Thinking about Running Affinity in the Cloud? Microsoft Azure is a Proven, Scalable, and Secure Option

If you’ve been wondering, whether your firm can move Affinity to the Cloud, the answer is yes. And it’s much simpler than you might expect when you choose Microsoft Azure. We’ve designed a clear overview for busy legal professionals, outlining the key steps and best practices we use to successfully host firms running Affinity as their practice management system

What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a trusted global Cloud platform that hosts thousands of business systems, including those used by some of Australia’s largest law firms and corporations. It gives your firm the ability to run the Affinity server (and any other business servers) securely in Microsoft’s data centres, without the need for in-office hardware, ongoing maintenance or added complexity. The result is a faster, more reliable environment that can effortlessly grow with your firm. Take for example, our Sydney-based client Henry Williams Lawyers, who confidently grew their team from 10 to over 30 employees in just 12 months without compromising security or performance.

Step 1: Install Affinity in Microsoft Azure

Prepare your Azure environment by setting up Affinity and migrating your documents:

1. Install the Affinity Server as a virtual server in Azure. You can easily scale the system up or down to match your firm’s size.
2. Move your Affinity documents to Azure Files , Microsoft’s secure Cloud storage solution. It makes storing, backing up and accessing your documents simple and seamless, and it works neatly with Affinity.

Step 2: Choose how your staff use the Cloud

You have two simple options for staff to access Affinity:

• Windows 365 Cloud PC: Each user has their own secure Cloud computer with Affinity, Microsoft Office, firm apps like dictation and a web browser in one place.
• Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD): Shared Cloud servers preconfigured with Affinity, Microsoft Office and other apps like dictation that users can log into as needed.

Both options provide secure access from the office, home or even court, all with a single Microsoft sign-in.

Step 3: Configure Security

Microsoft 365 and Azure come with powerful, built-in security features to help keep your data secure:

• Enable Multi-Factor Authentication for all users and applications.
• Restrict logins to Australia-only, blocking cybercriminals overseas (create an exception group for staff travelling abroad).
• Use private network connections so your database isn’t exposed to the public internet.
• Turn on application whitelisting to prevent unauthorised programs from running.
• Enable Microsoft Defender to alert your team if a user visits a suspicious site or enters credentials on a phishing page.
• Implement Azure Backup for reliable, automated backup and recovery.

Takeaway

Running Affinity in the Cloud with Microsoft Azure gives your firm a secure, familiar desktop you can open anywhere without the burden of managing servers in your office. Innessco’s service offerings for Affinity customers are fully-managed cloud solutions, billed on a straightforward per-user, per-month basis and include business hours helpdesk support backed by a battle-tested smooth transition program.

Whether you choose Innessco or handle your own deployment, moving Affinity to Microsoft Azure is a practical, modern step to to simplify your IT environment and make it more reliable and resilient.

 

---

Insights provided by Robert Cox, Director and Founder at Innessco

 

Go to Media