There are a myriad of companies providing technical support, be that specialist application support or a blend of infrastructure, cloud and platform support. However, the key to matching the right service to the requirements is ensuring the skills are available to support the complete application stack as well. This can be a challenge. Only a few companies can provide depth of knowledge across the whole Microsoft stack, including Azure, SQL Server and the application suite of Dynamics.
Cloud - Many companies have adopted a hybrid model whereby they have servers on their own premises as well as those on Microsoft Azure or other clouds. The Azure stack is an extension of Azure and therefore enable a consistent hybrid cloud platform which removes the hybrid complexity and enables companies to take advantage of either environment – whichever is best for the application and workload involved. The Azure stack allows connectivity and the cloud tools to be applied to the on-premise servers while allowing companies who need to comply to certain data regulations or policy requirements to upload their data to the cloud. These environments however still need to be managed and data is still at the heart of the business and ensuring its integrity is key.
Database and BI – The SQL Server database and BI tools excel as the keeper of the data with a myriad of features for transactions, referential integrity, backups, mirroring and replication, but what sets SQL Server apart from competition is how well it integrates with the rest of the Microsoft stack, fundamentally most Microsoft Applications are built on SQL Server. The tools available with SQL Server may not be widely known, namely, SQL Server Integration Service, SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services and now coupled with Power BI.
Application – Microsoft Dynamics provides the complete business application layer that embraces every aspect of the business; operations, sales, marketing, customer and field services, project and automation, right through to analytics and business intelligence. This connected suite breaks down the silo’ d approach to data and connects operations, processes, products and customers, cutting costs and complexity and drives business information and growth. Wrapping Microsoft Dynamics into the whole Microsoft stack brings consistency of modern approach in terms of database, language and accessibility of data through natively embedded Power BI.
Companies with SFDC at their core have a challenge with reporting as there remains no real BI solution from SFDC, although their purchase of Tableau recently implies that they intend to provide this. But it is not available yet as there is no genuine data warehouse facility, only tools that will give reporting of SFDC. But that is of no value if you are unable to bring in data from elsewhere such as inventory management, asset management or facilities management. At this stage the thoughts would turn to the use of a Microsoft, AWS or Google cloud platform as they are the only one with an established database solution, proven over years and at scale.
Support – when it comes to support you need to be assured of the range and depth of skills across the Microsoft stack, from Dynamics and Azure to the all-important data. You need data gods who can retain data integrity and ensure you receive the reporting you need that makes sense and makes the difference to the business.
Clearly Cloudy - are fundamentally data experts; data angels who provide support with Microsoft SQL server across Azure and the Dynamics application layer. They provide a support service that is an actual live person working on your environment, in your time-zone, with a real depth of knowledge of the Microsoft stack.
Choosing the Microsoft stack ensures that time and money is invested into technology that will be supported and Microsoft has never become complacent but continues to innovate. The newly announced Microsoft Azure Synapse analytics is built on top of Azure SQL data warehouse to bring the power of integrating Azure ML and AI. These new solutions are tested and documented and supported by the team at Clearly Cloudy and give the security and the stability of being backed by a software giant with decades of experience in the development industry.
ENDS
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