1. What is the business benefit to having someone “manage my cloud”?
When it comes to business, next to your human resources, your data is your most important asset. Protecting and optimizing these assets requires managed cloud services for business growth, enabling organizations to improve operational efficiency, strengthen security, and scale cloud infrastructure while allowing internal teams to focus on strategic initiatives.
To remain competitive, many organizations are moving to the cloud to improve scalability and reduce infrastructure costs. By adopting 24/7 cloud infrastructure management services , businesses can ensure continuous monitoring, performance optimization, and operational reliability while taking advantage of flexible cloud resources.
If you look at the chart, it shows a much more efficient utilization of your infrastructure. As shown, everything above the line on the chart is essentially wasted capacity. Keep in mind, however, that you still need to have someone manage the capacity, but you gain the advantage of a Pay-as-you-go model, rather than having unused infrastructure waiting around for upcoming capacity.
While it is relatively easy to open a cloud account with any of the major providers out there, you must understand how to get the most out of your operational investments to realize the cloud’s full potential.
2. What are the risks?
All business owners and managers need to understand the risks associated with their data. Take, for example, the sales rep who decides to leave and take the entire customer list along for use at a competitor. Another example is the all too familiar effects of ransomware. This is where someone hacks into your system and locks you out of your data. Lastly, on the “Doom and Gloom” list is the massive hardware failure that takes out all your hard drives and the critical data they hold.
All these examples are concerns that keep both business owners and their technology staff awake at night. While the cloud can go a long way toward minimizing the risks listed above, it is important to know the risks are not automatically addressed. While the cloud offers well over 99% uptime in most cases, the data is still the ultimate responsibility of the business owner. The key is to work with a partner who will help to design a cloud-based solution that addresses both operational and security risks. The goal is to minimize the risk to a level that is acceptable to the business while still maintaining an acceptable price tag.
3. Is this going to save me money?
The answer depends on how effectively cloud resources are managed. Cloud cost optimization through managed services helps organizations eliminate resource sprawl, right-size workloads, improve utilization, and control cloud spending while maintaining high availability and performance.
If one looks strictly at infrastructure buying, as shown above, a company can save money by using the advantage of buying only the capacity required at that moment. The double-edged sword in this case often comes with the scenario where the buyer of the Cloud infrastructure “oversizes” the virtual server to “guarantee” its operational capability and then does not take the time to optimize the capacity. In addition, the simplicity of spinning up a new virtual server in the cloud can often lead to sprawl and a surprise bill at the end of the month.
When it comes to data protection and resiliency, there is a significant toolset available on the cloud. Most companies find that if they were to stand up the same level of protection and resiliency in their environment, the cost would be substantially higher. Again, the key is to work with a partner who can help you plan the best balance between efficiency and effectiveness, as well as providing the proactive monitoring and tuning needed to ensure the Cloud investment is optimal.
4. Can’t I just do it myself?
Organizations can certainly manage cloud environments internally, but doing so requires specialized expertise, continuous training, and around-the-clock operational support. Managed cloud services for AWS environments enable businesses to access experienced cloud engineers, best practices, and automation without expanding internal IT teams.
In many cases, a small Information Technology staff is better focused on helping the business with strategic planning for growth. The tactical nature of daily monitoring, reacting to alerts, and producing reports for backups, etc., are much more suited to a Managed Services solution. The economies of scale associated with most Managed Services organizations allow a company to maintain a true 24/7 technology environment without the need to hire an onsite 24/7 staff. In addition, by partnering with a Managed Services Provider that fully understands the cloud environment, a company can forego the need to train their technology staff in very specialized areas. Instead, they can focus on the company’s core business and the associate strategy.
Partnering with an enterprise cloud managed service provider enables organizations to optimize cloud operations, improve security, control infrastructure costs, and maintain high availability across AWS environments. With proactive monitoring, automation, and expert cloud management, businesses can focus on innovation while maximizing the value of their cloud investments.