The new Azure file solution was able to realize cost savings across multiple components of the customer’s environment, including virtual machines, storage, VPN gateway, backup, site recovery, virtual network, VM licenses, and more. The percentage of savings varied from 3% to 75%, and the year-over-year annual savings trend was approximately 25% in total.
In addition to the cost savings, the customer was also able to increase security with Azure files, as all files are encrypted at rest, and access to files can be controlled by setting permissions. The customer can also monitor access to its files and audit usage with Azure activity logs.