The Doppler Quarterly Special Edition 2019 | Page 86
In today’s competitive business environment, these are
problems enterprises do not want. Companies therefore
need to consult with the right experts to make sure their
cloud implementations go as smoothly as possible and
position their businesses to meet future IT needs.
Cloud Management Options
Going Solo
Some organizations prefer to manage their cloud environ-
ments themselves. This can work, in certain situations.
Some large companies insist on going it alone in order to
retain control over their environments and their invest-
ments. Others will start with an MSP to get the necessary
tools, training and methodology, and then manage the
environment themselves. However, these arrangements
usually take longer to achieve the value the customer wants.
Practice makes perfect. An organization embarking on a
cloud implementation for the very first time is taking a big
chance learning on the job.
Working With a Niche MSP
As more enterprises move to the public cloud, many are
engaging with service providers who specialize in migrating
to and managing implementations by one of the three main
cloud providers: AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud
Platform. These MSPs usually have tooling and expertise in
only one of the cloud choices – but what if the implementa-
tion involves more than one cloud, or resources in a data
center environment? The majority of MSPs are still “bou-
tique” cloud service providers, and many do not have the
capabilities to service multiple IT environments.
Working With an Enterprise MSP
Experts roundly agree that the future will be dominated by
hybrid IT environments, with hybrid cloud spending
expected to nearly triple from 2016 to 2021. Data center
environments will not go away entirely, housing workloads
it makes no sense to move, while the rest of the workloads
move to public and private clouds. This means future envi-
ronments will become more complex, requiring help from
MSPs who possess a broad range of skills, resources and
management models.
84 | THE DOPPLER | SPECIAL EDITION 2019
To guide enterprises in the future, MSPs will have to branch
out in a number of ways. They will need to manage on- and
off-prem environments, multiple public clouds and enter-
prise-grade implementations. They will need to exercise
flexible processes and methodologies. And they will need
to pay close attention to compliance, cost controls and
global IT demands.
Here are five elements enterprises should look for in a cloud
MSP.
1. A hybrid model, applied consistently
If an MSP proposes multiple models for multiple private
clouds, it will be very difficult to unify those operating mod-
els. Managing workloads in different clouds – and in data
centers – in the same way reduces the risk of opening gaps
that create security holes.
2. A focus on enterprise-level concerns in all
places
An approach like our Minimum Viable Cloud (MVC) meth-
odology gives an MSP the ability to build environments that
are fully enterprise-enabled out of the gate. If an MSP offers
low-ball pricing to stand up a simple environment to migrate
particular workloads into, that environment will not be
designed for enterprise-class workloads. Its security, audit-
ability and compliance functions will not be operable at the
level an enterprise needs.
3. A commitment to flexibility
Enterprises may have similar needs, but every implementa-
tion is different. You want your MSP to be consistent, but it
should not be so locked down it cannot adapt to changing
requirements. An enterprise may make tooling choices that
have to be incorporated into the environment. If the MSP
can accommodate the request, it should. If the customer
wants to use its own tools, the MSP should have the
resources to bring those tools into the automation frame-
work, so they are not being hand deployed every time they
are used. You do not want unlimited variability, but a rigid,
cookie-cutter approach is never successful.
4. An enterprise-class focus on bedrock issues