At Microsoft, we see Hosting and Managed Services Providers as a key component of the Microsoft Cloud Platform. Not only do we want to ensure a consistent platform for customers across on-premises, hosted and Azure, but we understand that customers need help managing the cloud life-cycle as well. That is the premise behind the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program which enables Managed Services Providers (MSPs) to provide customers with a wholistic cloud solution, including assessment, enablement and operations. Let’s look at some of the benefits of purchasing Azure from an MSP.

Managed Services

Microsoft doesn’t provide managed services and most customers don’t have the IT staff or expertise to properly operate their cloud environment. Customers can choose to outsource this to an MSP who can protect, monitor, patch, and secure the workload allowing the business to focus on its core priorities.

Accelerated time to market with Cloud Expertise

The cloud encompasses many technologies which can be daunting for customers who try to go it alone. Leveraging the expertise of an MSP ensures that you are not only architecting your application efficiently for cloud but also that you are taking advantage of everything cloud has to offer.

Familiar Support Resources

Sometimes things go wrong and you need support. MSP’s can provide a more meaningful and customized support experience for customers who can’t afford a dedicated support contract from Microsoft.

Automation and custom solutions

The public cloud can be compared to a large box of legos. Building an environment for your application can take time and may have unique requirements. MSP’s have built automation and customized solutions for cloud that can help bring your application to life.

Custom Agreements

Cloud is a utility by nature which may not suit the needs of businesses who want certainty and consistency. An MSP can provide custom terms, SLA’s, and a single invoice for cloud computing and services costs.

Hybrid Solutions

Public cloud provides numerous technical advantages but is not best for all workloads. Some components will need to live in a datacenter and for customers who want to stop operating a datacenter, an MSP fills that need by hosting workloads in their datacenter while securely connecting them to cloud assets.