Moving workloads to the cloud can lower the physical IT infrastructure footprint and related expenses. The speed and agility you anticipated with your transition to the cloud may be hampered if you’re still self-managing crucial IT processes and business apps. By implementing a cloud-managed service, a business can ensure efficient operation of its resources. Additionally, businesses can save money by outsourcing cloud management and reducing costs across a number of tasks.
What are cloud managed services?
Cloud managed services are services that offer partial or complete management of internal functionality and IT infrastructure of various sized organizations. Numerous businesses use cloud managed services today due to their outstanding advantages. The goal of these services is to close any gaps in cloud management, save expenses, and boost operational effectiveness.
Selecting a provider – Things to keep in mind
Organizations can choose from various providers that offer solutions as per their requirements. When searching for cloud managed service providers, keep the following things in mind:
- Does the vendor have any prior experience with relevant public clouds?
- How can the solution enhance your IT setup and cloud capabilities?
- Does the seller have a solid track record?
- What order does the vendor give to security, redundancy, and disaster recovery?
- What part does your personnel play in these services, and how much involvement is needed?
- Does the price meet your budget, and are you getting what you need?
- How difficult is terminating or changing the agreement while still in effect?
It is important to do thorough research before opting for a service provider. A few well-known cloud managed service providers in the country are AllCloud, Cloudnexa, Hitachi Vantara, among others.
Pricing models
On average, for managed IT services, one can expect to pay $125-175 per user every month. Such costs will also vary depending on the type of package chosen. Some popular ways of pricing are listed below:
Pricing based solely on monitoring: This mode offers network monitoring and alerting services.
Per-device pricing model: A flat fee is agreed upon for each type of device within a customer environment. For instance, a per-device pricing model may have flat fees of $69 per desktop, $299 per server, and $99 for each managed network.
Managed services for each user: Here, a flat monthly cost is charged to each end user instead of per device. This covers every device used by the end user.
Tiered price structure: Different tiers of service bundles are offered within this type. As services become more comprehensive, pricing rises from tier to tier.
“All you can eat” pricing: In this pricing structure, a set monthly rate includes all in-person and remote support. It allows organizations to adequately plan for IT expenses and prevent billing alterations.
A la carte pricing strategy: This is based on separate services that concentrate on a particular client’s requirements and give clients more flexibility and the ability to customize.
Cloud managed packages
Components, including code and other relevant resources, are bundled into a single container through packaging. It enables programmers to share their apps and parts as a single unit. Cloud managed packages are a method to share and sell unique apps and parts. Once installed, they can be uninstalled or even upgraded by the developer who made them. They are intended to be sold or supplied as a full application. The advantages of such managed packages are:
- Intellectual property protection
- Upgradeability
- Revision control
- License management