Nowadays, many businesses are turning to managed service providers to take advantage of the latest technologies, accelerate innovation, avoid capital expenditures, and increase scalability. Based on a recent study by International Data Group, 69% of businesses worldwide are already using cloud services in one capacity, and 18% say they will implement cloud-computing solutions shortly.
These businesses understand the role that cloud computing can play in achieving goals of the business and at the end of the day delivering better results in their industry.
The benefits cloud services offer are enormous. However, developing and managing a cloud environment can be pretty challenging, even for a well-learned internal IT team.
Also, the cost, time, and risks of depending only on the existing IT team to migrate and manage the cloud platform can undermine the advantages of adopting the cloud as the technology backbone of a business.
With the help of a managed service provider (MSP), businesses can easily address key cloud migration challenges. Thanks to the experience and the capabilities to automate important management tasks, managed cloud service providers can help you get the most from the cloud.
Why businesses should assign their IT team to more strategic projects and adopt an MSP to help them migrate to the cloud:
1. Speed time to market
Cloud services offer agility, and eCommerce businesses like eBay use this ability to accelerate innovation and time to market. In addition, the majority of managed cloud service providers allow businesses to utilize cloud environments in a short time. Contrary to the time it takes to purchase, install and configure the infrastructure in their own data center.
Nevertheless, you can miss that agility if you require hiring new employees or training your existing staff to manage these cloud services.
The right managed service provider can help you set up a cloud environment that meets your requirements in far less time than it would take to upgrade your internal team.
Moreover, it can help you eliminate the work of researching cloud services, learning new tools, and fixing inevitable bugs. With an MSP, you get it right the first time and start reaping the benefits of the cloud faster.
2. Get the most out of your cloud investment.
The real value of cloud services comes from automating several traditionally done manually, including infrastructure updates, deployments, and security processes.
Suppose you try to take advantage of existing IT staff with experience primarily running on-premises environments. In that case, you risk running your cloud environment the same way you run your data center.
When a business employs manual management processes instead of leveraging automation, what usually happens is that the cloud provides little additional value, and the organization witnesses the project failure.
The managed service provider will help your IT team fully utilize the cloud’s automation features. Businesses gain flexibility and agility, increasing overall productivity and reducing the time required to bring features to the market.
3. Reduce security risks
Organizations usually responsible for large volumes of customer data are targeted by cybercriminals more often than any other type of business. Safeguarding this information is necessary to maintain regulatory compliance and avoid devastating fines and remediation costs. For instance, Google Cloud recently added Virtual Machine Threat Detection to safeguard their valuable data.
However, implementing and managing security solutions for your cloud environment may require new skills. In comparison to protecting an on-premise data center, protecting your cloud environment may require your internal IT team to implement new tools and address different threats.
A managed service provider can provide deep cloud expertise to help identify potential vulnerabilities, choose the right tools to address them and automate ongoing security management.
4. Save money by gaining predictability over IT resources.
Using existing in-house employees might appear to be the most efficient and cost-effective way to manage a cloud environment. However, you must evaluate the time and cost of your employee training.
Employing individual cloud specialists is one option, albeit, given the high demand for people with these skills, it can be costly. At the same time, the high turnover rate among cloud experts means you may need to repeatedly onboard new employees.
In addition, developers are free to create infrastructure in their cloud environment without proper governance. Due to this, several businesses see their bill go up instead of down, with no visibility or control over the charges they generate.
Collaborating with a managed service provider can reduce the costs by providing trained cloud experts, eliminating the need to train and certify existing IT staff and the requirement to hire and retain new IT staff.
Moreover, an MSP can help you keep the costs in check by providing proper guidance, security, and visibility. For example, Avery Dennison’s cloud-first approach helps them deliver flexible and cost-efficient tools and services to users and save money.
5. Stay ahead of the competition.
With the help of a managed service provider, you can free up your internal IT staff for more strategic activities that add value to your business and customers.
Instead of working with strict security requirements or learning cloud tools, your internal IT team can focus on developing modern applications, generating new knowledge, and delivering innovative services.
This strategy can quickly generate positive results for your business. When your internal IT team has more time to focus on core business goals, you can stay ahead of the competition, including all those businesses trying to manage new cloud environments independently.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, a managed cloud service provides a flexible work environment adapted to the new digital scenario, with all the advantages of Cloud Computing. At Trigent, we know how to harness innovation and strategic thinking to add value from the beginning. If you look forward to taking advantage of the cloud and implementing it in your company, do not hesitate to contact us.
