Businesses are embracing digital transformation at a fast pace and the cloud is a major driver of digital transformation. Being an IT leader involves making strategic decisions and investments that would benefit the organization in the long run. Cloud-managed services are one of the most sought-after cloud services and it is a broad topic. If you are thinking about adopting a cloud-managed service model, there are some key considerations that you need to keep in mind. But, before we discuss how to choose a cloud-managed service provided (MSP), let us define what cloud-managed services mean. 

Did you know?  

“94% of enterprises use cloud services in some manner” 

 – Zippia, 2022 

Did you know?
For most traditional IaaS, charges grow as usage increases but for AWS, the more you use, the less you must pay.

What are cloud-managed services? 

Cloud-managed services include a broad range of cloud services, tools, and technology across the IT portfolio provisioned and maintained by a third party instead of the business doing it independently.  

Previously, cloud-managed services used to mean core infrastructure management, but now, it encompasses managing infrastructure, services, platforms, applications, and tools in addition to following best practices to ensure optimal performance and resource usage, reduced costs, and compliance with rules, thereby add value to the business. It has evolved from managing infrastructure to accommodating the complexities of the cloud environment. Therefore, you must define them at the beginning of your cloud journey.   

Cloud-managed service providers help businesses in creating a business case for the cloud, migrating to the cloud, building unique solutions from applications to AI models and containers, and managing, monitoring, and optimizing the cloud environment efficiently. 

Why do you need cloud-managed services? 

In today’s cloud-dominated world, you need to streamline your IT processes, optimize your business applications, and respond rapidly to market changes. Cloud MSPs have in-depth knowledge of cloud services, solutions, and challenges. A cloud-managed service provider can help you in removing complexities associated with the cloud and assist you in: 

• Migrating to the cloud 
• Developing, customizing, and optimizing solutions and services on the cloud 
• Simplifying your cloud operations and creating business value 
• Dealing with IT challenges that you face on your cloud journey 

Most businesses consider cloud-managed services as an investment and a major step in their digital transformation journey. The various benefits of managed services cited by users in a Frost and Sullivan report are, 

What are the 5 considerations when choosing a cloud service model?

• Security and Compliance:
• Technical Capabilities
• Costs
• Business Health
• Support

5 Key factors to consider while choosing a managed cloud service provider 

Cloud MSPs are your partners and develop strategies after understanding your current environment and goals. Therefore, IT leaders should have a few considerations in mind when choosing a cloud consulting services partner.

  1. Define a clear purpose 

Cloud environments are complex, and you need a cloud-managed service provider to give you a detailed walkthrough of what you are getting into. Before choosing an MSP, it is important for organizations to consider their specific needs and define a scope. Often services are chosen based on individual needs or because they appear good. Therefore, define a clear purpose before choosing the services. Understanding the exact requirements and considering operational realities will help you make decisions and choose services that aligns with the overall strategy.  

  2.Choose the right set of cloud-managed services 

Every organization has its own set of business goals and IT challenges. Every IT environment is different. Which is why managed services also vary. You cannot choose any and work with it.  

•  Do you want to control cost or increase operational capabilities?
•   Do you want to leverage a private, public, hybrid, or multi-cloud strategy or just enhance your on-premises environment?
•  Do you want to use microservices for your application workloads or have an elastic cloud environment that scales with your growth?  

As IT leaders, you need to map out the requirements and priorities and customize your managed services before the need arises to enable easy integration. 

   3.Choose a provider that understands your business 

Choosing a managed cloud services provider is a strategic decision, and you need a partner that understands your business and requirements and provides valuable insights, especially with fully managed cloud services. You need to consider factors like short-term and long-term needs, business goals, and functionality when assessing managed service providers. Work with different stakeholders to find how you can achieve results. Keep in mind that failure to consider all aspects can result in higher costs. 

  4. A managed services strategy must meet organizational realities 

Does your cloud-managed service strategy make sense in the context of your enterprise’s realities? This means sometimes you don’t have to go completely cloud-native or migrate everything to the cloud. IT environments are often a complex and diverse mix of applications, services, infrastructure, and other integrations. So, there are different approaches to consider. For example, application modernization doesn’t always mean refactoring or re-platforming all applications. There are different ways to go about it from maintaining it as-is on-premises or replacing components to building SaaS or even building another microservices-based application. Cloud is important, but several factors like compliance, security, in-house skills, and costs must be considered while developing a managed services strategy. 

 5.Develop your in-house skills 

In-house skills and internal expertise are important if you want to maximize ROI and reduce costs. If you have an in-house team, you can have the desired flexibility and scalability to do more.  You need to assess your in-house skills and capabilities, and keep them in mind for your future hiring plans. Some skills like Infrastructure as a Code are essential for more complex environments. If you already have a good DevOps team, then you can develop your managed services strategy around it. The managed services should ideally support your IT team and not the other way around. IT leaders should decide who will be responsible for what internally. 

How to choose the right managed cloud services provider? 

Do you know that 70% of organizations find it difficult to find the right cloud-managed service partner? Here are some factors to consider while assessing whether a managed service partner is right for you. 

  1.Integrations 

Managed service providers should use platforms that helps organization share their workload and data and integrate with applications on-premises and cloud.  

   2. Global Capabilities and Service Delivery 

Most enterprises have a presence across the globe, and it is best to have managed services partners who have employees and services across different countries to meet strict data security laws as well as for consistency of services. 

 3. Security 

Secure platforms and assurances with Service Level Agreements (SLA) are important especially when you are choosing fully managed services. With increasing security threats, choosing a managed service provider that uses advanced technology and is recognized for security in the industry is wise. 

 4. Availability and Up-time SLAs 

Businesses are conducted 24×7 and mission-critical applications going down can deftly affect the business. The right managed service partner can configure your system for the required availability levels and ensure them with SLAs. 

Realize your digital transformation goals with the right cloud MSP 

Cloud-managed services are long-term, strategic partnerships. By choosing the right managed services, you can free up your resources to do more important work, reduce bugs and glitches, perform difficult and risky tasks efficiently and deploy or migrate faster.  

For this, you need a cloud-managed service partner like Nuvento who has in-depth industry expertise and experience and can give you assurances backed by SLAs. We are updated with the current industry standards, technology advancements, and trends which help us in making the right recommendations after analyzing and understanding your current IT environment. The team at Nuvento can help you create plans for the future, derive maximum value from your managed services investment, and generate ROI from it.