Cloud adoption has taken center stage and enterprises are prioritizing how to migrate to the cloud and make use of the years of data they have accumulated. According to Gartner, the use of cloud computing is growing exponentially, and by end of 2016, this growth will increase to become the bulk of new IT spend. An InformationWeek Cloud ROI Survey As reported by Charles Babcock, Information Week’s Cloud ROI Survey from 2014 revealed that 20% of companies don't calculate ROI for their cloud projects. The other 80% say they're highly to somewhat likely to calculate ROI for cloud projects.

If you are looking to move a part or all of your services to the cloud, now is the time. Microsoft Azure offers an open and flexible cloud platform that enables you to quickly build, deploy, and manage applications across a comprehensive network of data centers, while simultaneously addressing challenges around security and control. Using Azure, you can harness the power of Microsoft’s massive data centers without having to worry about building, managing, or maintaining costly and complex infrastructure, and focus on aspects that really matter to your business. Wondering how Azure can benefit your organization? Let’s look at four key scenarios and see how you can make the most of an Azure platform:

SharePoint has been fueling enterprise collaboration by bringing teams together through a multitude of features like document management, BI, search, and enterprise content management. In order to drive operational excellence, Microsoft has released a new feature as an update for SharePoint called Cloud Search Service Application.

What does the Cloud Search Service Application do? It connects on-premises content with the O365 search index, enabling users to perform searches and view results across both environments. This is particularly important in a hybrid SharePoint scenario where some content resides in the cloud while some remains on-premises. This new search capability helps reduce market resistance, especially among enterprises that are overly cautious storing sensitive content off-premises.

Perplexed about the right way to move to the cloud? Well, you’re not alone! Moving to the cloud can be complex if you’ve not planned for it properly. So how do you develop a cloud migration strategy that is aligned with your business goals and objectives? What measures do you take to get the most out of your cloud investment? Where do you begin? The best way to increase the likelihood of a successful migration is to start by outlining steps and developing a migration plan that takes into account all aspects of the migration: business, technology and partner.

As more and more businesses discover the benefits of transitioning to the cloud, such as high flexibility, low operational costs, and improved performance and resiliency, the world is experiencing a paradigm shift in the way businesses operate and provide services. With the hype around cloud services, many organizations across the globe are taking initiatives to migrate to the cloud immediately. While there is no denying the fact that cloud services can be tremendously beneficial, a one-size-fits-all strategy doesn’t work across different industries, business sizes, and geographies.