Today, businesses across every industry must make significant changes to compete in a rapidly modernizing world. In fact, according to Gartner1, 91% of businesses are engaged in some form of digital initiative, and 87% of senior business leaders say digitalization is a priority.

This transformation requires adjustments and shifts in how businesses leverage technology, and data is the new currency — needed to power generative AI, applications and uncover insights. But for this to happen, data must be easily accessible, scalable, and secure. The need to efficiently manage multiple data sources, while navigating changing market dynamics, drives many future-focused business leaders to look up — to the cloud. And solutions from Microsoft are helping customers get there.

American Airlines2 is a perfect example. The airline wanted to move its real-time customer data domain from an aging on-premises data center to the cloud to deliver differentiated experiences for its customers and better compete in a rapidly changing world.

After evaluating several possible routes, American Airlines' customer hub team chose Microsoft's fully managed database service, Azure SQL Managed Instance.

"Azure SQL Managed Instance was the only option that met all our requirements," Jayanta Saha, principal data architect at American Airlines, said. "We had 10 terabytes of data, a massive transaction load, and the need for geo-replication supporting an active-standby architecture — and we can't be down for even a minute."

Efficiency, security, and cost optimization with Azure SQL Managed Instance

A fully managed cloud database service like Azure SQL Managed Instance is a critical first step in a business' transformation journey, boosting security and productivity while optimizing costs. IT tasks like patching, backups, and updates — which can be resource intensive and disruptive — can now be automated, helping organizations realize significant productivity gains. In a recently commissioned study3 conducted by IDC, migrating to Azure SQL Managed Instance delivered a 45% increase of productivity for database administrators and 27% increase in productivity application development teams — all while reducing overall operational costs by 30%. This helps organizations like American Airlines leverage benefits that only the cloud can deliver and redirect resources from managing on-premises datacenters to projects that deliver higher value to the business.

Securing data and maintaining compliance is non-negotiable for any organization, and it requires a solution that can respond to rapidly changing security threats. That's why Microsoft has committed to investing 20 billion dollars over the next five years in cybersecurity. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is helping identify and remediate security threats in real time. 

While the right database can help power intelligent applications and help drive businesses forward, the right hardware can help ensure those databases are performant and responsive. The combination of Azure SQL Managed Instance and Intel® deliver increased efficiency, security, and cost optimization at the database layer, while also delivering the performance organizations need for their mission-critical applications — accelerated by the latest Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors. 

Azure SQL Managed Instance enables organizations to take a significant step in their digital transformation journey —modernizing their applications, unlocking new potential, and empowering businesses to turn focus to future growth and innovation. 

 Learn more about Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance, accelerated by Intel. 

This post was created by Insider Studios with Microsoft and Intel.