Azure Integration Services: A Guide to Connecting Everything

Your consultants just finished a big client project. Yay!

But nobody knows they’re now free until someone manually updates the scheduling system.

The finance team is reconciling timesheets against invoices because your time tracking and billing platforms don’t talk to each other. Meanwhile, your CRM still shows the client as ‘in progress’ because nobody remembered to update it after project completion.

And somehow there’s a shared spreadsheet that’s become the single source of truth for tracking project budgets across three different departments.

Modern businesses are drowning in disconnected systems like these, and it’s costing them time, money, and their sanity.

But Azure integration services can help fix this mess.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through each tool in Azure’s integration toolkit and show you how they can transform your business from a collection of isolated islands into a well-oiled machine.

Azure integration services are Microsoft tools that connect applications, data, and processes across your entire organisation. They’re the digital plumbing that lets information flow between all your systems, whether they’re modern cloud apps or legacy on-premises software.

The Azure integration services architecture is built around five core components:

• Azure Logic Apps for workflow automation
• Azure Service Bus for reliable messaging
• Azure Event Grid for event-driven architectures
• Azure Functions for serverless compute
• Azure Data Factory for data pipeline orchestration

So, you might use Event Grid to detect when something happens, trigger a Function to process the data, then use Logic Apps to orchestrate the workflow, all while Service Bus makes sure messages don’t get lost along the way. Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.

Azure Logic Apps is a Swiss Army knife of integration. It’s a visual workflow designer that lets you automate processes without writing code (although you can do that as well if you like).

How it works

Logic Apps uses a drag-and-drop interface where you build workflows using pre-built connectors. With over 400 connectors available, from Office 365 and Dynamics to Twitter and Dropbox, you can connect virtually any service. Each workflow starts with a trigger (like “when an email arrives” or “every Monday at 9am”) and then executes a series of actions.

Real-world example: Automating customer onboarding

Imagine an insurance company that previously took three days to onboard new customers. With Logic Apps, they could build a workflow that:

1. Triggers when a new application arrives via their web form
2. Creates a customer record in Dynamics 365
3. Runs a credit check through a third-party API
4. Sends documents to DocuSign for electronic signature
5. Updates Salesforce with the application status
6. Notifies the sales team via Microsoft Teams

What used to take three days now happens in three minutes, and nobody has to copy and paste information between systems.

When to use Logic Apps

Logic Apps is good when you need to orchestrate complex workflows across multiple systems. It’s well-suited for approval processes, data synchronisation, and anywhere you find yourself saying “when this happens, do that.”

While Logic Apps orchestrates workflows, Azure Service Bus makes sure your messages get where they need to go, even when systems are temporarily offline. It’s the postal service of your integration architecture, making sure things get delivered even during the busiest times.

Service Bus works in two main patterns:

• Queues: One-to-one messaging where each message has exactly one receiver
• Topics: One-to-many messaging where multiple subscribers can receive the same message

Real-world use case: E-commerce order processing

This could work for an online fashion retailer. When a customer places an order, multiple systems need to know about it: inventory needs updating, the warehouse needs picking instructions, accounting needs to process payment, and marketing wants to send a confirmation email.

Using Service Bus topics, they publish each order once. The inventory system, warehouse system, accounting platform, and email service all subscribe to the order topic, receiving their own copy of the message. If the warehouse system goes offline for maintenance, Service Bus holds its messages until it’s back, so no orders get lost.

When to use Service Bus

Service Bus is ideal when you need reliable, asynchronous communication between systems. It lets you decouple applications, so they don’t need to be online at the same time, making your architecture more resilient and scalable.

Event Grid takes a different approach to integration. Instead of polling systems to check if something’s changed, Event Grid instantly notifies interested parties when events occur.

In traditional integration, systems constantly ask “has anything changed?” But with Event Grid, systems simply say “tell me when something happens.” This reactive approach is often a more efficient way of doing things and enables real-time responses to business events.

Real-world use case: Real-time inventory updates

An electronics retailer with both online and physical stores could make use of Event Grid. They could use it to maintain real-time inventory across all channels:

1. When a product sells in-store, the POS system publishes an “item sold” event
2. Event Grid instantly routes this to the inventory system, website, and mobile app
3. Customers see updated stock levels within seconds
4. When inventory drops below threshold, Event Grid triggers a reorder workflow

This real-time synchronisation prevents customers from suffering the “sorry, that item is actually out of stock” situation.

When to use Event Grid

Event Grid excels when you need immediate reactions to changes. It’s perfect for scenarios like file processing (e.g. things trigger when a document is uploaded), resource management (e.g. alerts when something is created), or any situation where time is of the essence.

Azure Functions provides small pieces of code that run in response to triggers—no servers to manage, no infrastructure to maintain. They’re the perfect complement to other integration services, handling data transformation, validation, and custom logic.

While Logic Apps offers pre-built connectors, sometimes you need custom code. Functions fill this gap. They can be triggered by Event Grid, called from Logic Apps, or they can process messages from Service Bus, providing the custom logic your integrations need.

Real-world use case: Data transformation between systems

Imagine a logistics company facing a common problem: their new warehouse management system expects data in JSON format, but their legacy order system only speaks XML.

To solve this, they create an Azure Function that:

1. Triggers when XML orders arrive in Service Bus
2. Transforms XML to JSON with custom business logic
3. Enriches data with information from their product database
4. Sends the transformed data to the warehouse system

The entire transformation takes milliseconds and scales automatically with demand.

When to use Azure Functions

Functions are perfect when you need custom logic that doesn’t warrant a full application. They’re really good for data transformation: converting formats, enriching data, or applying business rules as information flows between systems.

They’re also ideal for scheduled tasks like cleanup jobs, report generation, or any process that needs to run on a timer without maintaining infrastructure.

Consider Functions when you need to respond to events quickly. Whether it’s processing uploaded files, responding to webhooks, or handling queue messages, Functions can scale from zero to thousands of instances in seconds. They’re particularly valuable as the “glue” in your integration architecture, filling gaps where pre-built connectors don’t quite fit your needs.

While other integration services focus on real-time events and workflows, Azure Data Factory specialises in moving and transforming large volumes of data. It’s your go-to tool for ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) and ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) processes.

ETL/ELT processes explained

Data Factory excels at:

• Extracting data from various sources (databases, files, APIs)
• Transforming it to meet your needs (cleaning, aggregating, enriching)
• Loading it into destination systems (data warehouses, lakes, or other databases)

Real-world use case: Syncing CRM with data warehouse

Imagine an enterprise that needs to sync data from their Dynamics 365 CRM with their Azure Synapse data warehouse for analytics. Using Data Factory, they built a pipeline that:

1. Extracts new and modified records from Dynamics 365 every hour
2. Cleanses the data (removing duplicates, standardising formats)
3. Enriches it with data from their ERP system
4. Loads it into their data warehouse
5. Triggers a Logic App to notify the analytics team when new data arrives

This automated pipeline replaced a manual process that took their team an entire day each week.

How it fits with other Azure data integration services

Data Factory plays nicely with other Azure services. It can trigger Logic Apps workflows, be triggered by Event Grid, and use Functions for custom transformations. For those using Microsoft Fabric, Data Factory capabilities are built right in.

The real magic happens when you combine these services. Here’s how they work together in practice:

• Event Grid detects when something happens
• Functions transform and validate the data
• Service Bus ensures reliable delivery
• Logic Apps orchestrates the overall workflow
• Data Factory handles bulk data movements

There are some common use cases that work for a wide variety of organisations:

• Real-time sync: Event Grid + Functions for immediate updates When your e-commerce site needs to update inventory the moment a sale happens, or your CRM needs to reflect customer interactions instantly, this combination delivers pretty much instant synchronisation.
• Batch processing: Data Factory + Logic Apps for scheduled jobs Perfect for nightly data warehouse loads or morning report generation. Data Factory handles the heavy data movement while Logic Apps manages the workflow, notifications, and error handling.
• Async processing: Service Bus + Functions for reliable background tasks When you need to process orders, generate invoices, or handle any task that can’t afford to fail, this pattern ensures every message is processed exactly once, even if systems go offline.
• Workflow automation: Logic Apps + all services for complex processes For end-to-end business processes like employee onboarding, Logic Apps serves as the conductor, calling on each service as needed to complete the journey.

Security is built into all of this. All Azure integration services work seamlessly with Azure Active Directory (now Entra ID). So you get single sign-on, role-based access control, managed identities for service-to-service authentication, and audit logs for compliance. As well as this, Azure Monitor and Application Insights give you complete visibility to track message flows, identify bottlenecks, and alert on failures from a unified dashboard.

The whole point of integration is to bring more efficiency, which should of course bring down your spending. But it is worth being careful about your setup to make sure costs don’t spiral out of control.

Each service uses a different pricing model:

• Logic Apps: Charged per action execution, with different rates for standard vs enterprise connectors
• Service Bus: Base monthly charge plus cost per message operation
• Event Grid: Pay per event delivered, with generous free tier
• Functions: Consumption-based pricing using execution time and memory (GB-seconds)
• Data Factory: Charges for pipeline runs and data movement hours

Microsoft’s costs can change, and you should always check their official pricing calculator for accurate, up-to-date figures.

For cost optimisation, you’ll want to keep a few things in mind:

1. Use consumption-based tiers for variable workloads
2. Batch operations where real-time isn’t required
3. Implement proper error handling to avoid retry storms
4. Monitor usage and set up cost alerts
5. Consider reserved capacity for predictable workloads

Consumption-based pricing tiers work brilliantly for variable workloads—why pay for capacity you’re not using during quiet periods? However, if your integrations run predictably around the clock, reserved capacity can slash costs.

And comprehensive monitoring isn’t just about catching problems—it’s about catching them before they hit your wallet. Set up cost alerts early, and you’ll spot unusual patterns before they become unpleasant surprises on your Azure bill.

How does Azure stack up against other integration platforms? Let’s look at the key comparisons:

Azure integration services vs MuleSoft

MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform is powerful but comes with enterprise-level complexity and pricing. While MuleSoft might offer more pre-built connectors, Azure’s native integration with Microsoft services (Office 365, Dynamics, Power Platform) gives it an edge for organisations already in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Azure advantages:

• No separate licensing for Microsoft connectors
• Seamless Azure AD integration
• Pay-as-you-go pricing options
• No need for separate infrastructure

⠀MuleSoft advantages:

• More mature API management capabilities
• Larger library of pre-built connectors
• Strong on-premises integration options

Azure integration services vs BizTalk

For organisations still running BizTalk Server, Azure integration services are their cloud-native evolution. While BizTalk requires significant infrastructure and expertise, Azure services offer:

• No server management
• Automatic scaling
• Modern, visual development tools
• Significantly lower operational overhead

Many businesses run both during transition, using BizTalk for complex on-premises integrations while moving new workflows to Azure.

Choosing your first Azure integration service depends on your most pressing business challenge. Logic Apps makes a great starting point if you’re drowning in manual processes or need to connect various SaaS apps. Its visual, low-code approach means your business analysts can build workflows alongside your developers, speeding up delivery while keeping solid governance.

When you’re trying to build momentum for integration projects, nothing beats a quick win that solves a real pain point. You could try this sort of thing:

• Email attachment processing: Use Logic Apps to automatically save email attachments to SharePoint
• Scheduled reports: Use Data Factory to generate daily sales reports
• Real-time alerts: Use Event Grid to notify teams when critical events occur
• Data validation: Use Functions to validate data between systems

And on the flipside, there are some things to steer clear of. The biggest trap is over-engineering from the start. Some teams spend months building the “perfect” integration architecture for problems that could have been solved in days.

Start simple, prove the value, then add complexity only when the business genuinely needs it. As well as these, try to avoid:

• Ignoring errors: Implement proper error handling from day one
• Forgetting monitoring: Set up your alerts before going to production
• Neglecting security: Plan authentication and authorisation upfront

At Synextra, we’ve guided numerous businesses through their Azure integration journey. Whether you’re looking to automate a single process or transform your entire integration landscape, we’ll help you figure out the options and find the right fit for your business.

Get in touch to find out more.