Managed Microsoft Azure Hosting
Move your servers, line-of-business apps and remote desktops into Microsoft Azure, and let us look after them. Designed properly, costed honestly, managed end-to-end.
Certified & Accredited
When Azure is the Right Answer
Microsoft Azure isn't always the right destination. Some workloads are better off in Microsoft 365, some are better as SaaS, and some are still fine on a properly maintained on-premise server. But there's a sweet spot where Azure is unbeatable:
- You've got a line-of-business application that has to run on a Windows or Linux server, but you don't want to keep buying, racking and patching physical hardware
- You need remote desktops for hybrid teams (Azure Virtual Desktop / Windows 365)
- Your existing server is approaching end-of-life and the cost of replacement plus maintenance over 5 years exceeds Azure's lifetime cost
- You need to scale up or down quickly, seasonal businesses, project teams, M&A activity
- Disaster recovery is a problem on-premise but trivial in Azure (geo-redundant by default)
For businesses across Birmingham and the West Midlands, we've migrated everything from single-server SME setups to multi-region environments. The right design depends on what you're running and what 'good' actually looks like for your business.
What 'Managed' Actually Means
Plenty of providers will spin you up an Azure VM and hand you the keys. We don't. Managed Azure Hosting from LeapIT means we own the platform end-to-end:
- Design and architecture, Right-sized VMs, correct storage tiers, sensible networking, hub-and-spoke where appropriate, identity properly federated with Entra ID
- Migration, Lift-and-shift, re-platform or rebuild, depending on workload. Cutover planned with rollback paths
- Patching and maintenance, OS patching, application updates, certificate renewals, scheduled and tested
- Backup, Azure Backup for VMs and SQL, geo-redundant, with monthly restore tests (this is a big one, most providers never test restores)
- Monitoring, 24/7 health monitoring via our cloud monitoring service
- Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, conditional access, just-in-time admin access, no permanent admin credentials
- Cost management, Monthly cost reviews, reserved instance recommendations, scheduled shutdowns for non-prod
- End user support, Same helpdesk for the people using the platform
Cost, Honest, Not Sales-Driven
Azure pricing is genuinely confusing. Microsoft has an enormous price list, dozens of VM sizes, and several different ways to discount the same workload. The honest truth is that Azure isn't always cheaper than on-premise, but with proper management, it almost always works out better value when you factor in hardware refresh cycles, data centre power, backup software, redundancy and engineer time.
Our quotes are itemised and explained, including:
- Compute (VMs, AVD session hosts) at the right size, not oversold
- Storage broken out by tier (premium SSD, standard SSD, archive)
- Backup, monitoring and security tooling
- Egress estimates (data leaving Azure costs money, we model it honestly)
- Reserved instance savings (typically 30–60% off pay-as-you-go for long-running workloads)
- Our management fee, separately stated
You'll know exactly what you're paying Microsoft and what you're paying us. No bundled, opaque "cloud package" pricing.
What's Included
Architecture & Design
Right-sized VMs, correct storage tiers, sensible networking and identity federated with Entra ID.
Migration Planning
Lift-and-shift, re-platform or rebuild, with proper testing, cutover planning and rollback paths.
Patching & Maintenance
OS and application patching, certificate renewals and platform upgrades, scheduled and tested.
Backup with Restore Testing
Azure Backup with geo-redundancy and monthly restore tests, most providers never actually test restores.
Cost Optimisation
Monthly cost reviews, reserved instance planning and right-sizing, typically 20-35% savings in the first quarter.
Azure Virtual Desktop
AVD and Windows 365 design and management for hybrid teams who need a proper Windows desktop from anywhere.
Managed Microsoft Azure Hosting, FAQs
Not always on a like-for-like compute basis. But when you include hardware refresh every 5 years, redundancy, backup software, UPS, cooling and engineer time, properly-managed Azure usually wins on total cost of ownership, and you get geo-redundancy, scaling and DR almost for free.
Yes. Most server workloads can be migrated using Azure Migrate (lift-and-shift), which replicates the server to Azure and lets you cut over with minimal downtime. We plan migrations in test first, then run cutover at a low-impact time with a rollback path ready.
AVD is one of the most common reasons clients move to Azure. It gives users a full Windows desktop, hosted in Azure, accessible from anywhere. We design, deploy and manage AVD for hybrid teams, including FSLogix profiles, image management and session host scaling.
It can, but only if it's set up properly. A badly configured Azure tenant can be less secure than a well-managed on-premise server. We deploy Microsoft Defender for Cloud, conditional access, just-in-time admin access and proper logging as standard. Security isn't an add-on, it's the baseline.
Almost always yes. Most LoB apps run on Windows Server, IIS, .NET, SQL Server or similar, all of which run natively in Azure. The exception is software with hardware dongles or very specific peripheral requirements, which we'll flag at design stage.
Thinking About Moving to Azure?
Book a free Azure design call, we'll scope the right architecture, give you an honest cost model and outline a migration plan with no obligation.