Why Managed Services Are Key to Protecting Multicloud Environments: Page 2 of 2

By leveraging vendor expertise and best-in-class security solutions, MSPs can deliver higher network visibility and round-the-clock defenses to clients. In turn, these organizations can more effectively optimize cloud spend, ensure compliance, and accelerate their overarching strategic and revenue goals.

3 Ways MSPs Bring Value

In an intensifying cyberthreat landscape, managed services are a critical line of defense for organizations. Clients with multicloud or hybrid cloud environments can especially benefit from MSP expertise and solutions as they secure their inventories and optimize workflows to accommodate remote work.

In particular, here are three ways you can best support your clients during and after their multicloud transition.

1. Act as a strategic guide. Organizations reconfiguring their cloud environment need a comprehensive multicloud strategy to ensure the safety and efficiency of their assets. Guide your clients through a multifaceted strategy that includes real-time inventory of servers and network infrastructure (even old servers can be compromised) and thorough resource management. Other areas of focus include continuous network monitoring for security gaps and areas for workload optimization, as well as metrics for analyzing and reducing cloud spend. 
2. Leverage managed detection and response (MDR). To keep up with evolving threats, include MDR as a core service offering to your clients. MDR provides 24/7/365 threat hunting, detection, and response capabilities that identify and neutralize attacks before they inflict lasting damage. Look for MDR vendors that can consolidate and analyze telemetry from all network sources and deliver solutions across any endpoint, cloud environment, security technology, or infrastructure.
3. Find a vendor with public cloud experience. Vendors with extensive industry knowledge and threat expertise have honed reproducible best practices for multicloud security. Look for vendors with demonstrated public cloud experience—they’ll be able to quickly flag potential network threats, like spend anomalies or users with unauthorized privileges. Expert vendors can also help you shift and optimize the workloads hosted in the public cloud and quickly correct security and compliance risks.

Cybersecurity skills shortages and complex threats will continue to strain IT and security teams as they adjust to the needs of remote work. MSPs are vital resources and partners in this ongoing effort. By leveraging expert vendors and delivering best-in-class security solutions, you can provide ongoing support and security for your clients’ multicloud and hybrid environments—no matter their unique implementation.

SCOTT BARLOW is vice president of Global MSP and Cloud Alliances at Sophos.