With Cloud services growing as a means of managed services providers' (MSPs') delivery model, GFI Software partner community director, Dave Sobel, claims variations in Cloud providers' service level agreements (SLAa) and interfaces triggers a new series of business problems, particularly in regards to vendor management.
Therefore as an MSP grows its Cloud services and customer count to reach business targets, finding new ways of efficiency becomes increasingly important.
According to global trade association, CompTIA, on-premises service delivery results in average margins of about 24 per cent compared with 23 per cent for Cloud services.
While the figures look appealing, on-premises work averages nearly $US2 to every $US1 of Cloud services revenue. Sobel said Cloud services companies must therefore handle twice the clients, which further contributes to management complexities.
"Focusing in on delivering as many Cloud services from a single console and reducing as much of the complexity of vendor interactions as possible should be the goal," Sobel said.
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He also said that integration into a graphical user interface (GUI) management system accelerates the onboarding of new engineers in an MSP; as complex shell-based management is reduced, new engineers can be effective more quickly.
According to Sobel, the integrated approach proves beneficial to possible reporting; it enables MSPs to report on systems across both on-premises and in the Cloud on one interface.
"This integrated approach is the direction the industry should and is moving in, and should be a key element of selection of cloud services in the future for MSPs. Driving efficiency in delivery is one of the ways to offset declines in revenue as systems move to the Cloud."
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