diff --git a/contrib/inventory/windows_azure.py b/contrib/inventory/windows_azure.py
index d566b0c4d3..d2999f1876 100755
--- a/contrib/inventory/windows_azure.py
+++ b/contrib/inventory/windows_azure.py
@@ -47,13 +47,9 @@ except ImportError:
     import simplejson as json
 
 try:
-    import azure
-    from azure import WindowsAzureError
     from azure.servicemanagement import ServiceManagementService
 except ImportError as e:
-    print("failed=True msg='`azure` library required for this script'")
-    sys.exit(1)
-
+    sys.exit("ImportError: {0}".format(str(e)))
 
 # Imports for ansible
 import ConfigParser
@@ -194,11 +190,8 @@ class AzureInventory(object):
         try:
             for cloud_service in self.sms.list_hosted_services():
                 self.add_deployments(cloud_service)
-        except WindowsAzureError as e:
-            print("Looks like Azure's API is down:")
-            print("")
-            print(e)
-            sys.exit(1)
+        except Exception as e:
+            sys.exit("Error: Failed to access cloud services - {0}".format(str(e)))
 
     def add_deployments(self, cloud_service):
         """Makes an Azure API call to get the list of virtual machines
@@ -207,11 +200,8 @@ class AzureInventory(object):
         try:
             for deployment in self.sms.get_hosted_service_properties(cloud_service.service_name,embed_detail=True).deployments.deployments:
                 self.add_deployment(cloud_service, deployment)
-        except WindowsAzureError as e:
-            print("Looks like Azure's API is down:")
-            print("")
-            print(e)
-            sys.exit(1)
+        except Exception as e:
+            sys.exit("Error: Failed to access deployments - {0}".format(str(e)))
 
     def add_deployment(self, cloud_service, deployment):
         """Adds a deployment to the inventory and index"""