Growing businesses face constant pressure to keep up with new technology. Most turn to managed service providers to stay current. Data centers and MSPs together offer the infrastructure and expertise to take IT management off a company’s plate, so teams can focus on more critical work. Small and mid-sized businesses often lack the resources to manage everything themselves, from data and applications to software and networks.
Data centers and MSPs take over the heavy lifting of digital infrastructure management. They also handle the hardest tasks, because smaller companies rarely have the expertise to tackle them with confidence.
This article explores the relationship between colocation data centers and MSPs. It explains why MSPs work better with data centers and why the combination is such a strong match.
Colocation and MSPs: the ultimate combo for digital infrastructure management at all levels
Infrastructure and workload requirements change every day. However, not every business wants to build and run a complex on-premise setup, or can afford to. On the other hand, businesses that rely only on the cloud can feel they have lost control of their data. This feeling has fueled the cloud repatriation trend everyone is talking about.
MSPs have become critical partners for companies facing new challenges. They help scale and automate IT infrastructure and processes. MSPs also take responsibility for the three pillars of data security: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The partnership between colocation data centers and MSPs also opens up services at higher levels of complexity. Colocation lets managed service providers offer a broader range of high-quality services. Some of these services would not be possible without a data center. Together, they can manage cloud infrastructure, offer migration services, and help clients bring assets back to a data center. As a result, businesses get a wider range of flexible solutions.
Here are the main reasons why colocation and managed service providers are such a good fit.
Robust, reliable, and redundant infrastructure
Colocation data centers and MSPs together offer a level of safety and reliability that few on-prem server rooms can match. On-site data centers always risk damage from natural disasters and other unfortunate events. Fires and floods are frequent and unavoidable, so most businesses will not gamble with their clients’ data. Downtime also brings serious financial and reputational loss.
Colocation data centers provide redundant infrastructure, so they deliver better reliability and availability. With that foundation, managed service providers can assure uptime. They can also help clients move from on-prem frameworks to the more secure, redundant infrastructure of a colocation data center. The cloud is an alternative to on-premises, and downtime is rare, but network failures still happen. Colocation data centers, however, have the redundancy to keep data available whenever it is needed.
Extra backup, security, and compliance
Colocation data centers and MSPs give customers the best protection for their data: multiple backups. If one storage location fails, the next one keeps data accessible and downtime to a minimum. A backup plan is standard for any organization that wants peace of mind.
Many organizations also have compliance requirements to meet. Data centers are essential for the healthcare industry because it must comply with HIPAA/HITECH regulations. Financial services face strict obligations for payment transactions and must meet PCI DSS requirements. Extra physical security is also attractive for organizations that handle large volumes of sensitive data. MSPs can confidently help clients migrate assets from on-premises to a data center with up-to-date compliance and security requirements.
Together, colocation data centers and MSPs are the go-to solution for organizations that need a strong, secure, and compliant backbone.
Flexibility and low-latency
Data centers and MSPs help clients make the best choices for their digital infrastructure. That can make a big difference over the long term. Having options matters most when it is time to scale up or change course.
Businesses of all sizes benefit from having options for their changing needs, and growing businesses benefit most. Developing workloads need different approaches and environments to run efficiently. Being able to shift workloads between environments matters as much as having excellent network and bandwidth availability. Latency can also become an issue if the data centers sit too far from the application’s end users. Distance can also limit the opportunities offered by edge colocation. With colocation data centers and MSPs working together, clients gain access to geographically diverse locations and dynamic workload management.
The perks of easy scalability
Data centers and MSPs make scaling up easier and more cost-efficient. A private server room becomes more expensive as a company grows. An on-prem solution also carries a higher risk of costly data breaches, because human error is more likely. Colocation data centers make scaling simple by offering many server options, from extra hardware to virtualization and mixed solutions. MSPs, on the other hand, design solutions around each client’s specific business needs.
Disaster recovery and business continuity planning
A catastrophe or data breach can devastate any business. That is why disaster recovery and business continuity plans matter. They can mean the difference between shutting down completely and containing an incident early, with control of the situation.
Many companies choose the disaster recovery and business continuity plans that colocation data centers and MSPs offer. The data center provides the offsite backups that keep everything running after an incident. The managed service provider, on the other hand, delivers a detailed disaster recovery plan with action steps for every situation. The MSP can quickly find a solution to minimize downtime and restore processes. As a result, your company does not need to staff and manage a specialized recovery department on-site.
Discover How Volico Data Centers Can Improve Your MSP Offerings
Volico Data Centers offer your company the infrastructure and services to serve as the backbone of future-proof solutions. Learn how our secure, compliant colocation data centers and extensive Managed Services can reduce your expenses. They also give you the freedom to focus on your business goals.
The Volico Partner Program means being more than just a reseller or a partner. Volico is dedicated to helping you maintain and grow your residual business and become more profitable. We are an ideal partner for agents who want to expand their range of services. Volico provides product offerings to businesses of all shapes and sizes. Adding Volico to your portfolio of services can help you stand out. Volico’s client offerings combine off-premises, on-premises, and business continuity, giving clients and agents peace of mind alike.
To learn how your MSP can benefit from partnering with Volico, reach out to us. We help managed service providers solve complexity and add value.
• Call: (305) 735-8098
• Chat with a member of our team to discuss which solution best fits your needs.
