“The cloud managed services market is expected to grow from USD 27.15 Billion in 2017 to USD 53.78 Billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.6.”
It’s no secret: cloud technology has become integral to the IT arsenal of any company that wants to remain competitive. But setting up a cloud infrastructure is no simple task. Meeting regulatory compliance, integrating with legacy infrastructure, and creating a user-friendly cloud environment require specific expertise.
For these reasons, companies are increasingly relying on Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to help architect their cloud solutions. For those looking to hire an MSP for the first time, the following four points are indicative of what to look for in the current cloud MSP landscape.
Hybrid Cloud is the Way of the Future, and for Good Reason
“Hybrid cloud adoption grew 3X in the last year, increasing from 19% to 57%.”
A hybrid cloud infrastructure uses some combination of public and on-premises cloud solutions. For a number of reasons, companies are increasingly looking to hybrid:
- While the public cloud offers scalability, it lacks the customization and control of a private or on-premises solution. Latency requirements often dictate that mission-critical applications remain
- On-premises solutions provide total control and solve the problem of data sovereignty. But as most IT pros are aware, scaling an on-premises solution isn’t an effective way to meet growth demands.
Using these two clouds separately isn’t enough; businesses need a solution that lets them work together. Cloud bursting, single sign-on, and seamless backup are hybrid cloud features that organizations have come to expect from their managed service provider.
Cybersecurity is a Driver, not an Inhibitor, of Cloud Adoption
Once a reason to keep data on-premises, security and compliance are drawing companies to the cloud and managed services.
Cloud technology has caught up with security solutions. Cloud service providers such as Microsoft have decades of security experience. Organizations are noticing that, with the maturity of cloud technology, service providers are able to leverage this experience to provide a level of security that is unrivaled.
Hire an MSP that offers security solutions that enhance and fill in the gaps missed by cloud service providers. In particular, MSPs have begun to create applications and services that solve the problem of meeting regulatory compliance standards.
Microsoft Azure is Gaining Market Share, Especially for Enterprises
It’s not secret: Microsoft is hot right now. Azure sales rose 97% in Q2 2017, while the cloud-based Office 365 sales rose 43%. While still lagging behind Amazon, Azure is growing faster than AWS, and is poised to take over the enterprise market.
For this reason, MSPs are beginning to develop tools that integrate with Azure. They’re also tailoring their enterprise-level solutions towards an “Azure-first” model.
The Cloud—and Technology—are Increasingly Commoditized and Consumerized
As any IT professional will know, technology is becoming more and more easily accessible for teams outside of the IT department. Employees want to bring their own devices, customize their email accounts, and choose their own productivity apps.
These trends are carrying over to the cloud. For instance, developers no longer want to spend days or go through IT to setup a server; they want to be able to do it themselves, and in a matter of minutes.
Consequently, companies are looking to hire an MSP to ensure their cloud environments are user-friendly enough for even non-technical users to become productive instantly.
To learn more about how an MSP can help your organization leverage the cloud, Contact Hanu Today.
