Cloud Computing Will Kill Managed Service Providers: True or False?

By this definition, the traditional offering of an MSP to recommend hardware and software, as well as the services to implement both, will definitively be blown away from the Cloud. Thanks to the abundance of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) choices, the need to buy new servers and storage hardware is severely diminished. They can easily engage an IaaS provider to rent usage access at a fraction of the acquisition cost.

However, these IaaS providers face one challenge: They require the IT skills required to migrate data from traditional hardware to the Cloud, and also the ongoing capacity performance measurement to cater for necessary business growth. This is an opportunity for MSPs, who can help plug the gap by assisting migration and ongoing management of Cloud resources.

The situation too applies to Software as a Service (SaaS) providers: Though organisations can readily sign up for software application on the Cloud via SaaS providers, the integration and management of these applications will still be a challenge for users, what with ongoing database amendments, such as the addition and deletion of employees’ login or email accounts. To assist with these matters is not far off the role MSPs currently actively perform: implementation and ongoing management.

Therefore, contrary to the belief that MSPs will be eliminated by cloud computing, the emergence of the Cloud and its booming adoption rate can open up new business ventures for MSPs. It is only up to these service providers to redefine their business model from one that pushes hardware / software application sales and maintenance, to one that plays a complementary role alongside the Cloud, in integration and management.

Most importantly, an MSP should always take the strategic role of partnering the CIO in any organisation to complement its IT strategy, developing a clear set of control policies, performance management and continuous IT improvement to support the ongoing business growth of the organisation.

Though many predict grey skies for MSPs, there remains a silver lining in the Cloud: Should an MSP stay ahead of the game by morphing their business to incorporate, facilitate and supplement cloud computing, survival will be ensured, and MSPs will continue to play a vital role.