Managed Cloud Services for Small Businesses: Weighing The Pros and Cons

The struggle of handling a small business is like no other.

From having to wear many hats to keep the crushing expenses under control, there’s a lot that needs to be taken care of.

In between all of that, IT infrastructure management and technology integration takes a backseat. 

Small business owners cannot be blamed for that though.

But with the rise in cloud computing, many small businesses are embracing the cloud. 

Going solo is tough though. 

Expert guidance is needed. And many businesses are considering managed cloud services for the same. But is it really necessary?

After all, it comes at a cost. And even the smallest expenses can have major impacts on small business balance sheets. 

So let’s delve deep and check out if small businesses really need managed cloud services or not.

What are managed cloud services?

Before we understand whether SMBs need managed cloud services, let’s check out what managed cloud services are.

Managed cloud services include complete (or partial) management of a client’s cloud infrastructure. It includes:

1. Migration to the cloud

2. Configuring the cloud infrastructure

3. Optimizing the cloud setup for efficiency and speed

4. Ensuring the complete safety and security of the cloud infrastructure

5. Maintaining the cloud infrastructure

Now let us take a look at the key advantages that small businesses can reap with managed cloud services.

Advantages Of Managed Cloud Services

1. Cost Savings

By outsourcing cloud management SMBs can save on the costs of hiring and training in-house IT staff.

2. Expertise 

Managed cloud services providers have a team of experts well-versed in the latest cloud technologies.

3. Scalability

With managed cloud services small businesses can scale up or down their cloud resources. This helps save costs while ensuring resource availability.

4. Reliability

Managed cloud service providers ensure continued cloud operations for small businesses. With this, the risk of downtime and data loss can be avoided.

5. Security

Managed cloud services let small businesses benefit from advanced security measures and protocols. These can be difficult (or expensive) for SMBs to implement on their own.

Even with all these benefits, it would be unfair to say that managed services have no downsides. So let us also take a look at the disadvantages of managed services.

Downsides Of Managed Cloud Services

The key disadvantage here that pulls SMBs back from getting managed cloud services is the lack of Control.

With managed cloud services, a business’ control over their IT infrastructure gets diluted. They also may not be able to customize it to their specific needs.

However, this can be easily avoided by working with professional service providers. 

With a team that engages business decision-makers in cloud management can help you reap all the benefits without losing control.

Bottom Line

All-in-all, we can say that managed cloud services can be a valuable resource for small businesses. It can result in effective IT infrastructure optimization as well as cost advantages in the long run.

Small businesses just need to find the right managed service provider and stay involved in their IT infrastructure management.