Guide to Cloud Managed Services for Businesses 

Cloud computing has been around for a while, and it is only gaining in popularity, as more businesses and organizations want to enjoy the benefits that it brings: enhanced data security, flexibility, easy scalability, etc. In fact, many companies step up their ‘cloud game’ even further with cloud managed services and get the most out of the technology without all the hassle. 

According to the Global Forecast report by MarketsandMarkets Research company, there is a growing market for cloud managed services, that is expected to reach USD 139.4 billion by 2026, from USD 86.1 billion in 2021. Let’s explore what drives this tendency, making a business seek out a managed services provider to hand over their cloud operations, and what is their gain in the game. 

What are cloud managed services and why do businesses need them? 

When a business decides to migrate to the cloud, there are two options – work with a cloud infrastructure provider and be limited to the cloud services they provide, or opt for full-scale cloud managed services that stay with you even after you have your cloud solution set up and running, and go above and beyond what regular cloud providers have got to offer. 

When you turn to a cloud service provider, you get your cloud solution delivered to meet your business needs, whether it’s cloud storage, cloud transformation services, cloud native development, etc. However, you still have to put in a lot of work in managing your cloud infrastructure going forward. Many go for this option to save costs, but cloud does need to be managed continuously, so after a while you will run into all the same issues that you were trying to avoid by opting for the cloud in the first place. You will have to either hire and train an in-house team or look for a provider (or providers) to assist you with that, and eventually may require unplanned expenses, more people on board, retraining, fixing the technical debt. If the case of using the public cloud, there may also be a risk to your data security and smooth flow of business operations. 

Your other option would be to go for cloud computing managed services, which are an ‘all-in-one’ deal, when your cloud service provider takes responsibility for maintaining, updating, and troubleshooting your cloud infrastructure with 24/7 support, thus covering any and all of your cloud-related concerns in the long run. Although pricier, this is the preferable choice once you understand what stands behind it. 

The fact is, there is a lot more to the cloud than just secure storage for sensitive data. The further you go down the rabbit hole, the more complex it can become. For instance, Symphony Solutions as a cloud transformation company can develop your cloud business solution on the foundation of cloud services from a CSP. In the case of SpeedtestCorona, the entire cloud solution comprises storing data, tracking test results and notifying the users, access to the data and analytics for authorized government institutions. Application functionality that provides efficient communication within the cloud infrastructure is what makes it so desirable for businesses. 

Managed cloud services provider vs. Cloud services provider 

Cloud service providers offer the tools to create and manage your cloud ecosystem, depending on the individual solution you require. Cloud service providers, such as AWS, Google, Azure, offer different types of cloud computing for your business needs and support your solution. When you work with a cloud managed services team, you can make use of the actual value of your cloud solution with a long-term perspective. 

Your managed cloud services provider offers a higher level of IT support, your MSP will see to it that all your cloud-related needs are met and you are getting the best service for your money. Your managed cloud provider is going to stay with you for a while, so you should want to know what to expect from this cooperation long-term. 

Managed cloud services: What to expect 

When you secure yourself a reliable managed services provider, you can request any of the following from their range of services: 

• Proactive communication and 24/7 cloud support 
• System administration and operations 
• System monitoring, alerting and reporting 
• Single point of contact for client-facing support 
• Backup and disaster recovery 
• Database administration 
• Developer support and training 
• Knowledge database for application for faster issue solving 
• Fast issue solving 
• SLA management 

This is the baseline of what to expect when you are choosing to go with managed IT cloud services. 

Benefits of working with a managed cloud services provider 

When you opt to work with an MSP, you can benefit from having access to a reliable team of cloud experts that handle your cloud environment and help optimize your business operations. Here are just some of the perks of your provider’s team managing cloud infrastructure for your business: 

• Predictable spending. Your managed services provider usually offers a subscription plan that may be tailored to your organizational IT needs for the best service to price ratio. You may scale your managed cloud team at any time as the need arises. In some cases, your provider may offer you a credit plan for when your cloud needs change throughout the year. However, this is more applicable to organizations that experience an excessively heavy load at certain times in the year (e.g., Black Friday, Christmas). 
• Resource optimization. Your MSP will set you up with services that fit you best in terms of workloads and planned budget, as well as optimize performance for desired business value outcomes. A good managed services provider will keep you in the clear with regular performance metrics reports and help you configure your managed cloud infrastructure and constantly improve your solution. 
• Robust infrastructure. As a part of cloud infrastructure managed services your MCSP sets up your cloud infrastructure The service provider helps align your cloud network operations to your business needs, regularly updates and monitors the state of your cloud environment, and reports back to you. 
• Maintenance. Opting for maintenance with your cloud services provider, you have more options for saving costs on IT expenses. Your MCSP alleviates you from the burden, technical and financial, of having to maintain your own cloud environment.
• Service level agreements. When you start working with an MCSP, your provider commits to delivering the agreed-upon levels of service and ensuring service continuity for your business. 
• Quick response time. You can expect 24/7 cloud support and a quick response to any occurring issues with your cloud infrastructure, thus ensuring that your managed cloud applications operate uninterrupted. 
• Data safety and recovery. Data loss is the security risk that you want to avoid at all costs. With cloud-based managed services, you get first of all regular data backups and quick recovery, but also data sources reservation. 
• Interfacing. Any issue relating to your cloud vendor is handled by your MCSP, so that you can only focus on your business growth. Being certified partners with AWS and GCP, we can ensure the fastest problem resolution, cost control and automation of any critical processes. 
• Timely updates. Your MCSP maintains their software and hardware always up to standard, with regular upgrades, personnel training and upskilling, expanding resources and keeping up with the stride of the cloud market and industry. 
• Integrated services. Create your custom cloud environment seamlessly connected to your existing systems. With an MSP you can be flexible in what cloud solution exactly matches your business objectives, allowing yourself more freedom in how to prioritize spending and focus on growth. 

What to consider when choosing your Cloud Managed Services Provider 

Are you ready to start your cloud journey with a managed services provider? Here are some tips on how to make sure that you find the right match. 

Expertise and certification. When you are setting up your in-house team, you look for people with the right experience and expertise. It’s the same with a cloud managed services provider, maybe even more so if with your own team you may put in buffer time for training and skilling up. With a managed services provider, you want to get the solution out of the box. You rely on your provider with every step of the process, leaving little leeway for bad takes. Look for a certified managed services provider with solid proof of expertise and credibility, as you want your cloud environment to be managed by a tech team with proper training and experience. 

Tooling and workflows. You want to trust your managed IT cloud services provider that they have the right tools and workflows instated to give you the cloud solution that is the right fit. However, you can also have a say in what and how they do it when choosing your provider. You want a provider that is familiar with the tooling and workflows that are prevalent in your industry and know how to work with them to achieve the results that you strive for. 

Transparency and control. As already stated, you put a lot of trust in your MCSP as they get full access to your cloud data and are responsible for how it is handled. Achieve transparency in your cooperation with your MCSP and maintain control over the process. A reliable managed service provider should always alert you of any changes and report issues, show performance metrics, etc. 

Our Cloud Managed Services: Benefits of working with Symphony Solutions 

Symphony Solutions can help you get on with implementing your long-term strategic plans by managing your Cloud ecosystem, from deployment to maintenance. Our managed teams comprise of experienced Cloud engineers, handpicked to suit your specific needs and vision for the project. Your managed team is a single point of responsibility that takes care of maintaining a stable cloud environment and taking control over any possible issues in security or compliance before they may arise. 

What to expect when working with us? The cloud infrastracture managed services that we offer fall under the main categories: 

• Incident management for providing SLA-based technical support and initial issue resolution, monitoring status and execution of escalated requests. 
• Request fulfillment for system configuration, reports generation, functional sanity check, etc. 
• System monitoring for monitoring system health and business metrics, preventing negative impact on service operation. 
• Knowledge management for continuous creating of a knowledge base with scenarios for the support team on initial incident management. 
   

These are the managed services that Symphony Solutions offers as your trusted Cloud services provider. Moreover, bringing the clients together with established teams of experts to provide DevOps services, we fully accommodate the client, whether they are setting out on their cloud transformation journey, require a solid solution for building data warehouses or data lakes, or need an expert team for cloud native application development. The client benefits from fast track delivery of applications as the development team can solely focus on the business objectives while the cloud managed services team takes care of the system’s health and metrics. This was the case with Goat Interactive when our cloud managed services team took over managing system monitoring and resolving any and all issues 24/7 without immediate involvement of the development team. 

Summing up 

With cloud management services, you can have the benefits of a secure and flexible solution and know that your managed service provider’s team has all hands on board making sure that it’s running smoothly, ready to jump in at any sight of trouble. Anything from bug fixes, incident statistics analysis, periodical backups, and other important maintenance operations are covered by your vendor while you can focus on strategic business growth. 

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