Dynamics AX on Microsoft Azure Cloud - Migrate quickly & securely with confidence to the cloud - HSO
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Migrate quickly & securely with confidence to the cloud
Dynamics AX on Microsoft Azure Cloud
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Choose a
future-proof solution
Microsoft Azure is the cloud platform that offers companies a variety of services to improve
and support business processes. All of these services are fully optimisable to your needs.
The public cloud offers you scalability, These customers expect a first class digital
agility and reliability. For business- experience, specifically designed for their use.
critical applications, such as Microsoft Even though digital transformation may not be at
Dynamics AX, this is essential. However, the top of every company’s priority list, making the
many organisations still choose to run move to the cloud is the only way to ensure that
these core applications in-house with all you are relevant and competitive in today’s market
the investment, management costs and place and there is no better time to move to the
security risks that come along with it. cloud than now.
Dynamics AX on Microsoft Azure
ensures a future-proof solution so that
you can focus on providing added value
to your customers.
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Topics
1. The cloud is growing 4
2. What is the public cloud? 5
3. What is Microsoft Azure? 6
4. The benefits of Microsoft AX on Azure 7
5. 8 reasons to migrate now 8
6. Key advantages of Microsoft Azure 11
7. How do you carry out a migration to Azure? 13
8. Why should you put your trust in the cloud? 14
9. Frequently asked questions 15
10. Contact 16
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01
The cloud is growing
‘Microsoft Azure - fastest growth
in the cloud market’
3 years extension of support when you Another pain point that organisations
IT research firm Gartner, estimated that move your AX environment to Azure Cloud experience is creaking, stuttering
the global market for public cloud services Kristijan de Weerd, Business Development or depreciated hardware. Building,
of $153.5 billion in 2017 is growing to Manager at HSO said, “Microsoft’s support maintaining and managing your own
around $302 billion by 2021. Research firm will soon be available on a variety of data centre is no longer sinecure. Plus
451 also concludes that more and more commonly used software products, such you’ll notice when your business grows,
organisations prefer the cloud over the as SQL 2008 and Windows Server 2008. that your current hardware is no longer
traditional data centre. We see that many of our customers are enough. A traditional static IT environment
struggling with this, because where can you is not easily scalable, which can cause
The public cloud market is dominated by go with questions and issues? And what performance problems. The cloud provides
three main players: Microsoft, Amazon and security risks does this entail? A great way a solution, as by using Microsoft’s services
Google. to bypass this is to move the Dynamics AX and systems, you can easily turn on or off
environment to Microsoft’s Azure cloud. As capacity, exactly when and as it suits you.
Microsoft Azure has a market share of 20 a customer, you will also receive a further
per cent and has had the biggest growth (+4 three years of support”.
per cent) in the past year.
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02 What is the
public cloud?
The public cloud is defined as a computer for the number of users. The main feature of maintained by the user.
power made available by third parties over public cloud services is that you only pay for
the internet to anyone who wants to use it. what you use. The cloud service provider - the company
We already know about free services, such as that makes the public cloud available - is
Gmail, but there are also paid services, such It is therefore often referred to as “utlity responsible for managing and maintaining
as Azure. computing”, after the calculation model of the system.
utility services such as water and energy.
For example, with one service you pay for the The difference with a private cloud is that
amount of storage, and with another you pay the infrastructure is not purchased and
SaaS PaaS IaaS
There are several major players when it If you would like a little more control, Finally, we distinguish a third layer:
comes to purchasing cloud services. This then Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) might Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), where
allows you to use an application that is be a solution for you. You still use the you actually only use the hardware of the
fully managed by ICT service providers. You public cloud infrastructure on which you cloud supplier. In this layer, servers, storage,
are only concerned about the application can develop applications, however this networks and other infrastructure can be
in question. That’s what we call Software- development has already recreated the found on demand, so that you as a user
as-a-Service (SaaS). A known example is technical side of IT, so you no longer have have the freedom of using this hardware
Dynamics 365. to worry about installing a web server, and the applications installed on it.
because you are only working on the
application code.
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03 What is Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft has used its constantly growing, Azure offers an increasing number of Central France, customer data is stored
global network of data centers to create products and services designed to meet locally, as it complies to the new European
Azure. Azure is a cloud platform for building, all your needs through a simple, easy-to- privacy legislation.
deploying, and managing services and manage platform.
applications, anywhere. Azure lets you add
cloud features to your existing network Microsoft has more data center regions
through the Platform-as-a-Service model, or than its competitors. In Europe, Microsoft
place all your computer and network needs currently has three data center locations
in Microsoft’s hands with Infrastructure-as-a- with its own power supply, cooling and
Service. Both options provide secure, reliable network infrastructure; in the regions of
access to your data in the cloud. northern Europe, Western Europe and
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04 The benefits of
Dynamics AX on Azure
Faster roll out of applications Flexible & scalable
Azure is the perfect platform for The cloud helps to push your business The use of the cloud brings a lot of
Dynamics AX. By running AX on ahead. You have the ability to quickly flexibility. The big advantage of cloud over
Azure, ie. in the cloud, you benefit develop and roll out applications and thus traditional IT environments is that scale-up
from easier maintenance and a clear take customer service to the next level. This and scale down becomes easy. After all, you
cost structure. But those aren’t the allows you to handle digital transformation do not use your own servers, but the large
only benefits the cloud solution with ease and extend the life of your capacity of your supplier. This means that
offers. Here are a few more: product or machine. Resulting in overall capacity can be easily adjusted.
added value and getting ahead of your
competition.
Reliable & safe
You want to prevent your business-critical
applications from being out of reach.
By hosting applications through a cloud
partner, you are assured of continuous
availability. Things like business continuity
and disaster recovery are easy to arrange
on Azure.
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058 reasons to
migrate now
01 High security 02
Increased
reliability
Security should be at the top of your list Downtime directly harms your business,
When you move the Dynamics AX when considering migrating to the cloud. both financially and in terms of your repu-
environment to Microsoft Azure, Fortunately, Azure is one of the most secure tation. Reliability of your IT systems is
it offers savings in many different platforms in the world. All of the knowledge therefore essential. You want it to work
areas. For example, there are no and expertise that Microsoft is putting into anytime, anywhere. In order to achieve this
upfront investments, and it takes the field of security is included in its cloud yourself, a large amount of investment,
less effort and time to maintain platform to provide customers with the very both in terms of knowledge and expertise,
and manage the system in the new best security. as well as manpower is usually committed.
environment. But there are other These areas are all covered for you when
reasons to migrate now. Microsoft has large departments that do you switch to Azure. After all, it’s Microsoft’s
nothing but translate the latest knowledge business to know all kinds of technological
and expertise in the field of security into solutions that ensure that your systems are
Azure. It is also possible to back up systems always up-and-running. You don’t have to
in other data centres, so that you can be worry about that anymore when you move
confident that your business assets and data to Azure.
are secure.
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03
Easier 04
Improved 05 Reduced costs
scalability agility
In order to ensure that your system can The business world is becoming incre- How much could you save if you don’t have
cope with the peak performance moments, asingly more competitive, so it is crucial to to build, manage and maintain your own
significant investments are usually made to be able to respond quickly as an organisa- IT infrastructure? On Azure, Dynamics AX
set systems up in-house. However, outside tion to changes in the economy and society. runs on a “rented” infrastructure, which
peak times, most of the equipment becomes According to Infosys Research, 77 percent means virtual servers are running in the
obsolete. of companies see this agility as the main public cloud. Because you don’t have to
reason for a move to the cloud. invest in that physical equipment yourself
When you use a public cloud, you can scale and Microsoft provides the most up-to-date
allocated resources up and down and only systems, your spending on IT infrastructure
use and pay for what you need. can drastically decrease.
Compare this to running an on-premise
system. You need to invest in and install
all of the hardware you predict you might
need at peak times as well as incurring all
the costs of maintaining and supporting
the equipment, which for large parts of the
trading year will not be used.
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More data 07
Stay relevant and 08 Future-proof
06
insights popular as an employer
of IT staff
The data generated by using Microsoft Outdated equipment requires specific main- Performing updates, upgrading software
Dynamics AX on Azure is collected in Azure. tenance and knowledge. But at the same and writing off hardware are cost-inten-
There is no better way to visualise this data time, it’s good to attract young people into sive and time-intensive for your business.
than with Power BI. This gives you clear your business, because they are “digital” Especially in a world in which today’s
insights into how customers interact with native and can therefore digitally help technology is already obsolete tomorrow.
your business. you to move forward with their know- For most companies it is the norm not to
ledge and expertise. In a world where IT be fully up-to-date with their IT systems.
You can then use this information again to talent is scarce, the chances of millennials Microsoft can now make this much faster
tighten processes. With Azure and Power BI, seeing you as an attractive employer when and easier. It’s good to know that your
you can make the best decisions based on working with outdated systems are not very company can get the benefits out of
data from all of your cloud systems. high. The switch to the public cloud offers new technology without having to make
you a reputation as an attractive employer substantial investments. Whatever changes
for young and rare IT talent to support in IT infrastructure in the future, you know
your business and help with contemporary that you are assured state-of-the-art tech-
technology. nology in the public cloud.
10 / 1706 Key advantages of
Microsoft Azure
a platform that meets the strictest privacy offers your organisation unprecedented
Transferring your Microsoft standards in the industry. Use artificial opportunities for example, for international
Dynamics AX environment to intelligence and machine learning to expansion, but also a global workforce.
Azure is a first step in making your analyse customer trends and behaviour,
organisation flexible and agile. and promote new services. Easily develop Take the next step in AI
This migration can be a stepping and test new applications in a secure and Make artificial intelligence (AI) available
stone to benefiting from many other shielded cloud environment. to your organisation. AI is the ability of a
advantages that Microsoft’s cloud computer to mimic intelligent human beha-
can offer you. Below we list some for Storage, backup, and data recovery viour. Through AI, you can analyse images,
you. Reduce your security costs and secure your understand speech, communicate naturally
data by hosting your infrastructure and and make predictions based upon data.
apps on Microsoft Azure, the cloud base
that provides advanced storage and secu- Analyse data to make predictions
Keep your business safe and compliant rity. Take advantage of built-in security Use artificial intelligence and machine
Get the same comprehensive security, checks, including identity management, and learning to analyse and predict customer
privacy, compliance, and intellectual easily identify and respond to threats with trends, feeling and behaviour. Get insights
property protection that 95 percent of Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph real- to help yoiur business move forward
Fortune 500 companies, governments, and time threat detection. through in-depth data analysis.
startups running on Microsoft Azure get
today. Take advantage of the potential of
connected devices
Create new applications and digital services From the cloud, every application is acces-
Gain your customers’ trust by showing sible day and night, anywhere in the world
them that your organisation is working on and through any conceivable device. This
11 / 17“Failures in our ERP system we
cannot afford”
“If our preparation facilities or distribution centres cannot deliver, it will have immediate consequences
for hospitals, pharmacies and ultimately for their patients. Continuity is therefore crucial for us. Microsoft
Azure is the platform that supports us.”
Gertjan Knoester, Global IT Manager at Fagron
12 / 1707 How do you carry out
a migration to Azure?
By migrating Microsoft Dynamics AX to He commented that HSO are experts on
Microsoft’s public cloud, your business data centre migrations and this brings
becomes more agile. You can scale up or significant benefits to customers. “Migrating
down easily and capital costs are converted a single application to the cloud doesn’t
to operating costs. But how do you carry out save you directly, after all, you have to keep
a migration to Azure? We asked Kristijan de your IT landscape intact for all the adjacent
Weerd, Business Development Manager at applications your organisation uses. So to
HSO. take full advantage of your migration, HSO
also recommends that all of your other
“One of the easiest and cheapest ways is to systems move to the cloud.
transfer the current situation to the cloud
one-on-one, picking up the system as it is
and putting it in the Microsoft area. This is
called a “lift and shift” approach. With such
a migration, the Dynamics application and
all the data associated with the cloud is
moved with minimal adjustments.”
Kristijan explains that a successful “lift and
shift” migration uses the infrastructure
benefits and management features of the
cloud, whilst both minimising migration
costs as the time it takes to complete the
migration is shorter.
HSO adds value
Kristijan de Weerd,
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Business Development ManagerWhy you should
08
put your trust in the cloud
At HSO, we understand like no other how Find out why Azure offers the most value Your organisation also becomes very
far-reaching the migration of mission-cri- “Azure’s benefits are evident time and agile. The fact that you can access your
tical systems to the cloud can be. Kristijan time again from research by renowned IT system anytime, anywhere, together with
de Weerd, Business Development Manager research agencies. The fact that Azure data the reliability and scalability of cloud
at HSO, tells you how to make the switch centres are in the UK and Ireland, amongst infrastructure can help your company
with conficence. other locations, guarantees that your data move forward quickly and become more
will remain within the UK and Irish trade competitive.”
Understand the value of migration to the borders and are therefore compliant with
cloud laws and regulations,” Know how HSO can help you to migrate
“A migration is a major process, but the “We recommend that you engage with a
improved security, scalability and life span Understand how to use the cloud and take skilled and experienced partner in a cloud
of the systems, far out-weighs the “hassle”. advantage of it migration. We rarely see organisations go it
“The financial advantages of the cloud alone to migrate independently as the risk
Make sure you have a clear understanding may be most evident, because you no is much greater than the cost of a reliable
in advance about the many advantages longer have to invest in the purchase, adviser throughout the process. This
your company will achieve by making the maintenance and management of your own ensures that everything goes as smoothly as
move to the cloud. IT environment. possible.”
Kristijan de Weerd
Business Development Manager, HSO
14 / 1709 Do you have any questions? We have some answers to
the most frequently asked questions below
1. 3. 5.
Where is my data? What happens to my other applications What does a typical migration route with
Data from UK and Irish companies is stored around Dynamics? HSO look like?
in Microsoft UK and Irish data centre At HSO, we prefer to move all of your We start with an inventory of your current
locations. The Service Level Agreement applications to the cloud. This way you can IT environment. Then we look at how this
stipulates this. take full advantage of the benefits because fits into Azure and develop a migration
you no longer have to maintain and manage plan. HSO’s “lift and shift” approach differs
your own IT environment. slightly from the standard procedure,
because a traditional “lift and shift” makes a
complete copy of the environment. So that’s
2. 4.
what we do for your piece of mind. We
ensure your environment is safely stored.
How is the cost of the cloud structured? How long does a migration take? That ultimately benefits the performance.
Compare it to your energy bill. You only pay That depends on the number of applications After the actual migration, we carry out
for what you actually use. Smart systems on you migrate to the cloud. It can range from further optimisation, monitoring and
Azure also make it easy to see if there are three weeks to about three months. It also security checks to be sure that you are
unused applications or users that you can depends how much you have already done running cost effectively.
eliminate. You have the costs in hand. and are able to carry out yourself.
15 / 17If you have further questions or would Contact HSO UK:
Was your question like to receive more information please info-uk@hso.com
not here? get in touch. +44 (0) 20 3128 7767
www.hso.com
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HSO has been a Microsoft Solution Integrator since 1989. As a fully mature and successful IT company, HSO currently employs 1000+ people and maintains a global
presence with locations in Europe, North America and Asia. HSO supports local and international companies in retail, wholesale, industry, and technical and professional
services, bringing real added value to their businesses through digital technology. This support is built on a foundation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CRM & ERP), Microsoft
365, and Data & AI. HSO delivers the necessary services to implement, optimise and manage these leading cloud solutions, globally, 24/7. HSO is also a member of
the Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and is the proud bearer of the title ‘Most Customer-Oriented Microsoft Partner’.
You can find more information about HSO on http://www.hso.com/ or viaTwitter @HSO_Tweets.You can also read
