4 Problems A Cloud Services Provider Can Help Your Business Solve

Does your company have the resources or necessary skills to manage your cloud environment and solve IT problems as they arise?

If your company cannot, that’s okay, but it may be time to consider cloud-managed services. A cloud services provider can ensure that your cloud environment, storage, and network operations are effectively managed and secure.

It can be challenging trying to solve problems involving your cloud environment while running a business.

LDI’s Cloud Services team works closely with clients to identify the issues they’re experiencing to assess their cloud environment later and recommend viable solutions. In our ten years of experience, we have worked with several clients who don’t fully understand the cloud or keep their environment secure and well-maintained.

This article will detail what a cloud services provider is and four particular problems they can help your business resolve. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better idea about whether working with a CSP is right for your business.

What Is A Cloud Services Provider? 

A cloud services provider is a third-party organization that offers management over your cloud infrastructure and offers solutions like cloud-based software, applications, and storage services.

Every provider differs in the services and products they offer. For example, certain cloud services providers may offer Microsoft 365 and recommend that ecosystem for your business. Other providers may recommend the Google Cloud platform.

That’s why it’s essential to consider what software and applications your company works with and assess whether there’s room to optimize and find a platform that coincides nicely with the other products you use.

Cloud-based software and applications can be used remotely and even hosted on a vendor’s server, on behalf of you, the customer.

When working with a cloud services provider, companies would have the option to pay only for the cloud solutions they use or the managed services they are getting from the provider. Often, the managed services will incorporate the implementation of said cloud-based software and applications.

Your company needs to know what resources you currently have to help implement the software you require or whether you need a cloud services provider to manage your entire cloud and IT environment.

What Are 4 Problems A  Cloud Services Provider Can Help You With?

If you’re unsure of whether a cloud services provider is necessary, think again. Migrating to the cloud and using cloud-based services has gained in popularity over the last five years.

However, it can still be tricky to understand what a cloud services provider can help you with when you don’t understand the cloud.

We’re here to highlight some universal problems that we see businesses go through. A cloud services provider can help resolve this.

Here are four particular problems a cloud services provider can help your business with.

1. Cut Down IT Costs

Running a business can be expensive, and so can staffing a full-time IT department.

By outsourcing your cloud needs to a cloud services provider, your business can reduce costly network maintenance fees and eliminate the need to hire full-time employees.

For small to medium-sized businesses, IT networks are usually simple and don’t require a lot of resources to manage.

The reason? Well, the fewer the number of employees, the smaller the number of devices your business needs to manage.

Outsourcing your cloud services to a provider can make all the difference when considering the cost you’re paying monthly for managed services vs. an in-house IT department.

For example, cloud-managed services can range from $100 to $150 per user per month. This cost range per user will likely include the management of your network, software, applications, devices and will incorporate IT helpdesk support.

Depending on your employees’ salary, you can be paying upwards of 6,700 dollars monthly per IT staff member that you hire to manage your IT environment.

Consider the costs you would be saving and the experience you would be gaining from working with a cloud services provider over hiring your own in-house IT team.

2. Consistent Service & Support

With cloud services providers, your cloud network, software, applications, and servers will be managed.

Cloud services providers can control service levels and maintenance over all your cloud-based technology. By signing a service level agreement with your Cloud services provider, your company is then granted service continuity.

The longer you work with your cloud services provider, the better they understand your business needs and goals.

In addition, when your company agrees to work with a cloud services provider, you will have access to 24/7 IT Helpdesk Support. Every provider differs in the response times they offer their clients.

However, whenever your employees face an IT or cloud-based issue, your Cloud services provider will provide access to remote and onsite support technicians that can help remedy an issue.

IT issues are unavoidable and can arise at any moment. Having a cloud expert to refer to can be imperative to minimizing the downtime a problem can at times create.

3. Provide Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Plans 

Business continuity and disaster recovery are essential for any business.

While many companies don’t always understand the difference, a cloud services provider will often mention creating a business continuity plan (BCP) or disaster recovery plan (DCP) when creating an IT roadmap for your company.

To summarize, a disaster recovery plan refers to the way in which data, servers, files, software applications, and operating systems will be restored once a destructive event occurs.

Whereas a business continuity plan refers to maintaining a business’s operations as a destructive event is occurring.

Now, why should a cloud services provider care about these plans?

Say your company gets hit hard with a ransomware attack. Ransomware can affect any confidential data saved to the cloud.

A Cloud services provider can help ensure that there’s a plan in place. This is important if and when an event as destructive and problematic as a ransomware attack were to occur.

4. Improve Cloud Security

The BCP and DRP are crucial elements of formulating a plan of attack when a destructive security event occurs.

Yet, it’s also vital to have a strong security posture to prevent destructive events from happening to your cloud-based network.

Planning for the worst can help, but so can ensuring that your cloud infrastructure is secure and routinely monitored.

A Cloud services provider can help your business overcome cloud security challenges through the methods outlined below.

Consistently Evaluate Your Security Posture

Performing routine IT security risk assessments and penetration tests is crucial to ensuring your company’s security posture is well up to snuff. 

Through an IT security risk assessment and a penetration test, a CSP can understand how vulnerable your IT environment is and what areas can be optimized to secure your data and network.

The IT security risk assessment will take inventory of your business’s network devices and discover any outdated devices and software. Through this assessment, A CSP will be able to tell which assets pose a risk to your network.

A penetration test is a way of gaining deeper insight into how your network detects and remediates risks.

With the combined effort of these tests, your CSP can proactively protect your cloud environment.

Deploy Cloud Computing Platforms To Protect Data

A CSP can protect the data you have stored online via cloud computing platforms that protect against theft, leakage, and even deletion.

These cloud computing platforms include firewalls, endpoint and detection response platforms, remote monitoring, management software, and malware protection software.

A CSP will use RMM tools to keep track of every device on your network remotely and the risks detected, remediated, and documented.

These platforms are excellent tools for a CSP to protect your stored data. The CSP’s job is to protect access to the cloud that can be gained from data stored on numerous devices on your network.

Are You Ready To Work With A Cloud Services Provider? 

So, now that you’ve read about four major problems a CSP can help your business with, are these problems that your company needs help with too?

Suppose your business requires assistance in managing its cloud network and doesn’t have the experience or knowledge with cloud-based technology. A CSP can help manage your network while using cloud-based software and applications that will protect your data.

However, suppose your business already has an in-house IT department that can manage a cloud network and deploy cloud solutions. In that case, your business may not require assistance from a CSP.

AT LDI, we help our clients with cloud and IT-related problems.

Speak with an LDI representative today to learn more about our cloud-managed services.