Managed Services Model Examples & Alternatives

Before Cloud Infrastructure Breaks, Have Experts in Place

The managed services model is a proactive way of optimizing and protecting your infrastructure. Many businesses don’t have the internal resources for 24/7, 365 response or the deep expertise needed to perfect cloud infrastructure.

That’s when developing a partnership with the right Managed Service Provider (MSP) comes into play.

Managed Services Model Examples: AWS MSP Program

The AWS Managed Service Provider program is one example of a managed service model. AWS defines it:

“The AWS Managed Service Provider (MSP) program validates AWS Partners with a proven track record and experience, providing end-to-end AWS solutions to customers at any stage of the cloud journey, including planning and design, building and migration, operations and support, and automation and optimization.”

Triumph Learning engaged an AWS MSP so it could focus on product development instead of infrastructure management. The company saw these benefits, while growing in revenue annually:

Improved scalability
Increased security of customer data
Reduction in costs
Boosted redundancy

JibJab started offering printed books customized with photos of customer faces and needed an AWS MSP to support its machine learning algorithm. The MSP helped the company go from 85% accuracy to 90%, with a goal of achieving 95% accuracy in future iterations.

In-House vs. Managed Services Model

For eCommerce, SaaS or ISV companies, impeccable cloud management is a must. To have these capabilities in-house requires an expert team available around the clock. That is a huge HR obligation.

“Tech” companies aren’t the only ones that need to manage cloud infrastructure, though. Companies that don’t think of themselves as centered around technology often have the most need for cloud optimization and management. These include and companies that:

Have large amounts of user data, i.e, retail loyalty programs
Require the utmost in security, i.e, healthcare portals
Depend on online sales, i.e., meal delivery services
Have digital products, i.e, music, books, downloads
Take reservations or appointments online, i.e., restaurant groups, spas

If that sounds like a huge percentage of the companies out there, it is! For organizations that don’t already have tech expertise, managing cloud infrastructure in-house is an even more daunting task. It’s often hard to tell in an interview if you’re hiring an IT expert, or just someone who talks like they are.

A quality Managed Service Provider gives all the benefit of your own IT department with significantly less overhead– and in many cases, the MSP will provide better service than you could hire yourself. At Bloomip, for instance, we combine a business mindset with technical expertise:

Learn about and understand your business needs today
Understand your business goals and opportunities for growth
Align your business and technical vision
Cultivate the optimal cloud environment for your growth

The Managed Services Model Alternatives Are Risky

Charitably called the “break/fix model,” this alternative to the managed services model is not an option for mission-critical infrastructure. Apps and databases will always require maintenance, or they will reliably break down. Just as reliably, they will break down at the least convenient time. Scrambling with an IT services vendor to agree on a fee and get things back up and running is both expensive and time-consuming.
Block time agreement is the purchase ahead of time of a set number of hours, like a retainer. When something breaks, you already have the agreement in place to fix it. But this model isn’t a partnership. The provider doesn’t have any incentive to prevent issues or optimize your cloud services.
Staff augmentation is a blended model where the company hires a lower-level, day-to-day engineer who relies on the expertise of an MSP for higher-level or more complex needs. While this model is fairly common, employee turnover will significantly affect the arrangement. These days, that’s a true concern. As one article bluntly puts it: “Tech employees are quitting in droves.”

Managed Services Model by Company Type

Companies in different industries, of different sizes and in different lifecycle stages require different managed services models. As an Advanced Consulting Partner with AWS, Bloomip has identified three key frames of reference:

While a startup will emphasize agility, performance and scalability, enterprise needs often include extensive compliance and governance. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) typically prefer cost optimization over the latest tech.

Your company’s managed services model needs to be tailored for your specific priorities and requirements.

Bloomip’s Managed Services Model: Cloud Management Platform

Bloomip’s Cloud Management Platform (CMP) is the “secret sauce” of our managed services model. Our CMP supports us in offering:

24/7 management of business-critical infrastructure and emergency support backed by industry-leading SLAs
30% average monthly cost reduction
Audit-Ready Reporting and Compliance Mapping against 35+ International Frameworks
Consistently Meet or Exceed all SLAs
Ability to provide 100% SLA on Client’s Custom Applications
650+ best practices checks with self-healing, fix-now remediation capabilities

Our managed services support over $3B in revenue for our client companies. We’ve scaled investor-backed SaaS start-ups from inception to $100M+ in revenue. We do this by tailoring the right managed services model for your organization.

Ready to see how managed services could make you confident about the cloud? Contact us.

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