Microsoft Azure is an online cloud service provider. Azure provides many services ranging from services related to Storage, Computation, Machine Learning, Networking etc.
Microsoft Azure provides several benefits over traditional on premise systems. These benefits include:
1. Scalability: Services in Azure can be configured to handle increased workload in an instant.
2. Pricing: In Azure you only have to pay for the services you use and for the amount of time you use it for.
3. Security: In Azure security is taken as a priority and whenever possible information is transmitted through azure's internal infrastructure and any sensitive information transferred over the public internet can be encrypted.
4. Hybrid Capability: Unlike AWS’s cloud only approach, Microsoft Azure Azure you can also build hybrid applications that use both you on premise infrastructure and Azure cloud services.
5. Reliability: Azure provides reliable performance. If any of the systems in azure that are running your deployments start facing problems Azure will spin up another deployment to replace it and keep you system running smoothly.
If you are planning on learning Azure, as a beginner it would be better to start with an online course that teaches you the basics and also gives you hands on experience.
For Azure you can either take this end-to-end certification course which will teach you the basics of Azure, or if you are just a beginner and wish to get your feet wet you can watch this end-to-end Azure tutorial.