Cloud Platforms

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure Arc Fast Start

Accelerate adoption of Azure® Arc® with cloud enablement experts.

Business challenge

Today’s fast-evolving digital world demands more agility than ever — which means adopting hybrid solutions across multiple clouds, at the edge and in the datacenter. This is no easy task. Expanding your digital footprint across geographical regions, data centers and clouds adds more layers of complexity. And IT teams often find themselves stitching together many different systems to manage disparate governance, workloads and deployments, which can strain resources.

How we help

Insight’s Digital Innovation team will help you adopt Azure Arc to drastically simplify management and operation within your hybrid cloud. Lean on our deep cloud enablement expertise, close relationship with Microsoft and vast resources to invest in Azure Arc quickly and more strategically.

Microsoft® Azure Arc was designed with hybrid solutions at the core to simplify workload management and operational burden across resources, no matter where they live. It gives users single-pane-of-glass visibility and management across virtual and physical machines, Kubernetes clusters and Azure Data Services. Using standard Azure tooling, Insight will demonstrate how Arc users can view metrics and logs, enforce consistent policy, create deployments to Kubernetes, deploy managed SQL Server and PostgreSQL, and much more.

Preparing for transformation

To ensure you receive the greatest value from this engagement, you will need:

  • New or existing Azure subscription(s), accessible by Insight
  • Access to subject matter experts and stakeholders

What to expect

Insight’s Digital innovation team will assist your organization in adopting Azure Arc in one or more of the following ways:

Arc servers Arc-enabled Kubernetes Arc-enabled data services
  • Fully automated installation of Microsoft® Azure Arc server agents to non-Azure servers
  • Configuration of logging and metrics agents on non-Azure servers
  • Creation and application of policy and alerts at the global Azure level using Azure Policy guest configurations
  • Configuration of Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Role-Based Access Controls (RBACs)
  • Fully automated installation of Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes agents
  • Installation and configuration of GitOps connector (if desired)
  • Configuration of IAM and RBAC controls
  • Creation and application of Azure Policy and Kubernetes policy
  • Configuration of logging, monitoring and alerts
  • Setup of SQL Server® and/or PostgreSQL evergreen hyperscale services at elastic scale
  • Automated deployment of new databases
  • Secure data services using IAM and RBAC
  • Configuration of monitoring and alerts of data services

Why Insight for Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft U.S. Azure Team Partner Choice Award

for Data and Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft Canada Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)

Indirect Provider Program

Microsoft U.S. Partner Award

Apps and Infrastructure – Open Source on Azure

Azure Expert

Managed Service Provider (MSP) Partner

About Insight

At Insight, we define, architect, implement and manage Insight Intelligent Technology Solutions that help your organization run smarter. We’ll work with you to maximize your technology investments, empower your workforce to work smarter, optimize your business and create meaningful experiences.

Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Insight Cloud Care for Azure

Maximize your Azure investment with Insight Cloud Care — our award-winning program for clients who purchase public cloud solutions.

Many organizations are increasingly using the public cloud to scale architecture, increase computing and enhance security. But rapid growth without the right administration leads to oversized workloads, idle consumption and misspent cloud resources.

Insight Cloud Care for Azure is a market-leading solution for optimizing Azure acquisition, consumption, and spend.

Insight Cloud Care for Azure Essentials

  • Acquire Azure through Insight Cloud Care for 3.95% off MSRP for consumption
  • Receive concierge support and best practice recommendations from your Cloud Success Manager – tagging, policy creation, portal training, and security
  • Access to Insight’s Cloud Commerce Portal for purchasing, reporting, and invoices
  • Establish consumption and cloud spend budgets and alerts for early warning of unexpected and unusual spend
  • Leverage 24/7/365 bilingual English/French break-fix technical support and troubleshooting backed by Insight’s Premier Support agreement
  • Azure advisory services from cloud experts

Managed Azure

Let Insight manage your Azure environment

Monitor
Ensure 24/7 platform, system, and workload availability
Manage
Workloads are up-todate and operating at peak performance
Secure
Workloads and data are inspected and protected
Optimize
Provide visibility to and control of Azure costs

Available at 30% of monthly consumption, one year commitment

Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Azure Migration and Modernization program (AMM)

Lower costs and reduce risk with cloud migration and modernization assistance.

When you modernize with Insight by your side, you work with a Microsoft® Azure® expert Managed Services Provider (MSP) or with a Windows Server® and SQL Server® Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization. Having met rigorous standards, we’re among a top tier of Microsoft partners trusted to lead you through this exciting cloud-modernization program.

Meet your needs with a proven approach.
  • Get migration and modernization support across applications, data and infrastructure.
  • Get assistance with assessing your environment and planning your migration to build a robust business case and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) justification.
  • Leverage the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Well-Architected Framework for security, governance, data and networking design.
Optimize costs and drive sustainable outcomes.
  • Enhance your cloud skills with subsidized Azure technical training delivered through Insight and Microsoft Learn.
  • Use free tools to move efficiently and stay cost-optimized once on Azure.
  • Contribute towards environmentally sustainable outcomes while driving operational efficiencies.
Move confidently with expert help.
  • Use prescriptive, step-by-step guidance from Azure engineers and experts at Insight to mitigate risks and take full advantage of Azure security, scale and innovation.
  • Build cloud skills and long-term organizational readiness with the right mix of learning options.
  • Access personalized, self-guided resources to support your unique needs.

Get started today.

1. Get nominated.

Tell us about your migration project so we can nominate you for the program.

2. Learn more.

A Microsoft expert defines the right mix of resources and advises you on next steps.

3. Migrate and maximize your ROI.

Insight helps you assess, migrate and modernize your workloads to Azure. Plus, we provide guidance to ensure your workloads are secure, well-managed and cost-optimized on an ongoing basis.

Get help at every stage of your cloud migration journey.

Why Insight for Microsoft solutions

Insight’s strong supply-chain optimization and workplace solutions combined with our data centre transformation expertise and modernized applications keep businesses running, foster flexible work environments and put you at the forefront of innovation.

Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Azure Sentinel Enablement Program

Summary

The Azure Sentinel Enablement engagement is an accelerated program that utilizes Microsoft® Azure® Sentinel and supports Microsoft services. Clients get both Azure Sentinel guidance and insights into active, on-premises threats in their cloud workloads.

What’s included

  • Deployment of Azure Sentinel and supporting services
  • Deployment of the following data connectors:
    • Azure Active Directory
    • Azure AD Identity Protection
    • Microsoft Office 365®
    • Azure activities
    • Microsoft Security Events Collector
  • Single playbook to provide an incident alert notification via email or Microsoft Teams®
  • Azure Sentinel deployment roadmap and threat overview

Benefits

  • Collect and analyze data at cloud scale.
  • Detect threats and minimize false positives using Microsoft analytics and threat intelligence.
  • Hunt suspicious activities at scale.
  • Respond to incidents and integrate alerts with cloud orchestration and automation.

Azure Sentinel Enablement program details

Our highly experienced team deploys this solution, which includes the following: Insight Project Management Office-managed solutioning including planning, scheduling, milestone management and project closure

1 day 2 days 1 day 1 day
Solution architect-run design sessions for Sentinel deployment planning Deployment of Azure Sentinel and supporting services Integration of data connectors and implementation of security playbook Knowledge transfer and threat overview

Why Insight?

Decades of experience
We have helped organizations transform IT service delivery, operations and resources to meet business challenges for more than 30 years.

Deep expertise
Our 1,500+ services professionals carry more than 3,000 technical certifications.

Focused on our clients
Our team is made up of sales executives, architects, engineers, analysts, project managers, specialists and field professionals that provide end-to-end support for our clients.

Managed-services methodology
We become familiarized with each client environment to deliver customized, intelligent care through our Managed Cloud, Managed Data Centre, Managed Network and Security services.

Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Azure Migration

Summary

Strategic use of the public cloud is changing the way organizations view their infrastructure. The ability to leverage stable, supported platforms that provide scalability, flexibility and convenience delivers a wide range of benefits, from greater operational efficiency to enhanced backup and disaster-recovery capabilities.

Still, making the move to the public cloud can be challenging. Whether your organization is consolidating platforms or moving from older to newer platforms, it is crucial to use proven methodologies to ensure your data centre transformation is successful.

Ultimately, a complex initiative that can seem overwhelming is orchestrated in an orderly and predictable manner. Every detail is accounted for and managed for a safe and smooth transition with little if any downtime.

What’s included

Insight brings extensive experience in driving Microsoft® Azure® migrations. Our approach, in simple terms:

icon First, we deploy tool sets to inventory your digital estate, including infrastructure and configurations.
icon Next, our consultants review your business requirements and goals, your applications and their interdependencies.
icon We then group your assets into application groups and workloads based on their interdependencies.
icon From that foundation, we plan, build and execute a seamless migration with zero to minimal disruption.
Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Cloud Adoption Framework Workshop

Summary

The cloud has shifted the technological landscape in business. It’s transformed how technologies are adopted, managed and governed. Entire datacentres can be torn down and rebuilt with one line of code, forcing us to rethink what’s worked in the past.

In order to navigate the complexities of adopting these new processes, Microsoft created the Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) for Azure®. CAF is Microsoft’s set of documentation, best practices and templates to accelerate cloud adoption in your organization. Insight further streamlines your adoption of CAF concepts with the following offerings:

icon Strategize/Plan and Ready
Identify the “why” of cloud and develop a plan to get started.
icon Governance
Find out about governance capabilities in Azure and how to enhance them within your environment.
icon Enterprise Scale Landing Zone
Learn about “North Star” architecture for enterprises adopting Azure.
icon Data migration
Review landing-zones and migration toolsets related to SQL/ Microsoft Windows® workloads.

Microsoft cloud adoption framework for Azure

CAF Strategy/Plan and Ready

What’s included:

The CAF Strategy/Plan and Ready workshop helps prepare organizations asking themselves “Why the cloud?”

This half-day interactive workshop geared towards IT leadership runs through the key tools and processes included in the first three phases of the CAF to help ready your organization for adopting Azure. Focus areas include:

01 Strategy:

  • Motivations: Discuss and document motivations for the business to move to cloud.
  • Business outcomes:> Engage stakeholders to document specific business outcomes.
  • Business justification: Develop a business justification that supports your motivations and outcomes.
  • Identify first project: Leverage business and technical criteria to choose your first project.

02 Plan:

  • Rationalize your digital estate: Determine the best approach to cloud adoption.
  • Initial org. alignment: Align governance and cloud adoption to migrate risks.
  • Skills-readiness plan: Identify skills gap and plan.
  • Cloud-adoption plan: Create an actionable cloud-adoption plan that aligns with your business strategy.

03 Ready:

  • Build your landing zone: Leverage the resources you need to deploy your landing zone.
  • Landing-zone demo: Apply demonstration of key landing-zone concepts.

About Insight

At Insight, we define, architect, implement and manage Insight Intelligent Technology Solutions that help your organization run smarter. We’ll work with you to maximize your technology investments, empower your workforce to work smarter, optimize your business and create meaningful experiences.

Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Cloud Roadmap

Summary

Every significant journey begins with a solid plan. Starting a journey to the cloud with the Insight Cloud Roadmap engagement provides a strategic framework for this complex and impactful transformation.

Insight works with your IT leadership team to execute a series of workshops and whiteboarding sessions. Together, we capture your current infrastructure estate, identify key bodies of work and prioritize a portfolio of both technical and non-technical initiatives designed to accomplish your business objectives.

Agenda items for workshops and whiteboarding sessions can be customized, but typically include:

icon Current state review for the business and how it is currently leveraging cloud and managing information technology
icon Review and discussion of cloud roadmap, goals and business and technical requirements
icon Discussion around optimization of service management, support and cost management, as well as opportunities to address IT role definition and skills enhancement
icon
Technical deep dives of the current state:
  • Server and infrastructure
  • Network and Wide Area Network (WAN)
  • Backup and recovery
  • Security, governance and access policies
  • Data-access requirements

What’s included:

A comprehensive deliverable document with graphics and descriptions of each roadmap item is delivered and reviewed, with the following key features:

  • 12-month visual roadmap: Annotated chart of work packages, priorities, relationships and dependencies over a 12-month period. Each charted initiative is further described in the roadmap document deliverable.
  • Roadmap document: A document aligned to the visual roadmap supporting the client’s vision. Each individual work package is documented including background, estimated effort, goals, interdependencies, risks, gaps and assumptions.

Industry experience

Insight’s deployment methodology delivers value for clients in a variety of industries including manufacturing, education, oil and gas, natural resources, retail, financial services, healthcare and construction.

About Insight

At Insight, we define, architect, implement and manage Insight Intelligent Technology Solutions that help your organization run smarter. We’ll work with you to maximize your technology investments, empower your workforce to work smarter, optimize your business and create meaningful experiences.

Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Azure Disaster Recovery Proof of Concept

Summary

To ensure your organization can effectively deal with any kind of disruption, you need more than a Disaster Recovery (DR) strategy. You also need to confirm the strategy will execute as designed, no matter the disruption, whether it is a system failure, cyberattack or natural disaster.

The Azure Disaster Recovery Proof of Concept is a real-world demonstration of how your organization can capitalize on the Microsoft® Azure® public cloud to host your DR capabilities. It provides your team with an understanding of the architecture and function of an Azure-based solution and how it can provide operational resiliency in the event of a disaster.

What's included

Analyze and plan Design and build Test, deploy, run and manage
  • Gather requirements including Recovery Point/Time Objectives (RPO/RTO) and business criticality.
  • Conduct a DR workshop.
  • Review server/ application details and select five virtual machines.
  • Conduct a high-level review of client infrastructure and cloud connectivity.
  • Design Azure environment based on requirements and objectives.
  • Complete prerequisites:
    • Install/configure Azure Site Recovery (ASR).
    • Deploy Azure networking, Traffic Manager and domain controllers.
    • Create custom scripts and automation.
  • Deploy Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to protect on-premises infrastructure.
  • Verify and test DR functionality of as-built environment.
  • Conduct a failover/ failback test.
  • Develop documentation for as-built solution.
  • Review processes, controls and governance recommendations.
  • Provide best-practice training and development-resource references.
  • Document expected costs for as-built solution and projections for expanded coverage.
  • Recommend roadmap and remediation next steps for implementing comprehensive DR.
Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Azure Well-Architected Review

Summary

The journey to the cloud is an ongoing learning process, because the landscape keeps evolving. For that reason, it is important to ensure your environment is operating securely.

The Well-Architected Review initiative is a structured engagement to review your current Microsoft® Azure® architecture and validate against industry best practices, leveraging expertise from a trusted Microsoft partner.

Insight’s team of cloud specialists provide a detailed analysis of your current business risks and vulnerabilities aligned to your corporate policy and operational processes. Through a series of workshops and deep-dive analysis, Insight provides recommendations and next steps for remediation.

Core areas of Azure

The Well-Architected Review focuses on the following core areas of Azure:

icon Cost optimization: Review your monthly spend to understand your licensing options, cost visibility and cost reduction.
icon Security: Review your environment to ensure alignment with your regulatory requirements and identify any outstanding security concerns.
icon Performance efficiency: Review your architectural and design processes to ensure performance requirements are met.
icon Reliability: Review the permission and policy structure within Azure to align with your requirements.
icon Operational excellence: Review your deployment methodologies around resource groups and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a- Service (PaaS) workloads.
Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Azure Landing Zone Engagement

Summary

Microsoft® Azure® plays a key role in your digital-transformation journey as a scalable and secure cloud platform. Starting with the Azure Landing Zone engagement, Insight helps you positively impact your business by providing you with additional visibility.

The Insight Azure Landing Zone engagement gives you the basic building blocks of any cloud-adoption environment provisioned and prepared to host workloads. A fully functional and production-ready landing zone is a key component of the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework’s Ready methodology and a best practice for businesses ready to migrate to the cloud.

The Azure Landing Zone engagement focuses
on the following areas:

banner
  • Azure subscription and consumption
  • Azure naming standards
  • Azure network architecture
  • Azure identity, authentication and authorization
  • Azure Storage and compute
  • Azure operational excellence and management
  • Governance and cloud security
Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Azure VMware Solution Fast Start

Business challenge

Every business looks for ways to modernize their IT environment. It is still important to drive digital transformation by leveraging existing infrastructure and investments as much as possible, as costs mount.

Microsoft® Azure® VMware® Solution (AVS) enables you to seamlessly move VMware-based workloads from your data centre to Azure and integrate your VMware environment with Azure. Keep managing your existing environments with the same VMware tools you already know as you modernize your applications with Azure-native services.

How we help

The Insight Azure VMware Solution pilot educates and equips your organization to accelerate your adoption of Azure.

Our highly skilled experts work with your team to pilot AVS and move forward with your production migration, following a series of discussions, discovery sessions and demonstrations.

How to prepare

To ensure you receive the greatest value from this engagement, you need:

  • Intent to move forward with a cloud migration in the next 3-6 months
  • Existing on-premises VMware environment
  • Azure subscription

Our approach

Overview and planning
The engagement begins with a series of workshops to provide an overview of AVS architecture and capabilities as well as gather specific requirements for your pilot deployment.

Environment deployment
Our AVS experts deploy a pilot environment aligned to your organization’s requirements. This includes deployment of a three-node AVS cluster to a single region, network connectivity and connection to VMware vCenter and NSX-T Manager.

Outcome and review
After working with your team to execute on test cases and defined pilot scenarios, we review the outcomes together and discuss your organization’s next steps for a production migration using AVS.

Awards and partnerships

  • VMware-certified
    • VCAP-DCV
    • VCAP-NV
  • Competencies
    • Data Center Virtualization Master Services Competency
    • Cloud Management and Automation
    • Digital Workspace
    • Network Virtualization
    • VMware Cloud on AWS
  • 2022 Canada Partner of the Year
  • Azure Expert MSP
  • Azure Gold Partner
  • Advanced specializations
    • Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Microsoft Azure
    • Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure
    • Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure
    • Modernization of Web Applications to Microsoft Azure

About Insight

At Insight, we define, architect, implement and manage Insight Intelligent Technology Solutions that help your organization run smarter. We’ll work with you to maximize your technology investments, empower your workforce to work smarter, optimize your business and create meaningful experiences.

Contact your Insight Canada account executive to get started. Talk to a specialist

Insight excellence - Microsoft awards

  • award icon

    2022
    Microsoft Canada Partner of the Year

  • award icon

    2023
    Canada Inclusion Changemaker Impact Award

  • award icon

    2023
    Canada Modern Marketing Impact Award

  • award icon

    2023
    Canada Public Sector Impact Award

  • award icon

    2023
    Canada National Large Solution Provider Impact Award

  • award icon

    2023
    Worldwide Solution Assessments Partner of the Year