Microsoft Azure: migration, virtual desktops and cloud backup

For most UK SMBs we work with, yes, once the existing server is past 3-4 years old, or the maintenance/backup is patchy, or you’re moving toward hybrid working. Azure removes the hardware refresh, makes backup automatic, and lets you scale up or down. We never recommend a move that doesn’t make sense financially, we run the numbers first and tell you honestly if it’s the right call for your business.

A typical 25-person business hosting their line-of-business server, file storage and 25 Windows 365 desktops in Azure usually lands between £1,200 and £2,500 per month all-in. That sounds like a lot until you remember you’re replacing server hardware, server warranty, on-site backup, and 25 desktop PCs. Net cost is usually flat-to-down vs on-prem, with much better resilience.

Windows 365 is a fixed per-user Cloud PC subscription, simple, predictable, ideal for 5-50 person teams. Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is more configurable, lets you pool resources between users (cheaper at scale), and is the right answer above 50 users or where you need specific app compatibility. We deploy both, and pick based on your specific shape.

Yes. Azure and Microsoft 365 share the same identity (Microsoft Entra, formerly Azure AD), so user accounts, MFA and Conditional Access work across both. If you’re already on Microsoft 365, adding Azure is the natural next step. We connect them properly so SSO works, devices are managed by one Intune policy, and security rules apply once.

We default all client Azure tenants to Microsoft’s UK South and UK West regions, with backups replicated to a second UK region. Your data stays in the UK at rest. We can configure EU regions for clients with specific compliance reasons. We never use US or APAC regions without an explicit conversation.

For most small businesses up to 100 person UK SMBs, yes, once you factor in the total cost of on-prem: hardware (every 3-5 years), warranty, electricity, cooling, backup tape/cloud, on-site visits to investigate problems, and the cost of one bad outage. The headline Azure bill is bigger than people expect, but the all-in figure typically lands lower. We’ll model it for your specific environment before recommending a move.

For a typical SMB with one to three servers, expect 4-8 weeks end-to-end: 2 weeks discovery and planning, 2-4 weeks of migration work running in parallel with your current setup, then a cutover weekend with rollback ready. We’ve never had to use the rollback. Your team should notice nothing on day one beyond a faster system.

Yes. Ongoing Azure management is part of our Elevate and Fortify support tiers. That covers monitoring, patching, backup verification, monthly cost reviews, security baseline drift checks and resource right-sizing. You don’t need a separate Azure engineer; we’re it.

Azure UK South has had two short outages in the last 5 years. Our standard build replicates critical workloads to UK West, so if South goes down we fail over within an hour. For businesses where downtime is genuinely revenue-critical (a few of our clients), we go further with geo-redundant deployments. We’ll match the DR posture to what your business actually needs, not what looks impressive in a sales deck.