Cloud usage is gaining popularity, with annual public cloud expenditure expected to exceed USD 480 billion next year. In addition, the more complex microservices architecture is increasingly gaining popularity. As a result, cloud service providers are offering services that could make implementation easier – such as cloud managed services.
63.4% of respondents to a recent Lufthansa Industry Solutions survey are using managed service providers (MSPs) exclusively or in combination with in-house resources. Managed service providers partially or completely manage and control their clients’ cloud platforms, at every stage of the deployment from architecture through implementation to management.
Using cloud managed services, the service provider is responsible for getting the deployment up and running – and maintaining it – not the organization itself. The right managed services provider can help tailor and deliver turnkey solutions that leverage the true transformative value of cloud computing.
Managed services increase the efficiency of utilization of cloud resources, as your partner works with you to understand your organization’s goals and recommend the right IT infrastructure to support an optimized cloud environment, at every stage in the cloud solution lifecycle.
If not cloud managed services, how do you interact with the cloud?
An easy way to understand the meaning of managed cloud services is to understand the alternatives.
Unmanaged cloud: You rent access to public cloud infrastructure (from AWS, Azure, Google, etc) and manage it, as well as the application developed. Your initial infrastructure cost is lower, but maintenance costs are higher as you need to hire, train, supervise and provision engineers and other in-house resources to manage the multi-tenant infrastructure.
Multiple cloud providers: You rent infrastructure and then work with a partner to maintain and support it as well as the app. This can lower your fixed costs, but causes issues of accountability.
SaaS: The software provider delivers the infrastructure, support and services upgradation, offering plug-and-play solutions. In a way, it is a kind of managed service, as the partner takes care of all your cloud resources. However, the app is not customized to suit your specific needs.
Managed services, with the expertise of a single cloud expert partner, offers flexibility, lower fixed costs, single-point accountability, and always-updated infrastructure.
What does managed services include?
Your managed services provider can help you with any or all of the below cloud services:
- Cloud adoption strategy
- Solution architecture
- Application development and modernization
- Infrastructure provisioning
- Database, network and storage management
- Hosting and implementation
- Security and monitoring
- Resource optimization
- Cloud deployment and migration
- Application support and backup
- Incident management and disaster recovery
- Help desk support
Why use managed cloud services?
Consider an online platform like AWS (Amazon Web Services). With the right service provider, you get the best cloud computing solutions, delivering the full list of on-demand operations like database storage, hosting, network, backups and more. However, working directly with AWS can require considerable in-house IT expertise.
Since these platforms offer multiple advantages, including security and global availability, organizations use AWS cloud managed services to access cloud resources across a remote network via multiple servers. This helps businesses capture the transformative power of the cloud, without the hassle.
Reduced complexity
- Your Managed Services Provider (MSP) acts as an interface with your cloud vendors. This means you interact with a single partner, simplifying communication and hybrid environment management.
- Streamline your in-house IT team by accessing the MSP’s team of trained, up-to-date experts.
- The MSP offers continuous consultation and guidance, from strategy to execution to regular tech and software upgrades.
Increased innovation
- Your team can focus on business growth, training and upskilling. With effective resource utilization, your organization’s productivity increases.
- Cloud computing offers you the agility and flexibility to meet new changes.
Cost control
- The MSP recommends flexible solutions based on realistic, needs-based strategies.
- With lower fixed costs on payroll and IT infrastructure, and planned monthly expenditure, it is easier to plan your budgeting.
Scalability
- Customized cloud solutions offer scalability and agility with pay-as-you-go models.
- MSP services are delivered to provide an integrated approach, scalability and deployment are seamless.
Security
- The MSP undertakes constant monitoring and accelerated deployment of security configurations and processes.
- They offer all relevant compliance and security features, as well as data safety and backup policies for business continuity.
- The MSP meets agreed-upon service level agreements (SLAs) for service continuity. In most cases, this includes 24×7 support for patch and other infrastructure updates.
Working with a trusted MSP
Working with managed cloud services is a collaborative effort between you and your service provider. Based on your specific business objectives, the MSP’s technical expertise helps create the right balance between public cloud facilities and on-prem reliability.
Since the MSP is in charge of managing your computing, networks, storage, databases and all tools, applications and workloads, it’s important to be sure that you’re working with the right MSP. So how do you select your managed cloud services provider partner?
- What is the size and scope of the managed services support team for the platform you are using? The team of experts should include Account Managers, System Administrators and Technical Engineers, to keep systems operational and further improve them.
- What MSP services can be delivered? Based on your budget and needs, your partner may be able to offer consulting, automation and more, in addition to the scalability, security and backups we have discussed earlier.
- What kind of payment models do they offer? Do they have pay-as-you-go models, or pay-per-service? Are they cost-effective?
- What SLAs do they commit to in terms of future-proofing your systems? This could be KPIs for backups, updates, service, uptime, and response time.
There is no doubt about it that the future of cloud computing is the hybrid environment supported by managed cloud services. Managed services offer scalability, ease of use and regular costs. Simplify and streamline management of your business-critical applications, IT infrastructure and processes with cloud managed services delivered by our integrated teams. Leverage our expertise working with hyperscale cloud providers like AWS and understanding of the latest tech, to create scalable cloud solutions that are delivered fast and effectively.
Ziffity is a cloud service provider and managed IT service provider in India, and an AWS managed services provider company (MSP). Reach out to our team of experts to discuss how to get started with managed services for AWS and other cloud platforms.
