Since the inception of cloud technology, we’ve seen no signs of a decline in adoption. The pandemic pushed it further by forcing all of us (including the cloud skeptics) to onboard the cloud in one way or another to ensure business continuity.
In fact, with how fast and massive cloud adoption is today, it was projected that by 2025, the cloud computing market would be worth $832.1 billion. Along with this is the rise of business opportunities, specifically for companies that provide managed cloud services. These are cloud-centric outsourced services that primarily handle the maintenance, monitoring, and management via an on-shore or off-shore team of experts.
These services may be new to the ears of some, but these are already existing, probably at almost the same time that cloud technology dominated the world. In line with this, let’s not deny that industries have already seen the worst when availing of managed cloud services. For you to avoid these outsourcing mishaps, we have summed up the things that a provider has been doing wrong.
Pricing
Of course, you want to save as much as possible when availing of these services. On the contrary, good things can sometimes cost money, even for the cloud expertise that you are getting. So as a response to these two approaches in outsourcing managed cloud services, providers tend to provide suspiciously cheap or ridiculously expensive offers. If a provider is doing this, you should probably reconsider your decision.
So the big question is, which point of view should you follow: to save more or take a splurge? The answer is neither, as their pricing should be justifiable with the quality of work they will put in. A trick of the trade that can help you overcome this dilemma is checking out mid-market pricing providers and crosschecking the cost-efficiency with their track record, degree of cloud expertise, and reputation in the IT market.
Communication
Remember that availing of managed cloud services is opening yourself to a partnership, and for that to work, clear and constant communication is a must. And as a paying customer, you are the rightful recipient of initiative from a service provider. If there has been consistent unresponsiveness to your cloud concerns from a tech partner, don’t get surprised if there will be instances that you will be running after their status reports, updates, and progress.
Establishing a ticketing system can help counter this problem. You can simply file a case over the system and leave it to the team you hired, and once it is all sorted out, you will be automatically notified. So if you’re still scouting for a service provider or already have one, check if they have this capability. It’s a strong indication that they acknowledge their human limitations, but they want to be on top of each of their client’s concerns.
Scalability
Scalability is the name of the game. Keep in mind that in maintaining cloud platforms, there will be a lot of optimizations, upgrades, extra manhours, and the like that will come along the way. If the managed cloud services you are considering or have already availed aren’t that flexible to your needs, it’s time to check for other providers that can meet you where you’re currently.
Scalability is crucial as every business needs unique cloud features to support its day-to-day processes. And if tech partners can’t keep up with your growing and evolving cloud requirements, they will most likely drag you down. So at the onset of the early stage of the partnership, see to it that your cloud & networking services provider can scale their offers with your company’s growth.
Optimizations
Not all optimizations that your managed cloud services provider will benefit your business. Frequently, streamlining your cloud resources requires lowering performance options or decreasing data storage tiers. Suppose your tech partner hastily proceeds with optimizations without thoroughly discussing with you the need to do so. In that case, problems such as slow data access or poor app performance will surely arise.
In any case, if a provider suggests optimizations, be sure that you both plot what could go wrong and how to mitigate them promptly. You should also agree on which data, apps, or assets to prioritize. And once done with the optimizations, keep an eye on the overall cloud performance. You may then implement changes if needed along the way to get your desired outcome.
Security and Compliance
Data threats are ever-evolving and should be addressed with the most recent security practices and technologies. A managed business IT solutions provider should be on top of these matters. These should be evident with their credentials (if they are certified for specific security compliances) and their scope of work within the project (if security and compliance are an integral part of their workflow and services). Suppose you sense that your tech partner is more focused on implementation and optimization and neglects or is incapable of establishing cloud security and compliance. In that case, that is a major red flag.
When screening service providers, ask for their current security expertise and compliance certifications. You might also want to probe more by asking them practical questions about cloud threat mitigation. You may also confirm if they provide built-in security solutions to safeguard your cloud platform further. This way, you can test how they value data security and apply their expertise to counter threats.
Knowing these five mistakes that your tech partner for managed cloud services commits can save you time, effort, and cost in the long run. These can help you gauge if you’re talking to the right prospect tech partner or if you should leave an existing provider and find a more suitable one. You deserve nothing but the best-managed cloud services to expand your business!
