamics CRM data with your enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, as well as other apps and services in the Microsoft ecosystem such as Office 365 and Power BI.
• Fewer maintenance obligations: Cloud vendors are responsible for application support and maintenance, so your IT team doesn’t have to worry about unexpected problems and crashes.

 
Of course, your own business goals and requirements may be different—so be sure to speak with a trusted Azure migration partner who can help you decide on the best path forward.

Tips for a Dynamics 365 Azure Cloud Migration

• Understand the new features and functionality that will be available with your move to the cloud. This is especially important for organizations who are still on an older on-premises version of Dynamics CRM, and thus haven’t used this new functionality before. Consider how you might leverage features such as automation to improve employees’ productivity and efficiency.
• Take the time to review your on-premises enterprise data before proceeding with the cloud migration. Is there unused or out-of-date information that needs to be pruned? How will the on-premises CRM database map to the Dynamics 365 database in the cloud?
• Additionally, consider combining your Dynamics CRM cloud migration with another Azure cloud migration, such as Office 365.

Conclusion

Moving your Dynamics CRM deployment to the cloud is no easy feat—which is why you’ll likely need a Dynamics CRM cloud migration partner. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Datavail has helped hundreds of our clients successfully migrate their applications and data to the Azure cloud.

To learn how we helped one client move their on-premises Dynamics CRM deployment to the cloud, check out Datavail’s case study “Financial Services Company Modernizes Their CRM with Azure Cloud.” You can also get in touch with our team of Azure experts today for a chat about your own business needs and objectives.

Virtualization and containerization both offer ways for software developers to isolate environments from the physical infrastructure, but they use different approaches to achieve this goal. Choosing between virtualization and containerization depends on knowing the strengths and weaknesses of both, and the most applicable use cases.

What are Virtual Machines and Containers?

Let’s start with the basics of each technology.

Virtual Machines

A virtual machine (VM) provides an environment that acts as a full physical computer system. It does this through hypervisor software, which virtualizes the underlying hardware for use by the VMs. They have their own operating systems, libraries, and kernels you can use for software development and other purposes.

You may only have one physical server, but you can run multiple VMs that emulate a full PC environment. The VMs are isolated from one another and the underlying physical server operating system.

Containers

Containers virtualize the operating system, rather than the underlying hardware. They are isolated environments, but they share the host operating system and other resources, such as libraries. To implement containers, you need containerization technology software.

Container Pros and Cons

Pros

• Portability: Containers share the host operating system and associated resources, so their overall size is small. A container typically has the application and any required dependencies. Moving containers is a simple, resource-light task.
• Optimized resource allocation: You only need a single copy of the operating system for all of your containers, so you use fewer hardware resources compared to a VM. When you’re working with a tight software development budget, being able to pare down the overall resources required for the project can go a long way.
• Easy to update individual software components: If you need to make changes to a specific container, it’s easy to do so. You’re able to redeploy your containers without involving the rest of the application. Patching security holes and adding new functionality is a simple process with this technology.
• Seamless horizontal scaling: Many container orchestration platforms offer scaling for your containers, so you can add the right number of pods for your application. You only scale the containers that require more resources, so it’s a cost-efficient way of handling different software components.

Cons

• Less isolated: Containers share vital resources such as the operating system kernels and libraries, so they have less isolation between the environments. If you’re trying to maximize your security measures, the lack of full isolation may not be ideal for your development requirements.
• You’re limited to one operating system: You’re not able to spin up different operating systems for containerization. The host operating system is the only one available for containers, and any changes to it impacts the full environment.

Virtual Machine Pros and Cons

Pros

• Full isolation for better security: Fully isolated environments stop VMs from impacting one another. A problem with one of the operating systems will not spill over into the other environments.
• Supports multiple operating systems: You can set up as many operating systems as you’d like on your system. You can develop software for multiple operating systems without needing additional hardware, which also makes testing your applications easier.
• Potential for greater overall capacity: VMs typically have more resources than comparable containerization environments, as VMs need everything from the operating system to virtualized hardware for each instance. If you’re not using the maximum capacity of your VM hardware, you can leverage the overage for higher-resource processes.

Cons

• Less portability: The fully isolated VM environment comes at the cost of portability. You may be working with VMs that are packaged into multiple gigabytes, depending on the resources that it has available. You’re not able to quickly move this software to a new destination, and shifting it is a more complicated process than containers.
• Lack of resource optimization: Your VM environments have many of the same resources, duplicated for each instance. This lack of optimization can increase your costs, and you have to predict the overall capacity for all of your environments when configuring the VMs.
• More OS maintenance requirements: The more operating systems you have, the more updates you need to stay on top of. This con is minimal if you have a limited number of environments, but it can quickly add up.

Matching Virtualization and Containerization to the Ideal Use Cases

Get the most out of both technologies by learning more about the use cases at which they excel. They’re valuable tools for every software development team, and using them effectively can help you meet your application goals.

Containers work best for applications that are cloud-native, have multi-cloud deployments, need horizontal scalability, have frequent updates, and have less stringent security requirements.

Virtualization works best when you have high-security requirements, use more than one operating system, have resource-intensive operations, and may or may not be deploying the application to a single cloud.

Using Containers and VMs Together

Containerization and virtualization are not an either/or prospect. You can use both together to great effect. In this configuration, the container’s host operating system is powered by a virtual machine. You’re able to create a dedicated, isolated environment for your containers while sharing the hardware resources with other VM environments.

If you’d like to learn more about choosing containers, VMs, or both, contact us at Datavail. We have the technical insight you need to make the best decision for your business goals.

It’s been almost a decade since Oracle Cloud ERP hit the stands in 2012. As one of the earlier cloud service options for the financial industry, it has built up an eclectic client base over the years from SMBs to major institutions like Thomson Reuters and Bank of America. Within Cloud ERP, there are nine modules companies can invest in, each of which provide different services to different business units across an enterprise.

 
Today, we’ll discuss Oracle Cloud Financials, a widely used module that modernizes accounting and speeds the pace of financial processes for companies across the globe. Cloud Financials enables organizations to close the books faster, process invoices with simplicity, manage revenue, and improve cash flow all from one application. But how? Let’s look at the top six features of Oracle Cloud Financials that deliver the biggest business benefits.

1. Close Manager

Reducing the monthly close cycle is top-of-mind for most financial professionals – and Oracle Cloud Financials can help speed the process. Close Manager offers a visual representation of the close process from start to finish across the entire organization. It automatically identifies subledgers that are not closed and employs real-time monitoring to identify changes in account balances. The account monitor also compares existing data against a baseline to identify any anomalies that might exist so you can step in and manage them.

2. Touchless Supplier Invoice Processing

Cloud Financials takes the strain out of processing invoices. With touchless invoice processing, Intelligence Document Recognition (IDR) completes and validates your invoices using the latest recognition technology. In addition, you receive real-time alerts notifying you of any issues or exceptions that might come up in the process. A comprehensive display of all transactions and single-click approvals or releases relieve you of the time and effort of sorting through these invoices one-by-one.

3. Self-service Customer Billing

These days, customers expect a seamless billing and paying experience that can be completed with minimal effort. Cloud Financials offers a self-service solution where customers can manage their accounts, view bills, and contact customer service all from the comfort of their digital device of choice. From the organizational side, you can highlight notable transactions directly in the work area and use the credit management portal to look up customer credit profiles and reviews.

4. High-performing Collections

Digging further into customer analysis and billing, Cloud Financials allows you to score your customers based on their ability to pay. From there, you can automate your payment request letters and calls to collections agents. You can also assign automated and manual tasks to put your collection strategy into action. See all of your collections data in one place in the collections manager dashboard where you can pull your most valuable KPIs and assess the health of your receivables.

5. Expense Matching

This might seem like a small feature, but it packs a big punch. With expense matching, your application prepopulates expenses originating from credit card transactions so it’s easy to then match them with the corresponding receipts. You can also enter receipts using an iPhone or Android, or use the digital assistant to enter them using voice or text.

6. Fast Reporting

Good reporting is the hallmark of good financial management. Without reports you can rely on, you run the risk of delivering data to your executives that doesn’t reflect the challenges and successes your company is experiencing. Cloud Financials delivers reports with pre-aggregated financial information that can be viewed from a configurable and customized dashboard. You can analyze general ledger account balances across multiple dimensions and use several chart types and interactive tools to view the data. And, of course, as is standard this day and age, you can view your reporting from your mobile device.

Final Thoughts

As a popular module of the Oracle Cloud ERP suite of applications, Oracle Cloud Financials has a lot to offer organizations of all sizes. From faster invoice processing to automated expense matching to comprehensive interactive dashboards, this cloud software can deliver business benefits that are worth the investment.

It’s one thing to read about the upside of Oracle Cloud ERP applications – it’s another to see it in action. One Datavail client that invested in Oracle Cloud Financials was able to speed financial processing, automate data capture, and increase the security of their financial data simply by asking our experienced ERP team to set up features and modules of the software they didn’t know how to implement. This situation is common and leaves companies with tedious processes that could be easily ameliorated from within their own application.

To read more about this story and learn how you can take full advantage of your cloud applications, download our case study, “Community Lender Improves Process Speed and SOX Compliance with Oracle Cloud ERP.”

If you’ve made the move to Oracle Cloud ERP already, you likely already understand the value of each of these application features. If you haven’t, you have a few additional reasons to make the move. Regardless of whether you are pre- or post-implementation, Datavail’s Cloud ERP Team can help. Contact us to discuss how we can help you make the most of your investment.

More and more organizations are moving their analytics to the cloud—and Oracle is one of the most popular destinations. In a November 2020 ranking by Cloud Wars, Oracle was the second fastest-growing cloud vendor with an estimated quarterly revenue growth of 33 percent, behind only Google Cloud.

 
Looking to move your own analytics workflows to Oracle Cloud? As an Oracle Platinum Partner, Datavail has the skills and experience that companies need to make their next Oracle cloud analytics migration a success. Below, we will go over the benefits of running analytics in the Oracle Cloud, as well as some tips, tricks, and best practices for an Oracle cloud analytics migration.

Source: https://docs.oracle.com/en/solutions/oci-curated-analysis/img/analysis-enterprise-and-streamed-data-architecture.png

The Benefits of Analytics on Oracle Cloud

Choosing the right cloud analytics partner is an essential part of a successful migration—so why Oracle Cloud? Migrating analytics to the Oracle cloud has the following benefits:

• Lower IT costs: By saving money on expenses such as on-premises hardware, software licenses, and ongoing support and maintenance, many organizations find that cloud analytics is significantly more cost-effective.
• Increased scalability and flexibility: Instead of running up against hardware constraints, organizations can make their analytics workloads more scalable and flexible by migrating to the cloud. Oracle Cloud Analytics makes it easy for users to scale their usage of Oracle Compute Units (OCPUs) up or down as necessary.
• Data backup and business continuity: Backing up your business-critical information using Oracle Database Backup Cloud Service is essential for recovering quickly from data loss or disaster.

Tips and Tricks for Moving Analytics to Oracle Cloud

While there are many advantages of Oracle cloud analytics, moving your analytics platform to the cloud is not as easy as just snapping your fingers. Below, we offer some advice and best practices for an Oracle cloud analytics migration.

1. Start simple

   The Oracle cloud ecosystem is vast, encompassing a wide range of services—just getting started can be intimidating and confusing. By starting small and simple with a pilot project, you can rack up a few “quick wins” that will convince key stakeholders of the benefits of an Oracle cloud migration.

2. Take full advantage of the Oracle ecosystem

   That said, there is no shortage of synergies in the Oracle ecosystem that your organization can realize when you do ramp up your use of the Oracle cloud.

   One of Datavail’s clients, a healthcare and pharmaceutical company, was originally facing substantial barriers to effective data management and reporting. Although the client was using Oracle NetSuite cloud software for enterprise resource planning (ERP), the software’s output was simply dumped in Excel.

   Datavail helped the client build a scalable financial reporting repository in Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) that allows for ad hoc queries and drill-through analyses, getting smarter business insights from their data. In addition, the client now uses other Oracle tools such as Oracle Smart View and Oracle Data Visualization Desktop (DVD) for sharing and visualizing the outputs of their ETL process.

3. Use Oracle migration tools

   Oracle’s ecosystem also extends to its cloud migration tools. For one, Oracle offers cloning tools for “lift and shift” migrations that copy data and applications to the cloud without modification. Meanwhile, Oracle GoldenGate Cloud Service is used for real-time replication of information mission-critical databases that can’t suffer downtime during the migration. The right Oracle migration partner can help advise you on the steps to take and the best tools to use throughout your move.

How Datavail Can Help

Datavail is an Oracle Partner, with years of experience helping businesses migrate to the Oracle cloud. We have the knowledge and skillset to make your next Oracle cloud migration a success. Our suite of Oracle cloud migration services includes:

• Selecting the right cloud technologies for your business.
• Completing a cloud readiness assessment of your organization.
• Developing a cloud migration roadmap with an appropriate timeline.
• Creating a total cost of ownership (TCO) estimate and deploying a proof of concept.
• Uplifting analytics solutions from on-premises to the cloud.
• Providing ongoing cloud support, maintenance, and management.

Conclusion

Want to see the benefits of moving your analytics to Oracle Cloud for yourself? Get in touch with Datavail’s team of cloud migration experts today for a chat about your business needs and objectives—or download our white paper “Across the Continent with Cloud Analytics” to see how 8 of our clients have leveraged cloud analytics to their advantage.

Modernizing your legacy IT is one of the most common ways to enact digital transformation, but not every organization knows how to get started with such a project.

 
In a previous blog post, we discussed a number of ways that you can modernize your legacy applications, including cloud migrations, microservices and DevOps. Below, we’ll go into more detail about the Microsoft Azure cloud, including some of the most important Azure features and services for developing and modernizing applications.

1. Azure Machine Learning

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have been cited as keys to digital transformation for organizations of all sizes and industries. Azure Machine Learning is Microsoft’s “machine learning as a service” offering in the Azure cloud, making it easier for businesses to enjoy AI insights.

Azure Machine Learning simplifies the process of building, training, and deploying production-ready machine learning models. While it includes a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface, Azure Machine Learning can also be used by data scientists and machine learning professionals who want to get more from the experience.

2. Azure Service Fabric

Azure Service Fabric is an Azure PaaS (platform-as-a-service) offering: a distributed services platform for building, deploying, and managing containers and microservices-based applications.

Azure customers can use Service Fabric to build modular, independent microservices that communicate with each other using APIs (application programming interfaces). In fact, Azure Service Fabric is a critical part of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure: it powers many other Azure products and services, such as Azure SQL Database, Cortana, Azure IoT, and Power BI.

3. Azure DevOps

As the name suggests, “DevOps” is a software development methodology that seeks to foster closer collaboration and tighter feedback loops between your development and IT operations teams. Azure DevOps is a collection of related services that can help your team implement DevOps in the Azure cloud.

The list of Azure DevOps services includes:

• Azure Boards for planning and tracking work, including Kanban boards, backlogs, and dashboards.
• Azure Pipelines for implementing CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment).
• Azure Test Plans for creating both manual and automated software tests.
• Azure Artifacts for creating and sharing Maven, npm, NuGet, and Python packages.

4. Azure Functions

Azure Functions helps users build serverless applications. The term “serverless computing” is a bit of a misnomer: servers are still required to run your software, but developers don’t have to worry about the tasks of provisioning and maintaining them.

Serverless computing has a variety of advantages:

• Lower costs: Applications are only executed in response to a particular event or trigger, saving you money by using fewer resources.
• Greater scalability: Because the cloud vendor is responsible for server monitoring and maintenance, serverless computing provides built-in scalability.
• Ease of development: Serverless computing largely frees developers from server management and maintenance, and also aligns well with methodologies such as microservices—each function is tiny and built for a single purpose.

Conclusion

From machine learning, microservices, DevOps and serverless computing, this article just scratches the surface of what’s possible for application modernization and development in the Azure cloud. And we should know—Datavail is a Microsoft Gold Partner that has helped countless clients migrate to the Azure cloud and modernize their legacy applications.

To learn more about how we helped a recent client modernize their IT portals in the Microsoft Azure cloud, check out our case study “Public College Modernizes Online Application Process with Azure.” You can also get in touch with our team of IT experts for a chat about your business needs and objectives.