Cloudyn helps service providers with cloud offerings
Cloudyn's CEO, Sharon Wagner, reached out to discuss Cloudyn's cloud optimization tools could help managed service providers (MSPs) introduce a new set of cloud computing products. Cloudyn believes this represents a major shift for the industry.
Cloudyn for MSPs
Cloudyn has released a new platform called Cloudyn MSP that enables Managed Service Providers to create new revenue stream, increase profit margin and round-out their cloud offerings by adding Amazon Web Services broker to their portfolio of services.
Cloudyn points out that its tools make it possible for MSPs, system integrators and cloud resellers to analyze and visualize their customers' cost and usage profiles to discover ways to find savings and increase their profits. To accomplish that goal, Cloudyn’s offering enables accurate cost allocation and calculation of profit margins for each and every customer.
The challenge MSPs face today is staying relevant in the face of an ever-growing list of cloud services. Cloudyn believes that its monitoring and optimization tools enable MSPs to be the cloud hero for their customers.
Wagner points out that its Cloudyn MSP supports any type of AWS deployment with the ability to manage standalone clients, as well as multiple sets of consolidated billing environments. Set-up can be done in minutes, with MSPs able to view the high-level, aggregated deployment as well as individual customer views. MSPs can easily match AWS accounts with relevant customers and define permission levels for users so access can be shared in a controlled manner.
Snapshot analysis
Managed Service Providers have often been important partners as companies examine their IT operations to find cost savings. Their approach was to offer to take over the management and operations of the customer's own on-site systems, software, storage and networking.
If the customer wanted to pursue even greater savings and flexibility, the next obvious step is to relocate those workloads to a cloud service provider's data center to reduce the costs introduced by owning those systems, software licenses, storage systems and networking hardware. This often meant that the MSP lost a customer to a service provider, such as Amazon.
Cloudyn believes that by becoming a cloud service broker and helping customers move workloads off-premise is a better choice that if the MSP chose to built its own data center and rolled out a set of cloud service offerings. Cloudyn would point out that the MSP could take part in the movement towards cloud computing quickly and inexpensively.
While the concept seems sound, it is not at all clear that Amazon is the best choice for all of the MSP's customers' business critical workloads. If the MSP's customers' would prefer a different service provider to achieve higher levels of performance, scalability, reliability or security, Cloudyn's current product wouldn't help.
Cloudyn, however, is on to something here. MSP's have long provided customers a well-managed, safe and reliable on-premise It environment and could find a nice path forward by becoming cloud services offered by others and then providing the same level of management as it previously offered using the customer's own equipment. Later, if necessary, the MSP could chose to deploy its own cloud services.
The challenge MSPs have faced is staying relevant. Being a broker for a cloud service provider appears to be a nice path forward. Cloudyn, however, only offers AWS services to MSPs. Is that enough of an offering? MSPs will have to evaluate their own customers' needs to learn if another cloud service provider's offerings would be better