Nowadays, cloud solution is a hot trend due to the high demand for fast services and application delivery. Cloud solutions benefit businesses in many ways but one of the most significant advantages is integration solutions that connect multiple independent systems/ applications in the cloud without having to sacrifice the scalability and consistency of the application.

The most popular cloud service platforms in the market right now are AWS and Microsoft Azure.  In our new blog post, BHSOFT will help you understand more about Microsoft Azure and how we utilize it in our client projects.

What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is the most successful public cloud offering of Microsoft. It was first introduced at the 2008 Microsoft PDC Conference under the name Windows Azure.

At first, it offered basic Azure Storage, Cloud Services and Virtual Machines. Microsoft aimed to make Window Azure the new server-based Operating System environment in the cloud. 

In 2009, SQL Azure has been added with the message “Everybody is welcome in the cloud” message. In 2014, Windows Azure was renamed, Microsoft Azure. 

Microsoft Azure has opened up a new “Cloud platform as a Service” era for developers all over the world. Now Azure is a mature and reliable cloud platform that offers a huge range of services right on the Azure portal.

Microsoft Azure App Services

Azure App Service contains three main services:

  • Web Apps for running web and API applications in Azure.
  • Mobile Apps for running the backend for mobile applications in Azure.
  • Function Apps for running small blocks of code in Azure that can be triggered by outside sources, like a message or a queue. 

At BHSOFT, we love Azure App Service. It helped us with quick build and deployment. We used Microsoft App Service many times to build custom web apps and APIs. See how we utilized Microsoft App Service, CosmoDB, and Azure Blob Storage to build a web application in this article.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services

Application integration saves us from having to build a brand new application every time we need some extra functions. Application integration helps you to utilize the existing assets to innovate and upgrade your application. 

Besides App Service, Azure is also well known for its Integration Services, which includes API Management, Logic Apps, Service Bus, and Event Grid. Microsoft Azure Integration Services is a Microsoft cloud offering of services for application integration. It provides a serverless compute experience that aims at consistency and efficiency when connecting applications.

In the concept of this article, BHSOFT will illustrate through a project of our partner, SEA-Solutions, how our developers used Azure Function to help our clients with integrating their systems. SEA-Solutions is among the top software development companies in Vietnam with more than 15 years of experience in the software industry as well as many projects involving Microsoft Azure. Sea-Solution also has its own cloud solution, which offers high-performance cloud infrastructure services at an affordable price.

The client business need

The client requires critical integrations with their application. They would like to use Microsoft Dynamics as their main CRM software. On the other hand, they would like to use Xero as their accounting software for high security. The data also needs to be processed and reports are shown in Microsoft Power BI.

For instance, when an invoice is created with Microsoft Dynamics, it should also automatically be created and saved in Xero and vice versa. Once the invoice has been paid in Xero, the payment would be automatically updated in Microsoft Dynamics. Fast and precise system integration and data synchronization are the most crucial requirements for this project.

That is why our developers chose Microsoft Azure Integration services for better efficiency and consistency when it comes to connecting applications.  

How we did it

Our team utilized Azure Function for our client application. Azure Function is an on-demand cloud service that offers developers the necessary infrastructure and resources needed to run their applications. 

Developers can use Azure Functions to build web APIs, respond to database changes, process IoT streams, manage message queues, etc. Azure Function support multiple languages including C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, TypeScript, Node.js, etc. 

In the project, we used Azure Function as an event-driven Webhook for the client CRM and accounting software.

We also used Azure Service Bus to process the message. Azure Service Bus offers queues where applications write and read messages and transfer messages from system to system securely. Azure Service Bus also offers both online & offline system support (The message will be sent once the system is online again). Apps and systems can operate independently while messages are still properly monitored. 

Integrations we have implemented:

  • Two-way integration with MS Dynamic CRM and Xero accounting software.
  • Two-way integration of MS Dynamic CRM and Business Central accounting software.
  • Integration between Xero and Vettrak Learning Management System.
  •  Xero supplies data to Microsoft Dataverse to use for PowerBI. 

Conclusion

Microsoft Azure Integration Services can bring your business workflows together and help you to gain competitive advantages in the market. All you need is the right partner who can provide you with the right experts for your projects. If you are looking for a reliable partner to co-operate with you in your cloud project, don’t hesitate to contact us via hello@bachasoftware.com.