Introduction

Over the years, cloud computing has seen significant adoption among organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and governments alike. This widespread adoption is due to the multiple benefits of cloud technology, such as cost savings, increased agility, and enhanced scalability.

The rise of cloud adoption can be attributed to the realization that cloud computing provides unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. As a result, organizations of all sizes have quickly embraced cloud services to drive digital transformation and stay ahead in the competitive market. A recent article from BBC Future indicates that over 90% of enterprises have adopted some form of cloud computing, with most choosing a hybrid or multicloud strategy.

More than 95% of Fortune 500 companies trust and run their business on Azure today, and many of them take advantage of Azure's hybrid capabilities to fuel innovation and deliver great business outcomes.1 This shift has enabled Fortune 500 companies to innovate faster, minimize downtime, and reduce operational costs while staying ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Around the world, governments and a range of industries, such as healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing, have turned to cloud computing to revitalize their IT systems, fortify data security, and boost the quality of the services they deliver. With the promotion of strategies such as cloud-first or cloud-smart, they have successfully improved their operational efficiencies, smoothened their workflow processes, and complied with strict data protection laws. Moreover, these sectors have harnessed the power of cloud technology to elevate their operations, enrich their customer experiences, foster innovation, and formulate new business models and data-driven insights. The quick and widespread adoption of cloud computing underscores its critical role in revolutionizing how we utilize computational power and manage data, demonstrating its exponential growth over recent decades.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Cloud computing models
• The shared responsibility model from Microsoft
• Benefits of adopting Azure
• How to get started with Azure