Unlocking Efficiency and Security: The Top 7 Benefits of Cloud Managed Services

Cloud Managed Services (CMS) refer to the comprehensive suite of services offered by third-party providers to manage and optimize an organization's cloud infrastructure. As more businesses move their operations to the cloud, the complexity of maintaining this infrastructure increases. Cloud Managed Service Providers (MSPs) offer a range of services, including monitoring, security management, storage management, disaster recovery, and compliance assistance. These services allow businesses to focus on their core operations without worrying about the intricate details of their cloud environment.

Managed services for cloud computing environments typically encompass:

1. Cloud Infrastructure Management: Monitoring and maintaining servers, storage, databases, networking, and software running on the cloud.
2. Security Services: Ensuring compliance, implementing security protocols, vulnerability management, and data protection measures.
3. Disaster Recovery and Backup: Continuously managing data backups and recovery strategies in case of failure or breach.
4. Cost Optimization: Assisting businesses in optimizing cloud resources to reduce costs, which may involve rightsizing resources, automating workloads, or eliminating unused assets.
5. Compliance and Governance: Ensuring cloud environments meet industry standards and regulatory requirements.
6. Performance Monitoring and Reporting: Keeping track of the cloud system’s performance and offering reporting to provide insights into the health of the infrastructure.

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a Cloud Managed Services Provider

When selecting a cloud managed services provider, customers should focus on several key factors to ensure optimal performance and security:

• Expertise and Certifications: Look for a provider with certified cloud professionals and experience in managing hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
• Comprehensive Services: Ensure the provider offers a range of services like monitoring, security, backups, and disaster recovery.
• Security and Compliance: Verify that the MSP offers robust security measures and meets industry compliance requirements.
• Scalability and Flexibility: Choose a provider that can scale resources as your business grows and adapt services to your specific needs.

The Benefits of Cloud Managed Services

As organizations grow and expand their reliance on cloud infrastructure, Cloud Managed Services offer various benefits, making them indispensable for many modern businesses.

1. Cost Efficiency

One of the primary benefits of adopting cloud managed services is cost efficiency. Maintaining a cloud environment internally requires hiring and retaining skilled IT professionals, which can be costly, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). By outsourcing cloud management to an MSP, businesses can reduce overhead expenses. Instead of paying for full-time, in-house staff and resources, businesses can use a subscription-based pricing model, which scales as the business grows.

MSPs also help organizations optimize their cloud usage. They ensure that a company only pays for the resources it needs and uses. Through rightsizing and cost optimization techniques, MSPs can reduce cloud expenditure while improving efficiency.

2. Expertise and Support

Cloud infrastructure is complex, requiring specialized knowledge to manage and optimize effectively. Cloud Managed Service Providers have teams of certified professionals who stay updated on the latest cloud technologies and trends. These experts offer around-the-clock monitoring, maintenance, and support, ensuring that the cloud infrastructure runs smoothly and securely.

This expertise is especially beneficial when dealing with multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environments, where managing multiple platforms and services can become overwhelming. MSPs simplify this process by providing unified management across various cloud providers.

3. Enhanced Security and Compliance

Data security is a top concern for any business using cloud services. Cloud managed services offer a proactive approach to security, ensuring constant monitoring, threat detection, and vulnerability patching. MSPs are equipped with the tools and knowledge to manage firewalls, encryption, identity access management, and security protocols to keep data secure.

Moreover, many industries have strict regulatory compliance requirements, such as HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI-DSS. Managed service providers are well-versed in these regulations and can help businesses ensure that their cloud environment adheres to necessary compliance standards, reducing the risk of fines or legal challenges.

4. Scalability and Flexibility

Cloud managed services provide unparalleled scalability. As a business grows, its cloud infrastructure needs to expand as well. Managed Service Providers can easily adjust cloud resources in real time to accommodate evolving business needs. Whether a company is expanding, contracting, or experiencing seasonal fluctuations, MSPs ensure that resources are appropriately scaled to avoid any inefficiencies or downtime.

This scalability ensures businesses remain agile and responsive to market changes without the complexities of manually managing cloud infrastructure. This flexibility also means businesses can leverage the latest technologies and updates without investing heavily in new systems or processes.

5. Focus on Core Business Functions

When businesses offload their cloud management responsibilities to an MSP, they free up internal resources to focus on core competencies. Instead of spending time and energy managing cloud systems, companies can concentrate on innovation, product development, and serving their customers.

For smaller businesses, this can make a significant difference by allowing teams to focus on growth rather than IT infrastructure management. For larger enterprises, it can result in more efficient allocation of in-house IT talent, allowing them to tackle high-priority initiatives rather than day-to-day management tasks.

6. Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance

MSPs continuously monitor cloud infrastructure to identify and resolve issues before they escalate. This proactive approach means that potential problems, such as server downtime or performance bottlenecks, are addressed in real time, ensuring minimal disruption to operations.

By utilizing advanced monitoring tools and analytics, MSPs can predict and prevent failures, optimizing cloud performance and maintaining uptime. This level of service guarantees a smoother experience for businesses and their customers, with fewer interruptions.

7. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Cloud Managed Service Providers offer robust disaster recovery (DR) solutions. In the event of data loss, cyberattacks, or natural disasters, MSPs ensure rapid recovery of critical data and services. This reduces downtime and ensures business continuity.

With automated backup processes and multi-location storage, businesses can trust that their data is safe, recoverable, and compliant with regulations. This level of DR support is critical for businesses that rely heavily on digital operations.

Cloud Managed Services offer businesses a comprehensive and efficient way to manage their cloud infrastructure. From cost optimization and enhanced security to scalability and expert support, these services enable companies to focus on their core operations while staying agile and secure in the cloud. For businesses of all sizes, partnering with a Cloud Managed Service Provider is a strategic move that can drive long-term success, innovation, and growth.

Talk to the experts at Network Solutions

Tailored Cloud Management: Combining Cisco's Cutting-Edge Solutions with Network Solutions' Personalized Approach

To effectively manage the complexities of cloud environments and ensure seamless network performance, businesses need a reliable partner that not only provides advanced solutions but also tailors them to specific needs. Cisco’s cloud managed services offer robust, scalable solutions for optimizing cloud infrastructure, securing networks, and improving overall efficiency. Network Solutions plays a key role by integrating these powerful Cisco offerings with customized services, ensuring each customer’s unique environment is addressed. With a focus on flexibility, security, and performance, Cisco and Network Solutions together offer a comprehensive, tailored approach to cloud management and network optimization.

1. Cisco Meraki

Cisco Meraki is one of the company’s flagship offerings in cloud-managed networking. Meraki provides a cloud-based platform that enables centralized management of network devices such as switches, routers, security appliances, and wireless access points. Key features of Cisco Meraki include:

• Centralized Cloud Management: Cisco Meraki provides a simple, intuitive dashboard where businesses can manage their entire network infrastructure from a single pane of glass, regardless of their geographic location.
• Automation and Monitoring: Meraki automates many network management tasks such as configuration updates, patching, and monitoring. Businesses can monitor network performance in real time and receive alerts for any potential issues.
• Scalability: Meraki is designed to scale as businesses grow, allowing for easy deployment of additional devices and resources without extensive manual configuration.
• Built-in Security: Cisco Meraki integrates security features such as firewalls, content filtering, intrusion prevention, and malware protection directly into the platform, making it ideal for securing cloud environments.

2. Cisco CloudLock

Cisco CloudLock is a cloud-native Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) that focuses on securing data, users, and applications across SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS environments. CloudLock allows businesses to manage risks and ensure compliance in multi-cloud environments.

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): CloudLock provides visibility into sensitive data stored in cloud environments and prevents data leaks by enforcing security policies.
• User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA): It monitors user activity across cloud platforms to detect and respond to unusual or suspicious behavior.
• Compliance Management: CloudLock helps businesses meet compliance regulations such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR by continuously monitoring cloud environments for policy violations.
• App Discovery: The platform enables IT teams to identify and control third-party apps that users connect to company cloud services, thus preventing shadow IT risks.

3. Cisco Intersight

Cisco Intersight is a cloud-based platform that simplifies the management of hybrid IT infrastructure, particularly for organizations using both on-premise data centers and cloud environments.

• Unified Management: Cisco Intersight allows for centralized, cloud-based management of compute, storage, and network resources, offering administrators visibility and control over infrastructure, regardless of location.
• Automation and Orchestration: Intersight provides automation features that allow businesses to manage workloads, applications, and services efficiently. This reduces manual intervention and speeds up deployment.
• AIOps and Machine Learning: The platform uses artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) and machine learning to provide predictive analytics and proactive maintenance. This helps businesses identify potential infrastructure issues before they cause disruptions.
• Multi-Cloud Support: Intersight enables seamless management across public cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, allowing businesses to create, manage, and optimize workloads in hybrid environments.

4. Cisco Umbrella

Cisco Umbrella is a cloud-delivered security platform that provides comprehensive protection against internet threats by blocking malicious activity at the DNS layer. It is ideal for securing users and devices accessing cloud services from multiple locations.

• Threat Intelligence: Cisco Umbrella uses real-time threat intelligence from Cisco Talos to block known and emerging threats, such as malware, phishing, and ransomware, before they can affect an organization’s network.
• DNS-layer Security: By monitoring and filtering DNS requests, Cisco Umbrella can proactively prevent users from accessing malicious sites, thus reducing the attack surface in cloud environments.
• Cloud Access Security: Umbrella integrates with other Cisco cloud security solutions, such as CloudLock, to offer additional visibility and control over cloud applications, users, and data.

5. Cisco Secure Workload (formerly Tetration)

Cisco Secure Workload is a cloud-native workload protection platform that enhances security and visibility for applications running across multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments.

• Workload Visibility: Secure Workload provides deep visibility into how applications and workloads interact across cloud environments. This helps businesses ensure that their cloud-based services are secure and compliant with internal policies.
• Micro-Segmentation: The platform allows businesses to implement micro-segmentation, isolating workloads to limit the impact of a potential security breach and improving overall network security posture.
• Compliance Enforcement: Cisco Secure Workload enforces security policies consistently across cloud environments, helping organizations meet regulatory and compliance requirements.

6. Cisco SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network)

Cisco’s SD-WAN solutions are designed to simplify and optimize WAN management in multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. With Cisco SD-WAN, businesses can improve the performance, security, and scalability of their cloud connections.

• Cloud Optimization: Cisco SD-WAN automatically routes traffic based on performance and bandwidth needs, optimizing connections between branches, data centers, and cloud environments for better user experiences.
• Security Integration: Cisco integrates advanced security features such as end-to-end encryption, secure direct internet access, and application-level security, ensuring secure cloud access for all users and locations.
• Policy-Based Management: With centralized policy controls, IT teams can define and implement network rules that prioritize critical cloud applications and workloads, improving network performance and reliability.

7. Cisco AppDynamics

Cisco AppDynamics is an application performance management (APM) solution that provides real-time visibility into the performance of cloud applications and infrastructure.

• Application Monitoring: AppDynamics offers deep insights into the performance of cloud-based applications, helping businesses identify and resolve issues that could affect the user experience.
• Business Performance Correlation: AppDynamics can correlate application performance with business outcomes, allowing organizations to optimize their cloud services for better customer engagement and operational efficiency.
• Hybrid Cloud Support: The platform supports monitoring across hybrid cloud environments, enabling businesses to manage both on-premise and cloud applications from a single dashboard.

Veeam Disaster Recovery and Backup

Veeam’s Disaster Recovery and Backup solutions offer a comprehensive and reliable approach to data protection, ensuring fast recovery and seamless integration across various environments. Network Solutions enhances these benefits by tailoring the implementation to each customer's specific needs, maximizing performance and efficiency. Key features and benefits include:

• Instant Recovery: Recover virtual machines and critical data in minutes, minimizing downtime.
• Granular Restoration: Restore individual files, folders, and application objects without impacting full systems.
• Data Deduplication and Compression: Reduce storage costs by optimizing backup storage space.
• Ransomware Protection: Safeguard data with immutable backups, preventing unauthorized tampering.
• Cloud Integration: Seamlessly backup to and recover from major cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Network Solutions works with customers to:

• Assess Infrastructure and Needs: Identify the best Veeam deployment strategy based on their environment and disaster recovery goals.
• Custom Implementation: Tailor Veeam solutions for optimized performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
• Ongoing Support: Provide continuous monitoring and updates to ensure maximum security and data availability.

Network Solutions, delivers a comprehensive suite of cloud managed services, strategically applying advanced solutions to meet each customer's unique needs. By integrating tools—such as Meraki, CloudLock, Intersight, Umbrella, and Veeam—Network Solutions customizes strategies to enhance security, simplify operations, and optimize workloads across cloud environments. These partnerships allows businesses to harness the full potential of Cisco's solutions, ensuring that their infrastructure is secure, scalable, and adaptable to changing demands. With a focus on tailored services, Network Solutions empowers organizations to drive cost-efficiency and achieve seamless cloud management.

Network Solutions is an excellentManaged Services Provider choice, offering 35 years of experience and a strong partnership with Cisco as a Cisco Gold Provider and 3-time Cisco Partner of the Year. Some of the benefits of working with Network Solutions include:

• Expert Teams: 20+ Certified Cisco Engineers, Certified PMP project managers and dedicated Customer Success Managers.
• NSI White Dove Guarantee: Ensures the highest level of service and satisfaction.
• Proven Customer Satisfaction: Consistently high ratings with a customer satisfaction score of 4.85 out of 5.
• Core Values: Integrity, extraordinary customer experience, teamwork, and a commitment to excellence.

If you’d like to learn more about Cloud Managed Services, managed services in general, or any other business technology solution options talk to the experts at Network Solutions!