Our thoughts on the future of digital innovation and the cloud.

Which do you think is more secure and worth your investment in the long run in terms of Azure cloud governance– outsourcing or in-housing? Since you’re already investing in Azure, you’ve made a commitment to something that you are not going to move away from at the drop of a hat. So you might as well try and stay ahead of the curve while you’re at it. 

However, if you’re doing some research and testing the waters, you’ve come to the right blog post. Let’s say you’ve chosen to go through with the cloud, but you’re not sure whether you should recruit an internal staff dedicated to cloud management or outsource to an Azure service provider to take the heavy load off your plate and avoid the need to skill up your team. That’s a valid and common decision that many companies grapple with, especially when it comes to long-term savings in terms of money and time.

Hiring qualified internal workers and keeping up with changing IT requirements is quite costly and time-consuming. You’d have to think about the onboarding process, certifications and training costs, and infrastructure for your in-house staff. And don’t forget about all the costs associated with employee retention, such as hiring replacements, salary increases, benefits, training, and sick leave. These are real concerns because the job market is extremely competitive, especially when it comes to cloud skills.

So if you make the decision to skill up or hire up your team, you may be making investments into someone that will leave you for a better paying job with a different company as soon as they have been trained.  Unfortunately it happens and then you’re back to square one again starting over to recruit, train and invest in more people, but yet you haven’t been able to move forward on what is truly important to your business … Cloud Governance.

On the other hand, outsourcing this function to an Azure managed service provider that offers a team of professionals (not just a single resource) covering all areas that you need, from cybersecurity to systems administration and cloud governance. They also have the necessary tools and technology certifications to improve your environment, avoiding the need for you to make investments in technology that will be obsolete in a few years. The best part is that an outsourced partner generally charges a fixed monthly fee, providing you a consistent service for a known fee that can be budgeted for so you do not have to spend extra to achieve the business value that you require.

Hiring in-house staff to handle your Cloud Governance may provide a false sense of security that you will receive better service, but you may end up over paying for what you need and actually get worse service. An Azure managed service provider will establish appropriate Azure governance up front to implement the “guard rails” that protect you from over spending or having an insecure cloud environment while at the same time giving you 24/7 support and access to resources in the event of emergencies when you need them.. 

An outsourced partner is interested in your company because they want to keep you and they do that by continuously showing their value by saving you money on your cloud spend and ensuring that you are secure from threats. They will continuously demonstrate their value to your organization. Engaging with an Azure managed service provider with proven competence (Microsoft Gold Competencies) and Microsoft Advanced Specializations in Azure will eliminate any concerns about industry rules or compliance.  Selecting a partner that has not achieved these recognized levels is not going to provide you what you need to stay ahead and keep on top of the ever changing cloud world that we live in today.

As a company that has been in the cloud computing market for 5 years with two advanced specializations (the third Microsoft partner to achieve these in Canada), seven Silver and three Gold Competencies, Invero has demonstrated qualifications to be your outsourced partner and Azure Managed Service Provider and implement cloud governance best practices for you. Get started with Invero today.