By Ryan Britton
Microsoft Gold Partner, Mint Group, was the only African representative at the Azure Cloud Architecture Boot Camp in Seattle from October 17 to 21, 2016, which provided in-depth insight into the Azure platform, and cemented Mint’s position as the leader in the Azure development space.
The training, which is the same high-quality technical teachings that Microsoft Architects attend, was extended to elite and exclusive Microsoft partners worldwide and comprises unique insights into the workings of Azure as well as the Azure roadmap.
Mint Group’s Dotgo solutions division Delivery Lead Ryan Britton attended the training along with Delivery & QA Lead Oliver Smit and explains that the training was spread over a five-day immersive learning experience that included case-study workshops ad hackathons – all delivered in partnership with Microsoft Engineering.
Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in evening social events to help build a connected Azure community for future success.
Cloud Capabilities in SA
Smit notes that while there has been an uptake of cloud services in South Africa, many organisations still struggle to grasp the full capabilities of cloud technology. “Lift and shift is often the first thing that comes to mind when mentioning a cloud transition and comprises a transfer of an organisation’s services to cloud infrastructure. That, however is a very limited understanding as the cloud enables so much more.”
“It is crucial for organisations to understand the capabilities of the cloud as this enables them to take hold of the many advantages and, most importantly save costs and time.”
He explains that Azure has rendered software development faster and repeatable as organisations can use its services as a basic and build on that. “Azure is scaling every day – enabling organisations to access services they would, otherwise, not financially be able to, and to access that service on demand. It is the perfect solution for startup and scaling organisations and helps medium-to-large sized organisations to innovate, cross borders and break barriers without breaking the bank”.
“Azure is everything you need in a complete solution – from technical documentation to partner resources – all geared and ready to meet the demands of your business.”
