Technology has changed how businesses operate, with hundreds of employees working simultaneously under the same roof on the same project. While it might not seem feasible to pass a sheet of paper to one another to share the information, cloud storage and data synchronization have made the process more logical. The stakeholders need minute-by-minute information to continue their tasks. Public cloud computing platforms like Microsoft Azure do the same, keeping everyone informed about a particular task in real-time. Let’s dig deeper into this technology and how it can benefit your business. Also, let’s explore some best Azure consulting companies to help you adopt it.
Microsoft Azure Overview
Before discussing top Azure consulting companies, let’s learn about Microsoft Azure. Previously known as Windows Azure, it is a cloud computing platform with over 200 products and cloud services. The core services in this cloud computing suite include computing, analytics, networking, and storage. These services help a business make informed decisions, foster collaboration, scale new applications, and run the existing software in the public cloud. Microsoft Azure is designed flexibly, streamlining the operational processes of businesses from a wide range of industries, including retail, hospitality, healthcare, real estate, and much more.
One of the biggest advantages that Microsoft Azure delivers to its customer is implementing the “Pay-as-you-go” model. It allows the subscribers to pay only for the resources they utilized in the previous month of the subscription period.
Why Should Businesses Hire Azure Consulting Companies/Partners?
While Microsoft Azure delivers a range of benefits to businesses of all sizes, a proficient Azure consulting company must be put on duty to integrate the public cloud platform into the system. Let’s understand why it is important to hire a good Azure Consulting Partner-
- Top Azure consulting companies have in-depth expertise in the platform that enables them to provide efficient guidance and support according to particular business needs.
- A good Azure consulting company helps to execute the cloud migration, which reduces downtime while minimizing the risks. They conduct a complete analysis of current infrastructure, workload, and application to identify the potential change areas.
- Best Microsoft Azure consulting firms can promise you complete security while using Microsoft Azure in your operations. Fostering access control to prevent unauthorized access can be performed well by them.
- A proficient Azure consulting partner helps significantly to reduce costs while maximizing the return on investment. It can help you save a lot of cost in purchasing the expensive tools and software to implement the technology by yourself. At the same time, hiring an in-house team for your project is always an expensive working model.
- Moreover, you can access Microsoft support and resources when working with an experienced Azure consulting team. It helps you to obtain the latest updates, fixes, and patches to keep the system up-to-date and functioning.
Microsoft Azure Facts and Statistics
While the term “Microsoft Azure” might or might not be familiar to you, some statistics will help you understand the popularity and utility of this technology. Talking about the user base, there are currently more than 1 billion Azure users worldwide. At the same, Microsoft Azure generated a fortune of $75.3 billion in 2022.
Turning toward the big brand users of Microsoft Azure, more than 85% of the Fortune 500 Companies use the Azure Cloud in their operations. At the same time, Microsoft Azure holds 21% of the market share in the cloud computing landscape, with 40% of the customers registered from the United States alone.
Best Azure Consulting Companies and Development Partners
Motifworks
- Founded: 2010
- Headquartered: Towson, MD, United States
- Number of Employees: 50 – 249
- Key Services: BI & Big Data Consulting, AI Development, Enterprise App Modernization
The Azure consulting company offers its clients’ extended services to build a cloud environment where data sharing and accessibility are safe and predefined. Their experts meet industry standards and have offered their clientele a protected environment to work efficiently and effectively from anywhere.
This makes business management and operations efficient and easy.
ScienceSoft – One of the Best Azure Consulting Companies
- Founded: 1989
- Headquartered: McKinney, TX, United States
- Number of Employees: 250 – 999
- Key Services: Mobile app development, Application testing, IT managed services
A dominant name in the list of best Azure consulting companies that have evolved with the growing technology. The company majorly offers managed IT services but has now extended its services to advanced technology like cloud computing, data management, enterprise mobility, etc.
ThirdEye Data
- Founded: 2010
- Headquartered: San Jose, CA, United States
- Number of Employees: 50 – 249
- Key Services: AI Development, BI & Big Data Consulting & SI, Cloud Consulting & SI, IT Staff Augmentation
ThirdEye Data is quite popular for leveraging Data and AI technologies to businesses in various industries. They have a team of developers trained to deliver modern solutions for easy operations of businesses. Over the years they have developed a team of top Azure consultants who help businesses outperform themselves.
They help make business operations much more transparent. They have implemented 50+ end-to-end Data & AI projects for large and small companies around the world to date.
Xenonstack – Top Azure Consulting Service Provider
- Founded: 2012
- Headquartered: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Number of Employees: 50 – 249
- Key Services: AI Development, IT Managed Services, Cybersecurity
When listing the top azure consulting companies, we cannot miss Xenonstack. The organization has been in the business for a decade now and boasts to have a proficient development team that can help businesses upgrade their presence in the market.
The firm’s core business comes from developing AI-based solutions for enterprises of all sizes and helping them manage their businesses more effectively.
Rare Crew
- Founded: 2011
- Headquartered: Bratislava, Slovakia
- Number of Employees: 50 – 249
- Key Services: Custom Software Development, Application Management & Support, BI & Big Data Consulting & SI, Mobile App Development
Rare Crew offers solutions that help businesses build a stronger presence. Since 2011, they have helped businesses adopt new technologies and minimize human intervention for growth. Known to be one of the best Microsoft Azure consulting companies, the company stands up to its name with a team that has an excellent understanding of various business verticals and how to get the best of Azure capabilities for them.
Simform
- Founded: 2010
- Headquartered: Orlando, FL, United States
- Number of Employees: 1,000 – 9,999
- Key Services: Custom Software Development, Mobile App Development, Cloud Consulting & SI, AI Development
And this US-based company offers Azure consulting services to enterprises worldwide. Connect with them, and they’d explain to you in detail about the services and how things can function in your favor.
With a dedicated team trained in Azure and cloud computing, you can rely on them for the best services.
Datatobiz – Leading Azure Consulting Company in India
- Founded: 2018
- Headquartered: Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, India
- Number of Employees: 10 – 49
- Key Services: AI Development, BI & Big Data Consulting & SI, Business Consulting, AI Consulting
And one cannot complete the list of top Azure consulting service providers without mentioning Datatobiz. Datatobiz offers its clients custom solutions that are designed and developed to suit their business verticals.
They entered the market with a different league of services and are much sought after when it comes to consulting service providers for upgrades or new integrations.
EPC Group – Well Known
- Founded: 1997
- Headquartered: Houston, TX, United States
- Number of Employees:
- Key Services: IT Managed Services
EPC group is in the list of best microsoft azure consulting companies and can help companies automate most of their functions. The company offers Azure migration services, modernization, app development, and similar services to the global clientele.
They have been in the business for a long time and understand how to cater to client needs from various business verticals. They have a clientele that includes names from established enterprises to young startups.
DataArt – Experienced Azure Consulting Partner
- Founded: 1997
- Headquartered: New York, NY, United States
- Number of Employees: 1,000 – 9,999
- Key Services: CRM Consulting and SI, E-Commerce Development, AI Development, Cloud Consulting & SI, IoT Development
Dataart has recently gained popularity among global enterprises for its unmatched services. If you are looking forward to modernizing and upgrading your existing solution connect with them. The Azure consultants associated with them can help you build a strong presence and develop solutions that contribute to the operability and functionality of the solutions.
Celebal Technologies – Proficient Azure consulting company
- Founded: 2015
- Headquartered: Houston, TX, United States
- Number of Employees: 1,000 – 9,999
- Key Services: BI & Big Data Consulting & SI, Enterprise App Modernization, AI Development, Cloud Consulting & SI, IT Staff Augmentation
Not a new name as we talk about tech-driven companies. Celebal Tech has a team of developers for any tech solution you want. They can assist you with everything from simple mobile app development to complex AI-based solutions.
Lately, they have built a strong profile for Azure consulting services and kept to their reputation as pioneers of tech services in their domain.
Benefits of Microsoft Azure Platform to Business Organization
While the biggest benefit of using Microsoft Azure or Windows Azure is that it allows the collaborative working of teams on a project by making the data available worldwide within minutes, it shares numerous other benefits as well. Along with leveraging the worth of every dollar, organizations also experience the following advantages of using Azure-
- First of all, the on-site hardware is not needed for using Azure. The organization can simply migrate the data, perform computing processing to the cloud, and prevent the thousands of dollars for installing on-site data hardware. Even if businesses prefer to save particular data on their private servers, they can use the advanced networking feature to build a hybrid cloud environment.
- Budget-friendly subscription model presented by Azure has received appreciation worldwide. This core competency of the cloud suite allows businesses worldwide to set their IT budget by paying only for the resources and features they need in their operations. This model significantly helps reduce the cost and simplify cross-departmental collaboration.
- Microsoft has established its global footprint for a long time, with its current presence in over 140 countries. So, Microsoft Azure is the best choice for businesses operating in multiple countries, with regional offices and hundreds of staff. At the same time, Microsoft can provide service-level agreements with a 99.95% availability guarantee.
- Business requirements are highly viable as resource needs might increase or decrease with time. So, Microsoft Azure takes care of this and offers a scalable solution. It allows businesses to change their computing capabilities according to their requirements.
- With access to enterprise-level development tools, Microsoft Azure helps businesses to run and manage their custom web software with different programming languages.
- Microsoft Azure ensures users’ complete security and privacy by placing cutting-edge encryption processes at the center. All Microsoft data centers have biometric scanners, proxy card access readers, and two-factor authentication.
- Compliance with multiple regulatory guidelines like HIPPA, GDPR, ISO 27001, etc. is another benefit of the business using Azure.
What Services Azure Consulting Companies Provide?
While you might assume that Azure technology is a simple integration system that streamlines the workflow of organizations, Azure delivers a range of other benefits to its users. For the same, there are numerous services that a proficient Azure Consulting Company has to deliver to ensure that their customers can leverage the complete capabilities of this technology. Here are the core services that a good Azure Consulting Company provides-
Azure Migration Solutions
The foremost service provided by the Azure consultant is Migration Solutions. This is a service that helps the enterprise to decide how the on-premises workload will perform and how much will it cost to host. The Azure migration process begins with a cloud migration plan in which the Azure Site Recovery and Azure Database Migration play a big role. By migrating the data and processes to Azure Cloud, it significantly enhances the working process, injects collaboration, and ensures the sufficient use of resources. Thus the administrative requirements and cost management automatically secure the space for itself.
Azure App Modernization
Microsoft provides this Azure service to ensure that businesses and organizations leverage the latest tech trend to automate and digitize their working process. For the same, a proficient Azure consulting company provides the app modernization service in which the existing apps of businesses are updated to the cloud-first model. The process is also known as legacy modernization. According to this offering, the on-premises app of a firm is migrated to a public, private, or hybrid cloud (as per the owner’s preference). The app and data modernization includes .NET apps, Linux web apps, Java apps, SAP apps, SQL databases, etc.
Cloud Architecture and Solution Design
Cloud architecture and solution design refer to the service in which the Azure consulting company tailors the Azure solutions according to your needs and requirements to make sure that you pay only for what you need. For the same, the complete architecture and design of the solution are set up from scratch according to the custom needs. The tasks like choosing architecture style, choosing technology, building application architecture, applying cloud design patterns, and implementing Azure’s well-architected framework are carried out during the whole process.
App Development in Azure
Enterprise App development is another service provided by Microsoft Azure Consulting Companies around the world. Under this service, the consulting company will help you build the app using the cloud-native architecture, loosely coupled microservices, AI, DevOps support, managed databases, and built-in monitoring. Thus, using these elements, one can develop an app that can meet the customized and personalized needs of end-users to enhance the overall customer experience with the business.
SaaS, XaaS Applications
SaaS or XaaS is one of the many services provided the known Azure consulting companies. This service helps the user to connect and use cloud-based apps over the internet in the form of email, office tools, and calendaring. The best competency of this service is that the user has to pay for the resources only which are being utilized in the business operations. All the hardware and software are managed according to the appropriate service agreement while ensuring the complete security of the app.
Azure Managed Services
Azure managed service is another name in the service suite of Azure consulting companies. It covers configuration, monitoring, support, and evolution of Azure-based infrastructure. Under this particular portfolio, your Azure development partner will offer transparent managed services to keep the Azure infrastructure of your business stable by ensuring quickly delivered changes and reasonable bills.
Data Analytics Solutions
Data Analytics service is one of the main deliverables ensured by Microsoft Azure that helps to analyze the data and take informed decisions efficiently. Azure consulting companies worldwide help you leverage different Microsoft offerings like Azure analysis services, Azure data factory, Azure data explorer, Azure data lake analytics, Azure synapse analytics, Azure data bricks, and Datamarts in Power BI.
Also Read: Best Power BI Consulting Companies
Data Management and Data Warehousing
Under data management and data warehousing services, your consulting partner will help you opt for the “Warehouse-as-a-Service” offering by Microsoft. The data warehouse is the federated repository for data collected by the enterprise’s operational system. This system enables data collection from different sources and then analyzes the data for businesses’ prediction and market decisions.
Internet of Things Apps and Solutions
IoT Apps and Solution refers to the complete collection of platform services across edge and cloud that helps to connect, monitor and control the billions of IoT assets. The suite includes security and operating systems for different devices that help to deploy and manage IoT applications.
AI Services along with MLOps
Providing customized services to deliver a personalized user experience is one of the best strategies to achieve competitive advantages. The proficient Azure development company helps you integrate the capabilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning into your solutions and enhance the automation capability for streamlined operations of businesses.
Cloud Consumption and Cost Optimization
As we interpreted in the above section, Microsoft Azure only allows you to pay for the resources you use in your operational processes. So, an Azure consulting company helps you analyze your business’s cloud consumption and the resources you have utilized during the period and provide a cost estimation for you. This service helps significantly to manage the expenses and prepare the operational budget in the organizations.
How to Choose the Best Azure Consulting Company?
The list mentioned above can help you significantly to partner with the right Azure consulting for your project. However, you must know the considerations that help you pick the right firm in the market flooded with these consulting companies. So, here are the tips for you to choose the best Azure consulting company-
Azure Expertise and Experience
Expertise and experience is the most important consideration when looking for an Azure consulting company. It includes certifications, partnership with Azure Advanced specialization, and yearly verifications for expert-managed service providers. For the same, you can also turn to the references that have previously worked with the firm to understand the nature of the partnership as well as analyze the status of results delivered.
Skills and capabilities
The skills and capabilities of your Azure consulting partner are going to play a big role in determining the quality of your project outcome. For the same, ensure to assess their skills. Particular terms will help you ensure that the consulting partner you are choosing has the relevant capabilities. Hiring the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate, Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert, Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer, etc. means hiring a skilled Azure consulting partner.
Security and Safety
The consulting company’s ability to integrate the security and safety system must have consideration while finalizing partners. Azure offers multiple shared security models such as Identity and Access Management Systems. So, your consulting partner should know about this functionality and different compliances to ensure network and infrastructure security, security monitoring, and much more to deliver a secured platform to your business.
Global presence and reputation
The brand image tells a lot about the quality of service. While hiring a small firm or team of freelancers might save you a lot of dollars, it will generate equal risk for the quality of your project and after-service support for your system. So, hire a well-established consulting partner with a global presence and a good reputation to provide 24*7*365 tech support.
Services and Portfolio
Have a look at their service portfolio to learn about the projects they have undertaken and successfully delivered. It will give you an idea about their experience in a similar project to yours. They might be the right choice if they have delivered the same project as you are planning to deploy.
How Much Does it Cost to Hire an Azure Consulting Partner?
Top Microsoft Azure consulting companies provide you the technology experts on per hour basis. The normal rate of hiring Azure consulting partners starts from $30/hour and goes up to $60/hour. However, the exact idea of the cost of hiring an Azure consulting partner differs from project to project according to the requirement and service. As mentioned in the above section, Microsoft Azure has a complete suite of services; thus, the cost of leveraging the services also differs.
Moreover, the nature of your project, the technology you want to integrate, the complexity of your project, the tech support you opt for, and the hiring model you choose also play a significant role in defining the cost of your Microsoft Azure project.
Also Read – Top Power Platform Consulting Services
Wrapping Up
Microsoft Azure has emerged as a great solution to streamline business processes by instilling automation. It keeps the operations in the public or private cloud to make the information available to all the stakeholders and allows them to work collaboratively. Other than this, Azure offers a hundred other benefits to its user, which can only be leveraged with the help of a proficient Azure consulting company. We have enlisted some of the best Azure consulting companies from around the world,, which you can consider for your project. For any further assistance, you can connect with DPH.
