The increasing role of channel partners for optimising hyperscale investments
The landscape of cloud computing is rapidly evolving, with hyperscale environments becoming the backbone of modern IT infrastructure. As CTOs and CIOs navigate these changes, the role of channel partners becomes increasingly important.
Earlier this year, Brightsolid hosted a roundtable of fifteen CTOs and CIOs to discuss the opportunities and challenges within this arena.
A key topic of discussion was how collaboration with channel partners can optimise hyperscale environments, particularly once providers' migration incentives periods are complete.
Growth Focused Incentives
Hyperscale companies offer a variety of incentives to encourage customers to migrate their data to their datacentres.
These incentives are designed to make the migration process smoother, more cost-effective, and ultimately beneficial for businesses looking to leverage the power of hyperscale cloud infrastructure.
The Cost Optimisation Paradox
While hyperscale providers excel in facilitating data migration and offering initial support, they are not inherently motivated to help customers manage their ongoing costs.
This leaves CTOs and CIOs themselves to develop their own systems, and/or work with channel partners, to develop tailored solutions to optimise cloud spending, leveraging their expertise in cost management and cloud adoption strategies.
Managing the Long Game
One thing we can all be sure of, hyperscalers are here to stay. With their Silicon Valley budgets, they are able to play a very long game in ensuring customers adopt their services. The incentives they provide to bring customers aboard are simply too good to turn down. But we all know, there's "no such thing as a free lunch."
The hyperscalers' understandable strategy in providing these incentives is to become so deeply ingrained in clients' systems that a long-term relationship becomes almost an inevitability.
The question is: how to manage the hyperscalers' need for cost recovery, once the incentivised periods are over?
It's no wonder then that an increasing role for UK MSPs is in helping clients optimise their hyperscale usage.
Our experience at Brightsolid shows the IT industry – suppliers, service providers, partners, and clients alike – are fully aware it's in the best interests of the hyperscalers to get customers integrated into their services, with seemingly endless options available, with nuances each hyperscaler offers to form its version of the quintessential service delivery.
Messages from the Frontline
The UK IT Leaders event hosted by Brightsolid set out to explore how 15 well-established organisations felt, tackled, and challenged today's hyperscalers' migration techniques, loaded with stealthy shards of funding to help organisations with migration, transformation, and service transition activities.
Most of the CTO/CIOs attending seemed to play a certain amount of "cat-and-mouse" with these funds, knowing they are spread across a project's change/transformation programme to entice organisations to enter into a trial period of separation from their previously happy marriage to traditional on-prem service. And, ultimately, achieve a divorce from capex computing's apparent limitations while cuddling up to the new world of opex and its seemingly limitless abilities to serve.
It was interesting to hear the feedback from so many attendees, especially those who have taken significant steps into hyperscaler services. In their various ways, each had put in place processes to contain costs. Examples included prescribed human behaviour to shut down systems each evening, to deploying automated service use/cost management tools, or tasking their managed service provider/service partner to optimise and maintain the environment.
In one case, a CTO shared their knowledge of a strategic project, completely reverting to on-prem purely due to compute consumption costs.
Having busted the myth that cloud is always cheaper, the message came through loud and clear: working with the hyperscalers after the funding has gone can be a costly affair. However, if you put in place well-planned rules and limitations into your IT Teams – be that using tools, operational process, or engaging a service provider like Brightsolid – the hyperscalers and cloud platforms offer considerable efficiency and effective service delivery capability.
Winning together
As the cloud computing landscape continues to evolve, CTOs and CIOs must leverage the expertise of channel partners to optimise their hyperscale environments. By working closely with channel partners, businesses can achieve cost-efficient, high-performance cloud environments that drive growth and innovation.
Strategies for effective channel partner collaboration
- Assessment and Planning: Conduct a thorough inventory of current cloud services and identify areas for optimisation. Channel partners can assist in evaluating cloud service requirements and developing a cost-effective strategy
- Customised Solutions: Channel partners offer greater flexibility and customisation compared to hyperscale providers. They can tailor solutions to meet specific business needs, ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency
- Ongoing Support and Management: Channel partners provide continuous support, helping businesses adapt to changing requirements and optimise their cloud environments over time
