What are the Main Managed Services?

This article discusses some of the most prominent Managed Services you can find on the market:

• Disaster Recovery
  

In the Hybrid Cloud framework, disaster recovery is seen as an important service offering that allows a cost-effective & secure option as a combination of Public & Private Cloud backup solutions. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) depicts the replication & hosting of physical or virtual servers by a third party to provide failovers during manmade or natural disasters. An end-user has a local device on the Private Cloud side, serving as a Network Attached Storage unit backing up data locally while pushing data off-site to a more secure Cloud Hosting.

Talking about the DRaaS market, it will continue to grow post-pandemic. This is because enterprises across the globe will continue to plan & migrate their IT infrastructure to Cloud for boosting business continuity & improving IT operations. Various regions, especially the APAC region, have witnessed a significant boost in technological spending. Considering the Indian DRaaS market, it is fiercely competitive as well as fragmented. Various large & small key players are churning the competition to gain a competitive edge accounting for a substantial market share. The growth drivers of this market include an extensive Cloud among SMEs and investments in the IT sector.

• Managed Colocation
  

Managed colocation is slightly different from traditional colocation hosting. In the case of a managed colocation, it is the responsibility of the colocation provider to manage the entire IT infrastructure and physical hosting of the servers. Other managed services such as security services, backup, and storage are also often provided as a part of Managed Colocation. Managed colocation can be an ideal hosting service for businesses looking to retain their infrastructure with a certain expertise in server management. Managed colocation benefits smaller businesses in terms of floor space costs and the need to hire IT staff.

The colocation Data Center industry has witnessed growth at a CAGR of 10.4% from Fiscal 2015 to 2021. During the pandemic phase, the industry has gained significant traction to pent up demand from various business verticals. In the past few years, there has been an emergence of new players in India. Several Government-led initiatives like Draft Data Center Policy 2020, Data Localization Policy have caused an accelerated demand for Data Centers.

• Application Management
  

Application Management refers to the lifecycle processes for software applications, covering the operating of an application, its maintenance, version controlling & end-to-end upgrades. Application management services are an enterprise-wide endeavor of providing governance designed to ensure applications at their peak performance with the highest efficiency.

India’s application management services market is forecasted to witness a double-digit CAGR over the next 5 years, attributed to the increased need for replacing legacy applications & increased implementation of newer technologies. The SME segment will dominate the application management services market in terms of the organization. Based on the industry vertical segment, BFSI has had one of the largest market shares due to growing technological advancements & flexibility.

• Database Management
  

There has been an increased demand for database management systems due to enhanced data sharing, data security, and reduced data integration. However, factors like high hardware & software costs & high training costs of staff, and lack of technical expertise might hinder this growth. Some major customer benefits driving the demand for DBMS include a shift towards Cloud-native architect, need for high-performance computing, flexible, scalable & distributed infrastructure, disaster recovery, and enhanced security. 

• Application Support
  

Application Support over the Cloud includes the day-to-day process of operating applications. This is done either through an automated system or a dedicated IT Team present at Cloud Service Provider’s end. It ensures all service level objectives are addressed, helps find the root cause of the issue, and recommends what needs to be done to avoid any issue. Application support has a critical role to play in terms of Client retention & usually involves a customer-facing infrastructure. Application support involves resolving client queries, offering hands-on training on applications, improving adoption rates, monitoring systems, and assisting with any potential issues. Outsourcing customer service & support functionalities ensure incident management involving prompt response, troubleshooting & documenting while offering a scalable support system. 

• Backup Services
  

Cloud backup refers to a service where the data and applications on a business server are backed up & stored over a remote server. CIOs & business heads opt for backup to Cloud for keeping their files & data readily available in case of a system failure, outages, or natural disasters. Cloud backup for business operates by replicating & storing a server’s files to a server present at a different location. CIOs can backup either some or all server files, depending on their preference. 

• Remote Infrastructure Management

Remote infrastructure management is the process of managing the IT  infrastructure of an enterprise from a remote location. It also includes managing hardware & software resources, network and storage devices, IT security devices & servers. According to the domain experts, remote infrastructure services helps enterprises in reducing their IT overheads by offering operational flexibility. Leading remote infrastructure management providers offer a complete bunch of services like NOC Managed Services, Hybrid Management Services (NOC + Onsite), incident problem management, OS health management & user management services. These services help enterprises to manage their IT infrastructure with enhanced coordination by easing tasks related to maintenance & reparability. 

• Cross-Platform Migration

Constant innovation & newer, emerging players in the Cloud market have it important for the Cloud providers to capture their prospective customers. The latter has a Cloud infrastructure in place & looking to change or improve its Cloud footprint. This is solved with cross-platform migration services, allowing Cloud solution providers to tap into a larger market having existing Cloud users & expanding their customer base. In India, non-hyperscalers a gaining much larger traction, making it an important service offering. It allows customers to switch to Cloud solutions with ease.