Benefits of Working With a Cloud MSP for AWS Talent & Skills

As digital transformation continues shaping the way businesses operate, bridging the cloud and IT skills gap remains a challenge for many organizations. Many organizations choose to address this talent gap by working with an AWS partner that can handle operational cloud management and performance, cost optimization, and security so that they can focus on strategic initiatives that grow their business. In a 451 Research Black & White Paper titled Achieving Success with an AWS Partner, half of the survey respondents (50%) use cloud managed services to address skills gaps tied to their AWS implementation, as hiring and retaining in-house technical talent remains a challenge. Read along as we walk through the benefits of working with a cloud MSP for cloud talent and skills. 

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Access to certified in-demand cloud skills 

When you partner with a cloud MSP, you gain access to talent with certifications from cloud platforms and the most in-demand cloud skills that organizations lack:

1. Cloud platform expertise
2. Information security
3. Machine learning/artificial intelligence
4. Data science/data analytics
5. Cloud-native functions/tools
6. IT integration and orchestration
7. Business intelligence/data visualization
8. Data compliance/governance
9. Application development
10. Internet of Things (IoT)
11. Open source/community code expertise
12. Third-party service provider management

Cloud MSPs provide these cloud skills through their talent, teams of certified experts who have undergone rigorous training, experience, and certification. When asked which attributes organizations wanted to see in cloud MSPs that demonstrated added value to their business, 54% of respondents reported public cloud certifications and competencies (451 Research). Some cloud MSPs, like Mission, require and support their personnel to gain AWS certifications during their onboarding, ensuring they provide the most up-to-date skills for cloud initiatives and proven hands-on experience. 

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Save time in the hiring and onboarding process

According to LinkedIn, the median time to hire for engineering and information technology job functions is 5-6 weeks. Cloud MSPs provide business continuity and a faster start due to shortened onboarding processes and flexible contracts. A well-resourced, agile cloud MSP will be able to give you access to a committed team of dedicated experts within 2-4 weeks since they have the expert personnel already on board or will conduct the screenings and interviews for you. For fractional resources, the onboarding time can be even less, within 1-2 weeks. Depending on your project needs, a cloud MSP will be able to start professional services almost immediately for a scope of work with a timeline and planned phases. Beyond onboarding, a high-quality customer experience cloud MSP will ensure prompt project start and business continuity as your partnership progresses. 

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Flexibility to scale up or down according to your cloud needs

55% of organizations reported that the best way cloud MSPs demonstrate value is by providing flexible contracts (451 Research). A flexible contract with a cloud MSP ensures that your business can respond to changing timelines, business objectives, and market demands. Your business can scale accordingly to changing cloud needs. 

Additionally, your ability to scale talent often equates with your company’s ability to save on unused or underutilized resources and direct energy towards strategic and innovative business objectives.

Faster time to issues resolution 

Second to flexible contracts, 54% of companies reported that fast time to issue resolution is a demonstrated value of cloud MSPs (451 Research). Cloud MSPs can improve your customer experience by providing a faster issue resolution time and high reliability for your applications and services. Similarly, cloud MSPs can improve cloud resiliency and recovery, keeping business operations running as smoothly as possible without interruption. These benefits are apparent to organizations,, since cloud security skills are the number one skills gap that organizations report lacking (451 Research). Depending on the cloud MSP’s services, they can provide you with systems engineers around the clock to monitor and mitigate potential problems. CLooking into a cloud MSP’s case studies can offer you an understanding of specific time savings and industry-specific workloads and use cases.

Proven experience 

Working with a cloud MSP provides you with a team of experts with the proven experience and track record of successful cloud initiatives. There are multiple ways you can verify/validate a cloud MSP and gain confidence in its value: cloud partner level/tier, cloud competencies, case studies, customer testimonials and reviews, references, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT). 

For AWS, the AWS Services Partner Tiers recognize organizations that have proven technical expertise and value-added resale for your organization. Mission, for example, is an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner, the highest tier recognizing partner leaders with deep technical knowledge and demonstrated success working with many customers at scale. 

Cloud competencies summarize a cloud MSP’s qualifications and capabilities. A high level of skills and experience are needed to earn competencies and certifications. Rest assured that when you pattern with a  cloud MSP with particular competencies, they are adding value to your organization. 

Through case studies and customer success stories, you can learn about the value and impactful results that cloud MSPs have brought to other organizations. Case studies outline projects in detail, including the type of project, services developed and deployed by the cloud MSP, and qualitative and quantitative results. 

CSAT and NPS are two quantitative scores that help illustrate a cloud MSP’s level/quality of customer service. CSAT scores are out of 5. Benchmarks will vary dependent on the MSP, but world-class organizations will often benchmark no lower than 4. The median NPS in the technology industry is 40 (out of 100), so when you encounter a cloud MSP with a stellar score for consecutive years, you can have confidence in knowing that you will not only get the cloud expertise that you need but have it delivered with quality service. 
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Conclusion

The lack of cloud talent and skills in your business could slow down or stop innovation, have you invested in misaligned, long-term commitments, or unnecessarily investing endless amounts of time and resources in hiring and training.The cloud skills gap continues to be a challenge in the digital landscape, but that doesn’t mean it’s insurmountable. Partnering with a cloud MSP can alleviate these challenges, and many more businesses are turning to them for help. In fact, among technology early adopters, 79% plan to rely more on managed or professional services in the next 12 months (451 Research). Your business can gain immediate and long-term value by working with a cloud MSP. Contact us today if you’re ready to learn more about how a cloud MSP like Mission can guide and facilitate your cloud transformation.