The benefits of the technology are clear: with its power to deliver increased productivity, collaboration, and innovation, the cloud is no longer considered an optional extra. Today, it’s as fundamental to the running of a successful business as the typewriter was a century ago. A necessity that enables you to remain competitive, relevant, and gain market share.

Whatever the size of your organisation, the question is how much cloud technology you should adopt, when and where should you adopt it, and how soon to introduce it?

Every business will have a different starting point. Knowing what’s right for you, and which workloads to move first is critical to beginning your journey. Once you’ve moved these to Microsoft Azure, you’re then free to investigate modernising your operations and adding innovation into the mix, leveraging technology like AI.

Unmatched security

Cyber-security is a topic that never seems to the leave the headlines. It’s a core focus for any business; without the defensive protection of the cloud, you leave yourself open to the threat of your IT systems being taken offline – a cost no business wishes to bear. And that’s before we consider the risk of data loss.

If you find yourself a victim of a breach, with sensitive data hacked, the cost is two-fold. In the first instance, you’re liable to be fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office under GDPR. This can be as high as £18 million or 4%, depending on the severity of the breach. However, the second cost is far more worrying: a data breach hurts your reputation, resulting in customer trust spiralling.

Azure’s built-in security measures prevent this from happening – this includes Azure Sentinel, the intelligent security application that fuses AI and the cloud to protect your entire enterprise. We invest $1 billion every year in security measures that protect your organisation. Microsoft’s cloud solution analyses 6.5 trillion threats every day, and with 3,500 security experts, you can be confident we’ve got you covered.

Unparalleled innovation

Don’t let that end of support worry you. In fact, if you migrate to the cloud, you don’t need to ever think about it again.

Azure is the only cloud solution with evergreen SQL. This ensures that you’re always using the most up-to-date version available. No patches, no updates. This is just one of the reasons why Azure is the best cloud to run your Windows and SQL Servers.

When you make the switch to the Microsoft cloud, you’ll also begin a transformation with built-in intelligence to simplify resource management and governance and reduce complex admin tasks. It also offers the only fully managed service for any .NET app.

We have a full commitment to Linux migration and open-source projects and applications like Kubernetes, so you can make the choice that’s right for your organisation.

Unbeatable offers

The Azure Hybrid Benefit brings extra pricing benefits to customers with both Software Assurance and on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses. We know, as a decision-maker, you’ll always have one eye on the bottom-line. That’s why we’ve made Azure the most attractive proposition, without compromising on the top quality you expect from Microsoft.

There’s free extended security updates when migrating Windows Server and SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 workloads. Pre-paying your compute capacity on a one or three-year term is another way you’ll save on costs. This is designed to simplify budgeting and forecasting. You can also get started at speed with our Azure Migrate Program, which includes prescriptive advice, resources, and tools for a successful path to the cloud. The program leverages our strong and highly capable partner network to ensure customers move to Azure is successful.

Find out how much you stand to gain by visiting the Azure Hybrid Benefit page and using the Savings Calculator.

Built-in hybrid

Microsoft is the only cloud provider with end-to-end hybrid infrastructure, with 2.5m+ hybrid-enabled Windows Servers through Windows Admin Centre.

Using Azure with Windows Server provides a truly unique hybrid experience, letting you seamlessly operate across your data centre and the cloud. The systems’ are deeply integrated and for a very good reason – by developing platforms that not only work well together, but are made for each other, you’ll discover it’s easy to perform critical scenarios like Backup, Disaster Recovery and migration.

When you move to Azure, you’ll find the most comprehensive backward and forward SQL compatibility with Azure SQL DB Managed Instance. This enables existing SQL users to switch on-site applications to the Azure cloud with little disruption and database changes.

Take the first steps and start your migration journey

There are four core stages to migrating your business to the cloud…

Step 1 – Assess

This is, arguably, the most important stage: planning. Cloud migration tools, such as the Azure Migrate Tool, can be used to assess your inventory and figure out which on-premises apps need to be moved over to the cloud.

Step 2 – Migrate

It’s time to make the move. This is where you’ll use tools like the Azure Migrate Tool and Azure Site Recovery – this essentially automates your migration with next to no downtime.

Step 3 – Optimise

The work doesn’t just stop once you’ve migrated. Now, you can calibrate your apps, so they perform optimally on Azure, while Azure Cost Management helps you monitoring and budgeting.

Step 4 – Secure and manage

Congratulations! You’re now operating in the cloud. At this stage, you’re free to leverage Azure security and management services, to keep your cloud applications running smoothly.

Is it time to modernise your business, make it more secure, and increase the productivity of your whole team? We’ll help you with step-by-step guidance, advice, and all the support you need to accelerate your cloud-based future.

Find out more

Listen to the webinar: Discover why Azure is the right choice for cloud migration

 Download the eBook: Cloud migration essentials

Join the Azure Migration Programme

About the author

Michael is responsible for all aspects of UK technology strategy including supporting the implementation and use of technology by commercial and public sector organisations and acting as a catalyst for digital transformation. He joined Microsoft in 2008, working in a number of roles including as Government Industry Manager responsible for solutions and partners, and in the public sector team for Microsoft Dynamics. Michael has a bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Software Engineering, a bachelor of Business Management from University of Queensland and a Master’s of Science and Computer Network from Liverpool John Moores University.

The post 4 reasons why SQL Server & Windows Server work best on Azure appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

We’re going to be sharing a story every week for the 12 weeks of summer, showing you how healthcare organisations are using technology to transform patient outcomes and increase productivity. For the eight blog in the series, Sarah Croxford looks at how data can improve patient care. 

Imagine a data operating system that’s ready-made for the healthcare sector: a platform that reduces development times, frees up space for critical decision-making, and encourages organisations to maximise value from data.

In daily conversations with NHS FT leadership teams, I hear about their struggles to identify the right platforms, integrate methods that let them keep pace, and overcome changes in technical staff.

Vast chunks of time and money are wasted across the healthcare industry, with many making do with existing systems that aren’t fit for purpose, or attempting to create a bespoke data platform that meets every need – neither of which is desirable.

Often, trusts understandably decide the juice is not worth the squeeze, despite the impact a badly designed data management platform has on the experiences of both staff and patients.

Introducing Data Academy X-Series

A healthcare-orientated data operating system remedies this issue.

Insource has been working on the concept of the data operating system (DataOS) for many years to address the issues currently faced by healthcare chiefs, including the long-standing problem over how to introduce legacy data to a new platform – and to do so without any disruption to care-giving.

Now, leveraging the scaling capacity of the Azure platform and the Azure SQL Hyperscale capability, the Insource Data Academy Data Operating System (DataOS©) X-Series enables organisations to continually unlock value from their data, providing:

• Data infrastructure development
• Blueprinted enterprise data management architecture
• Development processes with a software configuration and release management application

“I was especially keen that our data warehouse tool was not a ‘black box’, and Data Academy certainly isn’t – its processes are transparent and it’s reassuring that nothing is hidden. We can always see what’s happened to our data at every step of the way.”

Julie Ryan, Head of Information and Analysis – Bolton CCG

How Data Academy X-Series works

1. Reduce the time to delivery of a healthcare-focused data platform

Data in a modern health setting must go further than reporting and business intelligence. As such, it needs to be delivered in a fashion upon which all of a trust’s downstream data-processing needs can be based.

This requires the development of an enterprise data-processing infrastructure that does it once, but for many uses. However, this is beyond the scope of most health providers. The only way for health organisations to enjoy a truly enterprise approach to data management is to reduce the cost of production.

One of DA-X’s main draws is its low-code/no-code development environment. No need to learn coding or similar technical skills; its pick-up-and-play nature means key functions such as Data Lineage, Audit and Error Trapping, Transformation Inheritance are available straight out of the box.

As a result, delivery times are slashed by up to 90%. That gives you more time to focus on giving care to those who need it most.

“Data Academy is quicker than writing solutions from the ground up. If we didn’t have Data Academy our team would need to be at least double in size as we would need more people across the technology spectrum to achieve what we are able to achieve with Data Academy. It is brilliant and the flexibility it affords is key to our success”

Steve Chokr, Former Deputy Chief Information Officer – Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust

2. Take away the guess work of delivering a successful enterprise data platform

A development environment alone can’t ensure successful delivery of a solution.

Let’s look to the construction industry to see how healthcare organisations can ensure successful delivery of developments. How is it that large warehouses, stores, and out-of-town shopping malls are built so quickly, and appear as robust as any bricks-and-mortar building?

The answer lies in pre-fabrication and blueprinted architectures. Thinking and planning are effectively taken out of constructing large floorplan buildings.

So it is with the data operating system that includes a pre-designed generic data management architecture.

In numerous healthcare deployments, this approach is proven to let trusts build their own data management platform. The upshot is, they can leapfrog the architectural design phase of the project, removing the guesswork from trust-based bespoke builds.

By effectively removing the technical decision-making from the development process, trusts enjoy significant savings.

“I’ve found that Data Academy reduces overall development time significantly – it takes away the need to develop many of the mundane elements of the job.”

Andrew Penny, Systems Architect – Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (Now University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)

3. Leverage value from the latest SQL Server releases

Healthcare trusts face a big decision when embarking on a data management strategy: which version of SQL Server should they base their delivery?

Fundamentally, upgrading between versions shouldn’t involve major work. Yet, once again, we see many examples where upgrades fail or cause major disruption. That’s something no trust can afford when committing to improving the patient experience.

The Data Academy X-Series removes this difficulty. As new versions of SQL Server are released, DA-X offers a seamless migration from previous to current versions. Data Academy, the predecessor to DA-X has been achieving this since SQL Server 2005.

In addition, the design means that when new SQL Server functionality is introduced, it’s built into the DA-X low-code/no-code language. Where functionality can be automatically implemented, it will do so. Developers don’t need to know how to program it, they just need to know how they want to use it. In this way DA-X cuts the implementation time for new SQL Server releases. This maximises the value trusts enjoy from new versions with the minimal requirement for change.

4. Move to Azure cloud deployment at the appropriate time

The greatest challenge for trusts is finding a compelling reason to move their on-premise deployments to the cloud. Financially, if a trust already has infrastructure and internal support, it’s difficult to justify the cost of migration.

Applications built in the DataOS DA-X can easily be migrated to the cloud. That means trusts have full control when moving to IaaS or PaaS, enabling them to commit long-term to the Microsoft platform in the knowledge that migration to Azure will be painless.

5. Enable the productisation of data solutions

Building a data infrastructure from the ground up, even with a data operating system behind you, is still a significant project. While the DataOS DA-X can reduce development times and costs, it’s a project that must not be undertaken lightly.

But as you prepare to create your bespoke applications, there’s another consideration to be had: the productisation of data solutions.

These are, at present, nearly non-existent, not just in health but across all industries. The lack of productised solutions stems from the inability of current technology to provide a platform on which IP-protected products can be licenced and developed for other health organisations

In response, DA-X is a platform that empowers users to build solutions they can release into the market. Such solutions can be installed with a single click, are IP-protected, and provided optionally with licencing. Providers can then be assured that their investment is protected.

If your IT team creates a truly stunning application that revolutionises how staff work, that’s something that ought to be shared with everybody – just like the NHS.

“Due to its clever technology, we were able to build modules and components ourselves when we thought they were needed and ship them back to Insource. Insource would then incorporate them into the actual product that would be released back to their user community, including us.”

Paul Johnson, Former Assistant Director of Information -South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust

About the author

Sarah Croxford is Enterprise Channel Manager for Health Lead at Microsoft working within the One Commercial Partner group. Throughout her 20 years in the partner channel, 11 of those at Microsoft, she’s shown a passion for helping partners grow and succeed together with Microsoft. Sarah has extensive experience at leading blue chip companies including Microsoft, Siemens, TechData, and Ingram Micro. She’s led marketing, product marketing, and sales teams to build successful, reputable businesses, drive growth, and is well known for her channel knowledge. Her experience has won her recognition in the Women in Channel 2019 A-Listers, a finalist for the Women in Channel Sales Professional for 2018, Sales & Marketing finalist for the CRN awards, and finalist for the Real Faces of Sales for LinkedIn 2019. Sarah is also an Accessibility Advocate and a Board Director for Parenting Special Children, a charity that supports parents and children with special needs.

The post 5 ways to modernise healthcare data and deliver better patient outcomes appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.