Real-time data processing is becoming more common in companies of all sizes. The use cases range from simple stream ingestion to complex machine learning pipelines. If you need to get started with streaming in Azure, Stream Analytics gives you a simple way to get up and running. Most of my streaming projects involve Apache Kafka and Spark which can take a lot of setup (or at least involving additional vendors to simplify the experience). Those technologies are great especially for challenging streaming pipelines, but if your data platform is within Azure you should consider if Stream Analytics will meet your needs.