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Choosing a cloud-managed service provider (MSP) is a significant investment in time, resources, and costs. Providers must meet specific criteria for enterprise stakeholders to make the wisest decisions that benefit multi-location enterprises.
Empower your team to choose a partner in alignment with your business goals and growth trajectory. Use the tips below for a comprehensive approach to the cloud MSP selection process.
1. Assess the provider’s cloud services expertise
Review the company’s online portfolio for its private, public, and hybrid cloud capabilities. Choosing a cloud MSP that manages hybrid cloud computing environments is paramount to success for multi-location enterprises.
Potential partners should have experience supporting multi-cloud strategies based on the enterprise’s needs. Multi-cloud approaches are considered the future of enterprise IT because they adopt an industry-specific approach, offering more adaptability, business functionality, and innovation.
2. Check for strong security measures
A hybrid cloud environment requires robust security protocols, data protection, and risk management. However, misconfiguration is considered one of the most common and serious cloud security threats. So, it’s crucial to investigate the monitoring and controls partners have in place to combat cloud security issues.
Discuss preventing misconfiguration and go over configuration management. Ask for details about security protocols, encryption, access controls, and authentication mechanisms. Seek assurance on data protection and assess risk management practices. Confirm monitoring capabilities and cover the indicators they use to identify issues.
3. Inquire about support and maintenance services
Enterprises operating in different time zones and languages take ongoing connectivity support very seriously. Identify if ongoing support is multilingual and available around the clock. Confirm response times and guarantee they offer expedited services for critical issues.
Opt for providers that schedule maintenance during off-peak hours to avoid impacting high-activity periods in other regional offices. Service level agreements (SLAs) should meet or exceed the standards of cloud platforms. This fosters accountability and maintains consistent quality across the cloud MSP, the client, and the cloud solution.
4. Look for scalability and flexibility
When selecting a cloud provider, prioritize scalability and learn if they can accommodate increasing demands and the growing needs of enterprises. Look for providers with a proven track record of scaling an enterprise during a period of rapid growth.
Brainstorm with the potential partner what would happen if your workload demand doubled or tripled. Vendors should be able to demonstrate methods for scaling, the ability to create cloud migration plans, and the flexibility to adopt new solutions.
5. Assess the value of their pricing and contracts
Evaluate the cloud MSP's pricing through a total cost of ownership (TCO) calculation to support transparency and alignment with your enterprise's needs. TCO offers the most accurate representation of the cost-benefit analysis over the service's lifetime.
Remember, pricing is just one aspect. The real value lies in the contractual terms concerning service-level agreements (SLAs), intellectual property ownership, and termination clauses. These factors are crucial as they impact business continuity if not handled properly.
Consider fee waivers for the most savings. Advantage waives service fees for customers partnering to manage the full range of enterprise connectivity. This not only reduces costs but also saves in-house teams time managing planning.
6. Review technology partnerships and certifications
Strong partners are provider-agnostic and have current certifications with major cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform—and any other providers the enterprise uses.
Review the details of their security protocols. Evaluate the qualifications of their staff by checking for specific certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect or Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
Verify certifications, review security protocols, and assess staff qualifications through documented proof and client references.
7. Examine client testimonials and case studies
A simple way to shortlist potential partners is to review their public client testimonials, case studies, and review site ratings. Pay close attention to details about clients in relevant industries overcoming similar issues.
Once you’ve narrowed your selection, requesting references from existing or previous customers is a fantastic way to make the smartest decision. Prepare to ask for feedback from the vendor's customers about user satisfaction, support, reliability, and other enterprise-level service concerns.
8. Consider the range of services offered
The traditional approach to MSPs relies on in-house teams to pick up where the vendor leaves off. While advisory, sourcing, and expense management are common offers, micro-managing the implementation and lifecycle optimization takes a heavy toll on the bottom line.
Rather than dealing with several MSPs and struggling with limited in-house resources, it’s more cost-effective for enterprises to work with a partner that can consolidate connectivity services.
A holistic connectivity partner streamlines advisory, sourcing, implementation, expense management, ongoing support, and lifecycle management with a consolidated approach.
Which questions should you ask when choosing a cloud MSP?
When choosing a cloud MSP, the questions you should ask depend on the company’s needs. Determine the provider’s basic capabilities, service delivery, and data ownership with the following:
- Can the services scale to support rapid growth and new global locations?
- What are the guaranteed uptimes, response times, and service quality terms?
- Who owns the data, and what is the migration process for termination?
- How much can I save by bundling connectivity services?
- Do you offer implementation support?
While not exhaustive, this list will help enterprise decision-makers start the evaluation process.
Conclusion—Opt for a unified MSP solution
Realizing that the total value proposition exceeds expertise, cost, and support. Consider the benefits beyond cloud infrastructure and services to find the most desirable partnership.
Advantage services all aspects of enterprise connectivity, so in-house staff doesn’t have to deal with limited resources, managing vendors, contract renewals, sourcing, advisory, or implementation. This approach helps enterprise teams streamline operations, obtain clear and accurate oversight, and save the most on enterprise connectivity.
Contact Advantage to consolidate and optimize your enterprise's global connectivity and save more than you would with a traditional MSP.