Azure Platform Management

What This Covers

Governance and operational oversight of Azure services. Not treating Azure as a separate world, but as a natural extension of the Microsoft 365 tenant.

Governance & Structure

Identity-Driven Access Azure RBAC tied to the same Entra ID identity model. No separate admin accounts, no credential sprawl. People get Azure access through the same identity governance that controls everything else.

Resource Organisation Naming standards, tagging strategy, resource group structure. Making it possible to understand what exists, who owns it, and what it costs.

Policy Enforcement Azure Policy for guardrails. Preventing configurations that shouldn’t exist rather than just hoping people follow the rules.

Cost Visibility

Cloud spend can spiral quickly without visibility. This work includes:

• Cost allocation by centre and service
• Alerting on unusual spend
• Regular review and optimisation
• Data for budgeting and procurement decisions

Turning “we spent €X on Azure” into “here’s what we got for that money and here’s what we could do differently.”

Integration

Azure doesn’t exist in isolation. It connects to:

• Microsoft 365 services
• On-premises systems (where they still exist)
• Third-party applications
• Identity and security infrastructure

The work is making those connections secure and manageable.

Foundation Building

Much of this is foundation work. Establishing the structure and governance that makes future Azure use sensible. When someone needs to host an application or build an integration, the platform is ready and the rules are clear.