Checklist for Azure Onboarding Services

1. Checklist for Azure Onboarding Services

2. If you have chosen Azure cloud as your provider, your cloud adoption strategy, you can choose from: • Private cloud In this case, the data center will be on your premises. When private clouds implement the technology stack that is available on public clouds, it is of great advantage. For example, Microsoft Azure Stack is a product that allows organizations to deliver Azure services from their own datacenter. • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Infrastructure as a Service abstracts the computing resources & hardware viz. Server, storage, and network into a common pool of computing resources at a remote place that is delivered on a metered cost basis. • Platform as a Service (PaaS) In Platform as a Service also delivers application execution services such as application runtime, storage, and integration, for applications written for a prescribed development framework. • Software as a Service (SaaS) Organizations using Software as a Service get all their business processing application such as CRM, office collaboration tools such as sheets, word documents, presentations, and communication tools such as chat, email for usage on a per user basis.

3. Here’s a ready reckoner checklist for Azure Onboarding Services that you need to consider: • Preparing and training IT staff for the Azure Cloud • Identification of things that need to be moved to the cloud such as: • Create a catalog of existing applications and map which application would be moved to the cloud, at what time and how will you manage the transition • Define your criteria for moving an application to the cloud. These would usually be a combination of business factors, hardware factors, software factors, and many other technical factors 3. Acquire cloud development skills 4. Implement a systematic and disciplined approach to security, governance, and compliance • Secure your data • Ensure your data is kept private and you don’t lose control over the data • Maintain compliance with the ever-changing compliance requirements

4. 5. Think about protecting your physical infrastructure • Physical security of the data centers which work 24x7x365 • Monitoring and logging facilities • Update management especially for new software rollouts and patch management • Antivirus & anti-malware scans every time any code is uploaded to the cloud • Penetration testing and DDoS protection 6. Network protection comprising of network isolation, virtual networks, VPN and encrypting communications 7. Data protection by data isolation, protecting data at rest, protecting data in transit, data redundancy and data destruction 8. Identity and access management All of the above is quite comprehensive and will involve a lot of challenges to your IT team. Hence it is recommended to make use of Microsoft Partners that provide with Azure Onboarding Services.

5. Conclusion: These partners then are responsible for ensuring the transition of your organization to Azure Cloud. Taking Azure Onboarding Services also ensures that your team gets significant knowledge about the transformation from the experts. So, if you are planning to shift to the Azure Cloud, ensure taking a certified Microsoft Partner as your Azure Onboarding Services vendor. It is after all a win-win situation.