How Managed Service Providers Can Meet Market Growth with Maximum Uptime

How Managed Service Providers Can Meet Market Growth with Maximum Uptime

The managed services provider (MSP) sector is growing rapidly. Reports estimate the market to accumulate over $240 billion by 2021, 1 with key segments like software-as-as-service (SaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) expected to generate over $30 billion individually by the end of 2017. 2 As the market continues to grow, so do customer expectations for application performance, availability and reliability. According to the ITIC 2017 Global Reliability Survey Mid-Year Update, 99.99% uptime is now the minimum reliability required by nearly 80% of organizations. 3 For MSPs, the combination of rapid market growth and high customer expectations requires a lower margin of error for downtime, driving providers to find proactive solutions for achieving maximum uptime. THE COSTS OF DOWNTIME $300,000 The amount of money companies can lose per hour of downtime. 4 $250,000 An additional amount lost by customer churn and reputation damage caused by downtime. 5 Over 90% of companies that experience one week of network downtime go out of business within a year. 6 2

FOUR CHALLENGES TO ACHIEVING MAXIMUM UPTIME 1. Application Integration The process of connecting a provider s business-critical applications with their customers on-premise systems and infrastructure requires a variety of specialized skills and knowledge. This process should also include rigorous testing to ensure the integration is successful and that necessary systems are talking to each other. As businesses continue to add more applications to their infrastructures, the integration process can be increasingly complex for MSPs and failed integrations can cause key systems to go offline, data to become inaccessible and user experiences to suffer. 2. The Internet of Things It s estimated that over 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020. This expansion of networks and devices is a great advantage for MSPs if leveraged correctly. By putting infrastructure closer to key markets and leveraging optimal connectivity, providers can deploy services faster and run applications more seamlessly across larger user bases. Without the right infrastructure, interconnectivity and redundancy measures, deploying services across a broader network can expose MSPs to devastating downtime issues. 3. Time An explosion in demand for MSP services means providers are under pressure to get customers up and running quickly. As with any business process, time pressure can impede quality and thoroughness especially when a provider is short-staffed or has hit workload capacity. With this in mind, it s essential that providers ensure inhouse talent has the bandwidth to focus on quality service delivery and getting ahead of potential limitations to network maintenance and troubleshooting efforts to help avoid downtime. 4. Security An ongoing challenge for any MSP is ensuring the security of its customers data and maintaining compliance with necessary regulations and standards. While meeting security and compliance requirements should be a top priority, MSPs need to be cautious that implementing additional security measures and processes doesn t prevent them from achieving maximum uptime performance. 3

IT PAYS TO BE PROACTIVE The first step to achieving maximum uptime is understanding what aspects of network performance deserve attention first and it pays for MSPs to do this sooner rather than later. Studies show that providers who are proactive about downtime prevention tend to spend less on network upkeep. 8

PROACTIVE STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING MAXIMUM UPTIME OPTIMIZE PROCESSES AND OPERATIONS Tried-and-true processes, procedures and operational measures ensure infrastructure can achieve uptime requirements. This is where having the right partner is critical. Data center, colocation and cloud service providers should understand an MSP s IT infrastructure requirements and be able to apply specialized knowledge and skillsets to optimize network performance through Overseeing application integrations Advising on bandwidth usage and connectivity needs Meeting security and compliance requirements Spinning up new public cloud environments Troubleshooting infrastructure issues Providing 24x7x365 visibility and communication Having a specialized partner that can help manage infrastructure with industry-leading operations and processes gives MSPs an advantage in meeting uptime requirements for their business and their customers. And having a partner dedicated to achieving maximum uptime gives providers the time to focus on other areas of the business. IT TEAMS LOSE TWO WEEKS PER YEAR MANAGING DOWNTIME. 9 BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING It may seem obvious, but designing, implementing and testing a business continuity plan is key to mitigating downtime. This process requires considerations for infrastructure maintenance and troubleshooting operations, security measures and backup requirements. It also requires real-time, 24/7 visibility to infrastructure. The business continuity planning process can be time-consuming and require a level of expertise many MSPs do not have to spare. Many providers also host missioncritical infrastructure off-site or in the cloud, which can present visibility gaps to system performance. For these reasons, working with external providers to develop and execute backup, recovery and failover procedures can be critical to achieving maximum uptime. 5

89% OF IT MANAGERS TEST THEIR DISASTER RECOVERY/ FAILOVER SYSTEMS ONLY ONCE A YEAR. 10 REMOTE HANDS SERVICES An upsurge of hybrid IT deployments that utilize on-premises, off-site and cloud-based environments means many MSPs rely on off-site support or remote hands services to manage their infrastructure. While this remote support is essential to optimizing network performance and end-user experience, it can also introduce visibility and proximity concerns. The right combination of remote hands services and 24x7x365 infrastructure visibility including IT asset tracking arms MSPs with the insight to monitor and optimize their infrastructure performance and bandwidth usage without having to commit in-house resources to maintenance tasks. LACK OF ACCESS AND VISIBILITY IS ONE OF THE TOP FIVE CONCERNS FOR IT TEAMS. 11 ENHANCED INTERCONNECTIVITY MSPs need the ability to access cloud-based applications seamlessly and provision new deployments quickly. This requires direct, secure and low-latency connections to global service providers like Microsoft, Google and Amazon. More importantly, it requires options. LATENCY AND BANDWIDTH LIMITATIONS HAVE BEEN REPORTED AS THE TOP BARRIERS TO USING MSP SOLUTIONS. 12 The biggest interconnectivity advantage an MSP can have is leveraging a carrier-neutral environment. Often created inside colocation facilities, this type of environment enables businesses to optimize bandwidth usage and network performance by provisioning direct connections quickly. An added benefit is that colocation environments can offer upgraded IP solutions with enhanced threat mitigation to prevent data breaches and outages this is especially critical for providers whose customers require a heightened level of security and compliance (e.g., the healthcare and finance industries). 6

THE VALUE OF THE COLOCATION PROVIDER Colocation providers can offer a variety of benefits for achieving maximum uptime in a hybrid or multicloud environment, including industry-best operations, unparalleled service flexibility and improved cost-effectiveness. The right provider will have Industry-Best Operations Have SLAs for >99% uptime reliability Meet strict standards for security and compliance Offer 24x7x365 on-site service Include N+1 redundancy for space and power Service Flexibility Help broker new provisions for public, private and interconnection deployments Scale service levels up or down quickly Accelerate turnaround for on-demand infrastructure maintenance, optimization and troubleshooting tasks Cost-Effectiveness Deliver a predictable monthly cost of services (you pay only for what you use) Reduce overhead costs of IT infrastructure management Increase bandwidth of in-house staff to focus on service delivery WHY VXCHNGE FOR COLOCATION? If a colocation provider offers MSPs benefits, the right colocation provider arms them with a strategic advantage to meeting customer demands and achieving optimal network performance. All colocation providers maintain their own list of best practices. But at vxchnge, we believe a proactive platform is essential for monitoring infrastructure, maintaining business continuity and achieving maximum uptime. Proactive monitoring ensures that our operators have 100% visibility and prevents downtime for MSPs and their customers. 7

VXCHNGE BENEFIT SNAPSHOT PROTECT YOUR BRAND 99.99999% uptime SLA MITIGATE RISK Compliant with the most rigorous industry standards: SSAE 18 SOC 2 Type II ISO/IEC 27001:2013 HIPAA/HITECH PCI DSS 3.1 SIMPLIFY INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT 24x7x365 remote hands services, site monitoring and real-time asset tracking OPTIMIZED CONNECTIVITY Carrier-neutral marketplace enabling direct connections to global service providers No-compromise IP solutions with built-in DDoS protection About vxchnge vxchnge is a leading provider of carrierneutral colocation services, dedicated to improving the business performance of its customers. As the first 100% ISO 27001 edge provider, vxchnge offers resilient data center infrastructure that delivers unmatched brand protection. vxchnge s Micro Data Centers provide businesses with a Data Center-as-a- Service solution that is flexible, reliable and scalable. For more information on gaining an edge with vxchnge, visit vxchnge.com or connect on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. 1 Research and Markets, 2017. Managed Services Market by Service Type (Managed Security Services, Managed Network Services, Managed Data Center Services), Deployment Type, Organization Size, Vertical and Region Global Forecast to 2022. https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9q9trt/managed services (accessed September 2017). 2 Gartner, 2017. Worldwide Public Cloud Services Forecast. https://www.gartner. com/newsroom/id/3616417 (accessed October 2017). 3 ITIC, 2017. ITIC 2017 Global Reliability Survey Mid-Year Update. https://cloud. kapostcontent.net/pub/a493986a-98ae-4d7f-8437-a383bad7895f/itic- 2017-global-server-hardware-server-os-reliability-report.pdf?kui=7m9- tmfjvz9pjr_hn4lp-w (accessed October 2017). 4 Lerner, A., 2014. Ensure Cost Balances Out with Risk in High-Availability Data Centers. Gartner. https://blogs.gartner.com/andrew-lerner/2014/07/16/thecost-of-downtime (accessed October 2017). 5 Ponemon Institute, 2016. Cost of Data Center Outages. https://www. vertivco.com/globalassets/documents/reports/2016-cost-of-data-centeroutages-11-11_51190_1.pdf (accessed October 2017). 6 IDC, 2003. Business Continuity Statistics: Where Myth Meets Fact. http://www. continuitycentral.com/feature0660.html (accessed October 2017). 7 Evans, D., 2011. The Internet of Things How the Next Evolution of the Internet Is Changing Everything. Cisco. https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/about/ac79/ docs/innov/iot_ibsg_0411final.pdf (accessed October 2017). 8 Juniper Networks, 2008. What s Behind Network Downtime? https://www-935. ibm.com/services/au/gts/pdf/200249.pdf (accessed October 2017). 9 Gartner, 2010. Costs and Scope of Unplanned Outages. https://www.evolven. com/blog/costs-and-scope-of-unplanned-outages.html (accessed October 2017). 10 Brilliant Ideas LLC, 2017. IT Survey Reveals: Most Companies at Financial Risk Due to Untested, Critically Slow Disaster Recovery Systems. http:// www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070412006003/en/survey-reveals- Companies-Financial-Risk-Due-Untested (accessed October 2017). 11 vxchnge, 2016. Executive Summary: Next-Generation Data Centers Will Be Smarter. http://edge.vxchnge.com/acton/attachment/23271/f-0083/1/-/-/-/-/ vxchnge%20it%20survey%20executive%20summary%20.pdf (accessed October 2017). 12 Statista, 2016. Barriers to Using Cloud-Based IT Services, According to North American and EMEA IT Professionals. https://www.parallels.com/blogs/ras/ managed-it-service-providers (accessed October 2017). 8