AZ-900 practice question 4 of 35

What are two benefits of cloud computing? Each correct answer presents a complete solution. NOTE: Each correct selection is worth one point.

Choose your answer, then check it against the explanation and the full breakdown below.

Domain Describe cloud concepts

Answer options

Correct Answer:

A, D

Explanation

Cloud computing offers significant benefits in agility and financial management. Agility refers to the ability to rapidly provision and de-provision resources to meet changing demands, a process that can take minutes in the cloud versus weeks for on-premises hardware. This is a core advantage. Financially, the cloud shifts the economic model from Capital Expenditure (CapEx), which involves large, upfront investments in physical infrastructure, to Operating Expenditure (OpEx), a pay-as-you-go model. This allows organizations to avoid significant initial costs and pay only for the resources they consume, improving cash flow and budget flexibility.

Why Incorrect

B: Cloud computing generally reduces administrative complexity by abstracting away the management of physical hardware, networking, and data centers, which are handled by the cloud provider.

C: Cloud services offer different, often more standardized, configuration options compared to on-premises environments, where an organization has complete control over hardware and software choices.

References

1. Microsoft Learn. (2024). Describe agility. In "Describe the benefits of using cloud services" (AZ-900). Microsoft. Retrieved from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/describe-cloud-compute/3-describe-cloud-benefits.

Reference Point: This document states, "Agility is the ability to react quickly. Cloud services can allocate and deallocate resources quickly." This directly supports the benefit of rapid provisioning (Answer A).

2. Microsoft Learn. (2024). Describe capital expenditure (CapEx) versus operational expenditure (OpEx). In "Describe cloud service models" (AZ-900). Microsoft. Retrieved from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/describe-cloud-service-models/3-describe-capex-opex.

Reference Point: This official courseware explains, "Cloud computing is OpEx because cloud computing operates on a pay-as-you-go model... you’re not investing in physical infrastructure." This confirms the shift from CapEx to OpEx (Answer D).

3. Microsoft Azure Documentation. (2023). Principles of cost optimization. In "Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework". Microsoft. Retrieved from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost/principles.

Reference Point: Under the "Adopt a consumption-based model" principle, the documentation highlights the benefit of converting "capital expenses to operating expenses" and avoiding "large capital investments."

Question 4 of 35

Question breakdown

Tests: Describe the benefits of using cloud services
Difficulty: Easy

Key idea: Cloud computing gives agility through on-demand provisioning and replaces upfront hardware spending with pay-as-you-go operating costs.

How to reach the answer

The question asks for benefits, so any option that describes a drawback or no change can be eliminated.
Rapid provisioning matches the agility benefit: resources come online in minutes rather than after a hardware procurement cycle.
CAPEX-to-OPEX describes the consumption-based pricing model, which is a core financial benefit.
Increased complexity is a drawback, not a benefit, and is generally the opposite of what the cloud provides.
Having the same configuration options as on-premises is not true and is not presented as a cloud advantage.

Each option

ACorrect. Agility and on-demand self-service let you deploy and remove resources in minutes.
BIncorrect. The provider manages the physical infrastructure, which usually reduces administrative burden rather than increasing it.
CIncorrect. Cloud services offer standardized, provider-defined options, not the full hardware-level control of an on-premises environment.
DCorrect. Pay-as-you-go consumption replaces large upfront infrastructure purchases with ongoing operational spending.

Common trap: Option C sounds reassuring because it suggests nothing is lost by migrating, but identical configuration is neither accurate nor a benefit.

In practice: When building a migration business case, teams cite faster provisioning and the move from depreciating hardware assets to monthly operational billing as the main drivers.

Remember: Remember the core cloud benefits: agility (fast provisioning) and the CapEx-to-OpEx consumption model.

Official documentation: Describe the benefits of using cloud services · Describe cloud computing

Drafted with AI assistance and checked against the answer key.

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