In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) find themselves at the forefront of change, adapting to emerging trends and meeting the dynamic expectations of their clients. Here's a closer look at the current trends and expectations surrounding cloud managed services.
1. Agility is Key: Embracing Microservices Architecture
MSPs are experiencing a paradigm shift as applications increasingly adopt microservices architectures. Developers now demand environments that can be swiftly provisioned, enabling quick turnaround times for testing and faster time-to-market. To meet this demand, MSPs are implementing environment setup automations, ensuring developers have the agility needed to keep pace with the rapidly changing technological landscape.
2. Containerization and Kubernetes Dominance
Containers and Kubernetes have become integral components of modern application development. Their adoption streamlines the deployment and scaling of applications, providing a consistent environment across various stages of the development lifecycle. MSPs are leveraging these technologies to enhance efficiency, facilitating seamless application deployment and management.
3. Serverless Revolution: Beyond Patching Woes
Dealing with the complexities of patching multiple servers remains a significant challenge for MSPs and their clients. To alleviate this burden, organizations are increasingly moving towards serverless architectures. The implementation of serverless infrastructure, coupled with Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings like AWS Lambda and AWS Fargate, empowers MSPs to provide scalable, low-maintenance solutions for their clients.
4. Platform Services for Enhanced Functionality
The combination of serverless infrastructures and platform services is reshaping the way applications are built and deployed. Utilizing AWS services like EventBridge, AWS Step Functions, API Gateway, and AWS App Sync enables MSPs to cater to a diverse set of use cases, from web application development to batch processing and event ingestion. Similar services are prevalent in other major public clouds such as Azure.
5. Automation: Redefining Operational Efficiencies
One of the critical expectations from MSPs is the automation of manual tasks. Infrastructure as Code (IAC) has emerged as a fundamental approach for large-scale deployment and orchestration. Cloud-native tools like CloudFormation and cloud-agnostic IAC tools like Terraform are becoming indispensable, enabling MSPs to automate deployment processes, optimize resource utilization, and maintain infrastructure consistency.
6. Skill Evolution: Mastering the Cloud-Native Landscape
To remain competitive, MSPs must continuously evolve their skillsets, gaining proficiency in serverless architectures, microservices-based frameworks, CI/CD practices, and automated architectures, which have become normalized. MSPs are adapting by investing in training and development programs to ensure their teams can navigate the complexities of the cloud-native landscape.To manage a multicloud environment, teams must be multiskilled, equipped with expertise in both public cloud platforms
The trends and expectations around cloud managed services are driving MSPs towards greater agility, automation, and specialization. As the cloud landscape continues to evolve, MSPs that embrace these changes will be better positioned to deliver innovative solutions and meet the ever-growing demands of their clients.
