Over the past several years, many small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have faced the growing challenge of managing their multi-cloud environments. 

Facing a lack of technical expertise, budget restraints, and the ability to keep up with an accelerating digital transformation, SMBs are left with inefficient processes and lost revenue. 

However, as more and more businesses transition online, utilizing the expertise of a Managed Service Provider (MSP) may just be the guiding solution for a flexible and scalable cloud program. 

Let’s take a closer look. 

The Challenges For SMBs and The Multi-Cloud

It’s no secret that the pandemic massively impacted SMB bottom lines. Falling behind a growing technology curve, the need for cloud increased, while the capabilities to handle and manage them dwindled. 

This highlights an ever-growing challenge faced by SMBs; a lack of experienced staff. 

To manage a multi-cloud environment, an SMB must have the presence of technical staff who have key knowledge of various cloud provider offerings, cybersecurity measures, compliance laws, and more. However, this isn’t the reality for SMBs today. In fact, according to Tech Republic, 43% percent of traditional SMBs have no full-time technical staff. In addition, only 46% of SMB IT decision-makers feel that it is easy to maintain and modify IT infrastructure. 

Further, if an SMB does venture out and hire a dedicated team member, the process to find an individual with the technical requirements is time-consuming. Moreover, it’s a hefty investment, as those with particular skills come at a higher price point and ROI isn’t always guaranteed.

Another challenge that arises for SMBs, is the ability to keep up with evolving solutions. As we’ve seen throughout the years technology moves fast and in order to maintain a solid position in a respective market, SMBs need to keep up. Without the proper guidance or managing expertise, upgrading or enhancing current cloud solutions can be daunting and get expensive. Inherent knowledge of cloud solution providers and their individual capabilities, in addition to usage and budgets, is then greatly needed for SMBs. 

Lastly, a consistent underlying factor within these points is a restriction on budget. According to reports, SMBs site budget restrictions as a major obstacle in managing multi-cloud. Recovering from the pandemic, SMBs have had to rethink strategies to reduce lost revenue while maximizing their cloud capabilities. Without assistance, it’s difficult to understand where revenue can be saved and what processes can be improved for greater ROI. 

How MSP’s Can Help Tame The Multi-Cloud

A managed service provider (MSP) is an expert that can serve as a seamless addition to your business. Think of them as providing a holistic solution to cloud spend, usage monitoring, cyber threat prevention and more. Here we hit on some key points as to why SMBs should highly consider an MSP to manage their multi-cloud environment.

Support & Expertise

First and foremost, in a new and often perplexing multi-cloud world, SMBs need the guidance, support and expertise of a trusted MSP to run efficiently. 

An MSP can provide sound recommendations translating to; the best solution at a low cost. Rather than hiring a full-time employee who may not have all the knowledge required to deploy multi-cloud infrastructure, an MSP is specialized, readily available, and can offer customized solutions – considering all aspects of your cloud environment.

Sound Security 

In the first half of 2021, global ransomware attacks increased by 151% when compared with the first half of 2020. Cyber attacks over the years have grown enormously and have left many SMBs exposed, due to a lack of budgets and technical knowledge. 

An MSP comes armed with the knowledge of compliance and cyber security. They offer services that encapsulate cybersecurity for your range of clouds, that scale with you and come at a cost-effective price. So you can focus on other aspects of the business.

Future Growth

MSP’s are an extension of an SMB that can help shape your future operations and scale. Working with a variety of cloud environments, an MSP can offer services from providers in line with specific growth objectives. 

Once an MSP has an understanding of the SMB and their requirements, they can take a proactive stance, building a strategy, deterring any future security threats, ensure upgrades are provided and confirm multiple providers aren’t overlapping in features. Further, an exceptional MSP will be able to provide flexibility, selecting private, public and hybrid clouds that suit the business’s unique needs. 

With an MSP, forecasting for the future becomes simplified as the MSP manages the multi-cloud and cuts costs. The SMB can then focus on operations that keep their business thriving. 

Final Thoughts

The points highlighted for the SMB and MSP relationship are just the tip of the iceberg. Of course, there are many SMB challenges and MSP remedies, unique to each business. 

Working together, however, SMB’s can expect to see more efficient cloud processes and a reduction in lost revenue. Keep in mind, that while selecting the right MSP for your business can help deter cyber threats, improve workflow and help you embrace a thriving multi-cloud future, all MSPs are not the same and capabilities must be considered. 

Take into account their level of expertise, billing workflows and tools they leverage. Do they have critical workflows in place? Do they meet your business’s requirements? Are billing processes automated and timely? Are all services accounted for and monitored?

Understanding the answer to these questions and the scope of your desired MSP is crucial to getting the most out of your multi-cloud environment. 

What separates the good from the best? In our next post, we’ll cover what to look for in an effective MSP that drives ROI. 

An Opportunity For Select Partners

Take your cloud-managed service business to the next level. This month, we’re excited to offer our Early Access Program, an opportunity for select partners to test new features and applications not yet available to the public. 

Experience a single point of management for your collection of public, private and hybrid cloud environments. Designed for MSPs to scale, reduce leakage and run operations efficiently.

Join our Early Access Program today.