Cloud Applications and Services Won’t Manage Themselves. Now What?

Organizations are stepping up their adoption of cloud applications and services to facilitate work-from-home models. The cloud makes it easier for remote workers to access the IT resources they need to do their jobs.

However, the cloud is hardly the silver bullet that cures all business technology ills. Organizations that don’t put enough thought into what they’re moving to the cloud and how cloud-based solutions will be managed may simply end up moving their IT problems offsite.

The COVID-19 pandemic and global economic downturn have not changed three realities of the cloud:

1. You can’t move every application to the cloud. In many cases, applications will need to remain onsite for performance, security and regulatory compliance purposes. Additionally, legacy applications may not perform well in the cloud, and mission-critical workloads may experience unacceptable latency. IT staff must continue to maintain on-premises infrastructure.
   
2. The applications that are moved to the cloud require ongoing management to ensure optimal performance. Additionally, someone should regularly assess cloud services to ensure that they continue to meet budgetary targets. However, it is difficult to find and retain IT professionals with expertise in cloud solutions.
   
3. Most organizations have adopted a multi-cloud strategy in order to precisely match the features and capabilities of cloud platforms to business and IT requirements. However, the use of multiple clouds also increases IT management complexity.
   

Remember, cloud service providers are only obligated to comply with the terms spelled out in your service-level agreement. You should not assume that your applications and data will be properly managed, backed up and secured. On the contrary, the cloud operates under a shared responsibility model that puts the onus on the customer to configure services correctly and perform many administrative tasks.

How an MSP Can Help

A managed services provider (MSP) can help you overcome these challenges. The right MSP will have engineers on staff who understand cloud platforms and how to optimize them. Best-in-class MSPs give you the flexibility to utilize these services to meet both short- and long-term requirements.
The MSP can help you determine which workloads should be moved to the cloud and assist with implementation and migration. Once the cloud services are in place, the MSP will provide ongoing management to help you maintain control over your cloud applications and services.

That control is critically important when remote workers are relying on the cloud to conduct business. However, many organizations lack the in-house resources to monitor and manage a complex, hybrid IT environment. An MSP relieves much of that burden and helps to optimize the entire environment, including the cloud.

Managed Services from Technologent

Technologent offers a full suite of managed services, including 24×7 monitoring, remote management, and service desk-initiated support for remediation or escalation of alerts. These services can help ensure that your cloud environment is running optimally so you can focus on running your business.

By partnering with Technologent, you gain cost-efficient engineering and operational support with around-the-clock coverage to meet your mission-critical requirements. Our proven methodologies and well-defined processes ensure that issues are resolved quickly and proactive maintenance tasks are performed on schedule. The objective is to help you enhance service levels while streamlining your IT operations.

Cloud applications and services won’t manage themselves, so partnering with an MSP often makes good business sense. Technologent can augment your in-house IT resources and help you optimize today’s complex, hybrid IT environment.