Managed Cloud - As Easy as Modern Building Management

As organizations continue to grow their cloud deployment, they must consider the merit of a managed cloud solution. It’s very difficult for organizations to manage the cloud using their existing IT team – while a few members may be well-versed in some cloud solutions, it’s difficult to assemble an in-house team that has complete end-to-end knowledge.

This is where a Managed Cloud solution shines. This service will provide the people, processes, and technology required to manage, design, build, and automate an organization’s cloud services. This provides the flexibility, agility, and scalability necessary to maximize your cloud investment.

By optimizing your cloud architecture and providing expertise, managed cloud services can contain your organization’s cloud spending. And with organizations around the world wasting $14 billion on cloud spend in 2019, that’s a large piece of the pie to gain back. Let’s look at how managed cloud can help you realize the underlying benefits of the cloud through proper maintenance.

Managed cloud services may seem just as abstract as the cloud itself. However, think of the cloud as an office building. A building’s physical infrastructure enables teams to work together under a single roof, and provides a hub to simply connect with other areas of the organization. The cloud fulfills a similar role – it’s often taken for granted, but is fundamental to a business’s day-to-day operations.

With that being said, an office building doesn’t stay standing on its own. The ongoing maintenance of the building is often offloaded onto a third-party building management team. Need security? They can have individuals check IDs at the front door. Need the place tidied up? They employ cleaning crews. Did your elevator break? They can schedule a technician to begin repairs today. Otherwise, these basic building management tasks may fall to the wayside, or be carried out ineffectively by inexperienced workers.

Managed cloud is a lot like building management in this way. In the very near future, workforces will rely on your cloud infrastructure just as much – if not more – than your office’s physical infrastructure. However, if there is no clear cloud management team, your team may not implement or manage cloud assets properly. This can lead to inefficiencies, or even a security-related disaster.

One of the most significant benefits of managed cloud services is how they increase efficiency across your organization. With a managed cloud service, your IT team can play to their current strengths, while they adjust to a new cloud-based world. Not only that, but expert insights will allow you to recognize cost optimization tactics that would have otherwise slipped your mind.

Let’s go back to the building management metaphor. Imagine that a business relegated all of their building maintenance needs to their office management team. These employees wouldn’t have much maintenance to do on a day-by-day basis - however, the moment something goes wrong, it is massively disruptive.

Imagine that a pipe burst in your office, creating streams of water that threaten to permanently damage the floor, and any nearby electronics. The management team would need to immediately put all hands on deck, and negotiate with an emergency technician for the best rate. However, if they’ve never had to pay for emergency pipe repair before, they may not get the best rate in a short window of time. If this office had relegated these activities to a group of building management experts, the process would go much more smoothly.

Cloud management services work in a similar way. In many organizations, the demand to implement or manage cloud services is intermittent. These occasional tasks are often passed off to the IT team, since they can handle daily tasks and perform routine maintenance if cloud services are running as expected. The problems with this approach will not become apparent until catastrophe strikes.

Try to envision an individual working in your accounting department that fell victim to a phishing scam. Now, a hacker has access to every cloud document that accounting can access. Depending on what information the hacker is after, this could have a long-lasting effect on the business. To mitigate damage, your IT team will have to isolate that user, track the hacker’s movement across the cloud, and ensure the company as a whole hasn’t been infected with malware. However, these teams are not necessarily cloud experts, which can lead to delays and mishaps. When every second counts, this may add up to a significant cost.

With a managed cloud service, organizations would be able to immediately call a team of experts for assistance. These experts would be able to quickly diagnose the problem, and create simple processes to resolve these concerns as soon as possible. This won’t just save you money if an incident takes place – it will protect your invaluable assets.

It’s important to be able to lean on experts in a time of need. That’s one of the reasons why managed cloud services add so much value to existing IT teams. However, managed cloud services don’t only kick in once disaster strikes – in practice, they implement intelligent, ongoing efforts that will prevent catastrophe in the first place. With managed cloud services, you’ll experience a few key benefits that will help you make the most of the cloud:

• security – Our managed cloud services provide vulnerability insights and threat protection for the leading hyperscale cloud providers.
• Protection – Managed cloud providers should back up cloud data, and provide the necessary control and resources to restore that data on demand. This will reduce your risk of losing data, and help you quickly get back in business if there is any downtime.
• Monitoring – Look for a cloud service that will continuously watch for any strange or unexpected activity within your infrastructure services, platform services, or network. Our managed cloud services will also provide log analytics and diagnostics.
• Configuring – Consistency is key to a proper cloud deployment. Whether you need a new build, or changes to your existing build, SoftwareONE’s cloud experts can deploy these in the form of Infrastructure as Code. This will streamline how services are configured, deployed, and managed across your network. You’ll also receive automated patch management, and access to a self-service portal to configure your own services.
• Governing – SoftwareONE’s managed cloud services provide policy and cost management services to overcome vulnerabilities, and ensure you’re in control of spending across your cloud estate. This will optimize costs and improve transparency, which will assist with purchasing decisions.

Although all these traits should be expected of a managed cloud provider, the best providers will go above and beyond. With SoftwareONE’s Managed Cloud services, you’ll get a dedicated Customer Success Manager, who can ensure your deployment is optimized and connect you with other experts in their network. In addition to this, you’ll get access to an always-on security and network operations center. No matter where you work, or where in the world you are, assistance will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cloud management is similar to building management – it’s best outsourced to the experts so your business can focus on the immediate issues on-hand. By leveraging leading cloud specialists to manage your cloud services from end-to-end, your business will save money while gaining additional time to manage your business’s complex IT needs. With the forward-facing strategy of our cloud experts, you can count on your deployment working for the cloud environment of both today and tomorrow.