Already advancing at a healthy pace, Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud adoption has accelerated aggressively in the post-pandemic era as executives scramble to infuse their businesses with agility and flexibility. But the cloud doesn’t automatically improve performance and spending – and without fully managed AWS services, many companies quickly discover that the time, risks, and costs of relying exclusively on IT staff can quickly erode the benefits.
Cloud computing requires speed, specialized skillsets, and a new way of thinking to optimize its use and achieve organizational goals. Without the right expertise, enterprises risk implementing useless architecture with poor security, increased and unexpected costs, and negative impacts to market relevance and competitiveness.
Currently, 92% of organizations have at least part of their IT environment on the cloud – and IT leaders anticipate cloud spend increasing 39% over the next 12 months.
But more than 70% of IT leaders reported “negative effects” from cloud adoptions during the pandemic. And the nation’s severe IT labor shortage has 90% of enterprises struggling to find workers with cloud-related skills, reports CIO Dive.
Partnering with an experienced, AWS-certified Managed Service Provider (MSP) is fundamental to maximizing the value of the cloud and unlocking the endless possibilities it offers at each stage of your adoption journey.
Let’s examine the biggest AWS managed service benefits for your business.
The key advantages of fully managed AWS
1. Gain reliable access to hard-to-find cloud talent.
Cloud migration and management form the core competency of AWS managed service providers. Exceptional MSPs invest heavily in building a specialized team of experts that can demonstrate proof of certification across key AWS skillsets – from DevOps to architect specializations to machine learning.
They also keep pace with ever-evolving changes to cloud technology, services, and pricing.
IT Departments often struggle to realize the full potential of the cloud because they lack experience with native tools and services. But AWS MSPs know them inside and out – using them continuously across multiple client environments.
As a result, they can provision a cloud platform that meets your company’s specific needs in a fraction of the time it takes to bring an in-house team up to speed or hire new resources amidst the labor shortage.
Retaining internal talent is another critical concern, with high demand for limited cloud resources generating a whopping 42% turnover rate. By comparison, the overall tech churn rate is 13.2% – already the highest of any industry.
Outsourcing fully managed AWS solves these labor challenges with consistent access to a deep bench of highly skilled cloud talent. Organizations can avoid time spent recruiting resources, researching cloud services, learning new tools, and correcting the inevitable mistakes made by inexperienced teams.
Instead, time to value is accelerated and internal teams can stay focused on IT work that impacts business innovation and strategy.
2. Leverage an AWS partner to maximize value with a robust cloud environment.
From resource management to version control, architecting cloud computing systems involves greater complexity than building traditional business systems and applications. And as more industries embrace cloud as the key enabler of digital transformation, there are more cloud projects than people trained to construct them.
Cloud architects rank among the top two most in-demand IT operations roles. A late June search on Indeed showed more than 44,000 open roles for AWS cloud architects in the U.S.
Not surprisingly, cloud architects now rank among the highest-paid roles in the IT industry as well. Average salaries nationwide exceed $153,000, but it’s not unusual for companies to pay upwards of $210,000 for top talent.
Hiring in-house means paying a premium – or settling for candidates that lack the right skills to achieve the highest levels of quality and innovation. Unfortunately, poor cloud architecture translates into poor latency, security, and reliability that impacts business performance.
Fully managed AWS fills this vital role without the headache and expense of recruiting and retaining in-house talent. AWS validates that the MSPs selected for its exclusive partner network are uniquely positioned to architect a versatile, resilient solution that takes advantage of all the cloud has to offer.
3. Continuously improve operational efficiencies to achieve cost savings and performance.
Embracing a cloud-focused strategy isn’t about lifting and shifting workloads to a new IT environment. To meet Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and strengthen customer relationships, MSPs are incentivized to consistently improve clients’ operational efficiencies.
While IT’s attention is divided among many priorities, cloud MSPs are focused on constantly monitoring AWS usage and patterns to maximize savings, increase performance, and take advantage of new tooling as it’s released.
For instance, an AWS MSP will identify areas that can use Reserved Instances (RIs) that discount prebooked capacity, or times of day you can save money by turning particular instance types off. Migrating backups to AWS can also increase cost savings and ensure better business continuity than traditional on-premises solutions.
Fully managed AWS is the most cost-effective way to overcome the lack of cloud expertise within existing IT organizations as well. Not only do companies gain instant access to top talent without expensive upskilling or hiring, they avoid expensive mistakes as inexperienced teams get up to speed.
Scaling resources up and down as demand changes is another way MSPs control costs. They also have processes in place to enforce governance and visibility that control spending by preventing business units from spinning up cloud infrastructure without accountability.
4. Optimize cloud management with proven procedures, automation, infrastructure, and processes.
A well-defined cloud management strategy is critical to containing costs and maintaining a sustainable cloud environment. But without the right experience and expertise, most organizations struggle to define best practices.
For AWS MSPs, your cloud environment is far from their first rodeo. They have optimized infrastructure and proven processes and procedures already in place to help you maximize operations and minimize your learning curve.
A key advantage of cloud computing stems from its ability to drive agility and speed to market by automating manual processes. That may include deployments, infrastructure updates, and replicating changes across instances.
Failing to leverage automation is a key reason cloud projects don’t achieve promised value. But IT staff used to running on-premises environments aren’t familiar with the cloud’s wealth of automation opportunities. Cloud automation expertise is a core tenet of what AWS considers “next-generation” in its MSP partners.
Exceptional providers can also help you embrace DevOps principles and practices. An integral part of high-performing cloud solutions, DevOps is an approach to culture, automation, and platform design that uses rapid, high-quality service delivery to increase business value and responsiveness.
Established processes for keeping cloud costs in check is another exceptional AWS managed service benefit. Without effective cloud cost management, most organizations spend an average 23% more than they budgeted, Accenture reports.
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Even worse, 30% of total cloud spend is wasted on unused resources.
Experienced MSPs use AWS automation and utilization metrics to help clients better manage spend and plan for future consumption. For instance, they are experts at right-sizing your cloud configuration – upgrading, downgrading, or terminating resources to prevent overprovisioning that leads to idle instances or under provisioning that impacts performance.
5. Lift the burden of cloud maintenance and monitoring from in-house teams.
Maximizing cloud value requires constant monitoring and maintenance to ensure systems are working optimally. Unfortunately, IT teams rarely have the bandwidth, skills, or technology to effectively monitor and maintain an AWS environment.
Fully managed AWS lifts the burden from IT, handling monitoring and reporting, performance testing, backup and recovery, maintenance issues, and more. Cloud MSPs also give clients access to cutting-edge monitoring tools and services without a substantial technology investment.
Advanced monitoring technology provides critical insights that enable consistent improvement in cloud performance. They also ensure problems are spotted and addressed before they trigger downtime that impacts revenue and productivity.
AWS managed service benefits deliver a competitive edge
In today’s fast-paced digital world, the winners of tomorrow are the enterprises ready to respond quickly to industry changes and customer demands. Fully managed AWS helps you realize the cloud’s promise – delivering the agility and flexibility your business needs to stay ahead of the pack.
Exceptional MSPs provide the expertise, guidance, and services to successfully migrate and manage workloads on the cloud. By addressing key challenges and optimizing your environment, AWS managed service benefits can help you achieve cloud transformation while empowering internal staff to stay focused on core business goals.
