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Top 5 Traits To Look For in 24/7 Cloud Support According to Entrepreneur, data is the world's most valuable resource today. All the way back in 2017, The Economist reported that "The world's most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data." Similar to how fossil fuels literally fueled the Industrial Revolution, Big Data is fueling the Digital Revolution. Much like the oil fields that helped oil companies become some of the wealthiest and most powerful organizations in history, the cloud has helped tech giants like Alphabet (Google's parent company), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft become the five most valuable listed firms in the world. Without cloud computing, Big Data wouldn't exist; without Big Data, tools like data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and deep learning (DL) also wouldn't exist. Fortunately, they do exist and are evolving almost faster than our ability to keep up. And keeping up can become a serious issue for organizations that wish to stay relevant in the near future. Cloud Computing Has Reinvented Corporate Outsourcing A few years back, you could still find articles reporting that even large corporations were slow to adopt cloud technology. However, that quickly changed in 2020 at the height of the pandemic as organizations of all sizes and from various sectors scrambled to set up remote work. According to Tech Jury, more than 50% of organizations moved their workloads to the cloud. "2020 will go down in history as the year most companies had to transform their operations almost overnight...six out of 10 businesses moved their work to the cloud. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years, as 46% of companies reported better financials on costs," Tech Jury pointed out. Reuters then rightly predicted that the global remote workforce is anticipated to double before the end of 2021. And amidst all of that, another trend was born: wider adoption of outsourced cloud management. This was only natural, as many small to medium-sized organizations either have no in-house IT support or already outsource their IT needs. What Is 24/7 Cloud Support? In a nutshell, 24/7 cloud support is a comprehensive approach to maintaining administrative control and oversight over cloud-based products and services. A perfect analogy is a property management company being hired by a property owner to handle A great majority of SaaS solutions are offered by third-party service providers, with pretty much every organization globally using one or more. As organizations experience growth and success, they typically upgrade from basic SaaS solutions to more comprehensive 24/7 cloud support. Outsourcing cloud support provides organizations of all sizes with a decisive edge in numerous ways. This holds especially true for SMBs looking to capture what today's cutting-edge IT solutions have to offer but without all the hassle and cost. Also referred to as "managed cloud service providers" (MCSPs), you should seek a company capable of working with you as a team. MCSPs provide either partial or complete cloud management services for both hybrid and public environments. They usually offer a unique advantage, specializing in certain aspects of cloud support. Some of the primary responsibilities include migration, configuration, optimization, and security. An MCSP provides comprehensive support and control strategies for your cloud and data operations. The idea is to remove the day-to-day burden of cloud management from clients while promoting their resources and outreach. The Importance of 24/7 Cloud Support Even with outsourced cloud support seeing record adoption rates, we understand that some readers might still be on the fence. This article intends to clear up any reservations you might have about the idea. Our hope is that, even if you were to choose another provider, we could help you make the best educated choice possible. Internal IT departments are beginning to recognize that IT outsourcing — whether cloud support or otherwise — is an effective strategy for streamlining workloads. Most notably, it allows teams more time to work on specialized projects, something that is good for both your employees and your customers. Outsourcing is all about having someone else handle monotonous and often time-consuming IT activities. Most organizations today leverage data clusters to perform various operations, relying on cloud services to store them, as well as their services, applications, and more. Nonetheless, many organizations eventually reach a point when they discover that one cloud isn't nearly enough. A more distributed infrastructure approach becomes necessary for greater versatility and scalability, resulting in a hybrid-cloud environment. Properly managed and optimized, a hybrid cloud allows you to achieve greater flexibility and scalability while keeping on budget. This is where 24/7 cloud support enters the picture. To regulate costs, organizations must manage and allocate resources not only from a single shared platform but across multiple independent environments. Without satisfactory visibility, monitoring, and governance, any savings become null and void. One example that comes to mind is an engineer who only uses their cloud development environment a few hours a day, yet leaves it running 24/7. With the pay-as-you-go model being the industry norm, idle environments translate into unnecessarily high cloud bills — a waste of the organization's capital. 5 Traits To Look For in 24/7 Cloud Support When considering partnering with a cloud support service, it should have the following five traits at a bare minimum. 1. An Ability To Deliver End to End Service A cloud support service should be able to deliver a completely functional solution without the need for you to obtain additional service from one or more additional parties. In other words, the service is capable of seeing projects through from beginning to end; it supplies you with workable solutions in a centralized manner so clients can avoid complexity. Generally speaking, this includes hardware, software, procedures, written materials, and labor. Advertising an end-to-end service suggests that the provider eliminates as many third parties and middle layers as possible. By doing so, it's easier to optimize your team's performance and productivity. 2. An Ability To Work Alongside Internal Teams Working with a third-party cloud support provider shouldn't feel like working with a detached entity. Rather, it should function as an extension of your team. After all, you've entrusted the provider with your data, applications, systems, and other critical components. 3. ITIL-Aligned Enterprise-Class Support An enterprise-class IT Service Management (ITSM) support platform should align with IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards to manage the availability and access of services, streamline services, and fulfill service requests. A well-rounded cloud support service provider will have a Service Integration and Management (SIAM) team tasked with consolidating the best-in-brand vendors for your IT services. As a result, your team will enjoy accountability and cohesiveness without having to engage various vendors. 4. An Ability To Manage Any Cloud Computing Service A cloud support service should be designed in such a way that it can accommodate any cloud computing service: private, public, or hybrid. The provider should employ experts specialized in ongoing cloud infrastructure management and cost optimization. By default, this should also include the most widely used services: Azure Services and Management (ASM), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Application Optimisation and DevOps, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DraaS). 5. Ensures Your IT Operations Are Protected At a growth rate of 15 percent year over year, cyberattacks pose a significant problem for any organization operating on the cloud. Naturally, this makes cyber security one of if not the top areas of concern for IT specialists. As we enjoy greater functionality and flexibility offered by cloud computing, cybercriminals, too, benefit from the same. You must feel confident that any 24/7 cloud support provider you choose can ensure that your IT infrastructure is protected, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This includes assessing your current threat landscape, as well as promptly detecting and responding to threats in real time.