Top 6 Managed Cloud Service Providers And How To Choose Them

A Managed Cloud Service Provider (MCSP) manages some or all of its customers’ cloud platforms , including migrating, maintaining, and optimizing those platforms.

Cloud environments include public, private, and hybrid clouds , each of which requires providers to have the skills to manage them based on platform goals. Customers work with their cloud providers to decide which elements of their IT environments to outsource and which to manage in-house.

Advantages Of Using A Managed Cloud Service Provider

Using a managed cloud service provider has a number of benefits, including:

Cost savings: Companies that use MCSPs save money in the long run because they don’t have to incur any capital or operational expenses related to maintaining their cloud network infrastructures. Organizations also save money because they don’t have to find and hire people with the necessary skills to maintain those infrastructures.

Disaster Recovery – In the event of unforeseen disasters, businesses need to have recovery plans in place to protect their data and recover it as quickly as possible. The sooner organizations can recover and restore their data, the sooner they can resume normal operations. If businesses experience unexpected disasters, MCSPs can support their clients‘ recovery plans to minimize downtime.

Fast problem resolution : MCSPs offer customers 24/7 support. Their specialists are always available to address any network issues their customers may have, allowing them to quickly resolve issues.

Automatic Updates – Cloud technology is constantly evolving, and that means organizations’ networks can become outdated if they aren’t regularly updated and improved. Businesses using managed cloud service providers don’t have to worry about constantly keeping their networks up to date. Rather, providers stay on top of cloud developments and update their customers’ network infrastructures as needed.

Network security: Security in the cloud is difficult and requires knowledgeable employees who are in high demand and not easy to come by. MCSPs have the knowledge and resources to protect their customers’ networks from unauthorized access.

Reliable infrastructure : Managed cloud service providers have the experience and expertise to build and maintain cloud network infrastructure. Therefore, organizations that turn to MCSPs can be assured of the durability and reliability of their cloud network infrastructures.

Integration of cloud services: Cloud providers  help their customers ensure that any cloud resource they select is seamlessly connected to their existing systems.

A business should also make sure they understand the provider’s cloud service level agreement (SLA) before agreeing to the terms of the contract, as an SLA can be difficult to understand.

Therefore, it is important for an organization to have their legal team review the SLA terms and conditions to understand things like the uptime the company can expect from cloud services, the conditions under which they can receive a refund , as well as the time it takes for the provider’s customer service team to respond to and resolve customer complaints.

Disadvantages Of Working With An MCSP

While there are many benefits to working with a managed cloud service provider, there are also some downsides.

On the one hand, working with a managed cloud service provider means that companies are giving third parties access to their systems and infrastructure.

This can introduce vulnerabilities into their systems because their companies’ attack surfaces have expanded to include the MCSP and its operations. To ensure the security of its systems and infrastructure, an organization must verify the security protocols that the MCSP has in place, as well as take responsibility for monitoring the access routes that the provider uses.

Top 6 Managed Cloud Service Providers

There are dozens of managed cloud service providers, so to help you start your research, we’ve highlighted the following products, arranged alphabetically, based on independent research and conversations with analysts. Organizations should contact vendors directly for pricing information.

Accenture

 Accenture supports multi cloud use cases, with most of its clients using Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Accenture offers the full range of managed infrastructure services, including cloud infrastructure management, hosting, migration and evolution. Although Accenture offers general-purpose cloud services for all industries, its main industry verticals include government,biotech/life.sciences/pharmaceuticals, and financial services/insurance.

Capgemini

Capgemini’s main verticals are general manufacturing, retail and financial services/insurance. Capgemini’s enterprise-grade managed services enable clients to run applications on AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Virtustream. Capgemini offers managed services for infrastructure as a service and applications, including backup and technical support.Capgemini helps organizations identify and migrate the right workloads for their cloud deployments, as well as integrate and manage client environments and applications.

Deloitte

Its main vertical sectors include financial services/insurance, public administration and healthcare.This vendor emphasizes cloud transformation and helping customers build custom cloud environments. Deloitte works directly with clients to identify where/how the cloud can improve their business processes. Deloitte is suitable for large companies focused on digital transformation. 

HCL Technologies

Its main verticals include general manufacturing, financial services/insurance, and life sciences/biotech/pharmaceuticals. Although HCL supports multi-cloud use cases , around 90% of its managed services customers use Microsoft Azure, followed by AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. 

NTT Data

Although NTT Data supports multi-cloud use cases , more than 65% of its managed services customers use AWS, followed by Azure, Google Cloud Platform and IBM Cloud. NTT Data is focused on helping customers modernize their applications and migrate them to the cloud. This provider also helps customers replace legacy customer architectures with enterprise-grade cloud technologies.

TCS (Tata Consultancy Services)

Its main verticals include life sciences/biotech/pharmaceuticals, retail , and financial services/insurance. TCS supports multi-cloud use cases, and its managed service customers primarily use Azure, Oracle Cloud, and AWS alike, followed by GCP and IBM Cloud. TCS helps clients design cloud migration roadmaps that align with business goals. TCS’s suite of managed services emphasizes the migration of legacy applications and workflows and their transformation to cloud-native implementations.