The cloud isn’t new. Many organizations of all sizes have embraced it: 70% of organizations say more than half of their infrastructure is in the cloud, and 89% of companies say they’re taking a multiservice approach.
Yet, despite increased adoption, 69% of businesses still lack a defined cloud strategy and need guidance when it comes to optimizing their cloud spending. That’s why IT leaders are turning to tech partners such as CDW for help, by using Azure Managed Services to improve ROI and streamline their efforts.
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Three Components of Effective Cloud Strategies
According to Brandon Engen, senior manager of Azure Cloud Managed Services at CDW, effective cloud strategies have three key components: cost optimization, talent acquisition and strong security.
When it comes to cost, Engen says, “the cloud is dynamic and flexible, but companies need to ensure that they don’t let it scale out of control.” He also notes that an organization’s success with the cloud depends on its team, and IT leaders need to invest in finding and retaining great talent. “It’s hard to keep talent and skills. AI is accelerating, and you need the right people staffed on your team,” he says.
If a business partners with CDW, he adds, it can take advantage of managed cloud services and hire top talent on contract to get the skills IT leaders might not have in-house.
Security completes the cloud strategy trifecta. “Customers want someone to batten down the hatches and help them comply with regulatory bodies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology and HIPAA,” Engen says. “We’re able to extend security beyond what is available to a customer cloud natively.”
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Three Tiers of Azure Managed Services
To help companies make the most of their Azure deployments, CDW offers three managed service tiers. Here’s the breakdown of each:
Basic Tier: This entry-level option is ideal for businesses beginning their cloud journey or those that prefer a self-managed approach. It includes partner-led Level 1 issue support (Monday through Friday) and achieves a 96% internal ticket resolution rate without the need for escalation to Microsoft.
Essential Tier: Designed for businesses that need more robust IT support, or those that are looking to scale up their cloud infrastructure, this tier offers companies a dedicated technical account manager and 24/7 support for critical issues.
Premium Tier: At this level, businesses gain comprehensive management and support, including continuous monitoring, governance reporting and strategic architectural development. Premium Tier clients receive proactive monitoring of cloud environments, security threats and end-to-end managed services, including patching, backups, assessment, compliance and cost management consultations.
We want our customers to consume the cloud in the way it works for them.”
Brandon Engen
Senior Manager, Azure Cloud Managed Services, CDW
Three Reasons to Consider Cloud Managed Services
Engen notes that CDW has earned Microsoft’s Expert MSP designation, which is the highest the company offers. While that’s a great starting place for a cloud relationship, there are other compelling reasons why businesses can benefit from CDW’s managed cloud services.
For starters, all Azure managed tiers come with Inscape, CDW’s proprietary cloud management platform, which improves visibility and controls cost automatically.
“Cloud environments evolve rapidly, and keeping up with these changes can be challenging, especially if your team is already stretched thin,” says Engen. “This is why we offer our Elastic engineering services.” With no upfront costs and a flat hourly rate, these services provide on-demand expertise to tackle key projects such as cloud architecture assessments, migrations and security reviews. It’s a flexible, efficient solution to meet your organization’s evolving cloud needs.
UP NEXT: Learn how to realize the benefits of your organization’s multicloud environment.
With expert managed service provider status for all three public clouds (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud), CDW can help companies can scale up their services and easily build multicloud models.
“We have a statement of work,” Engen says, “but it includes a 30-day cancellation. There are no multiyear commitments. We want our customers to consume the cloud in the way it works for them.”
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