The first one was filed on November 19, 2017. Seven years ago. The ask: let an admin change a customer’s email address in Jira Service Management. Not migrate accounts through a four-step workaround involving Atlassian ID. Just… change an email address. The kind of thing you’d expect a junior developer to ship on a Tuesday afternoon. As of today, it has 779 votes, 447 watchers, and a status of “Future Consideration.” Which, in SaaS-speak, translates roughly to: “we heard you, we filed it, please stop asking.”

The second one landed in January 2019. The request: make Confluence’s alphabetical page sorting persistent, so new pages don’t just pile up at the bottom like uninvited guests. Six years later: 600 votes, 261 watchers, status “Under Consideration.” Progress!

Now, to be fair to Atlassian, they’re not uniquely terrible. Every major SaaS vendor has a graveyard of feature requests exactly like these. Sensible, obvious, clearly wanted by thousands of paying customers. Just… never quite prioritized. Because they have a roadmap. And you’re not on it.

This is the part of the SaaS brochure they don’t show you.

The Pitch vs. The Reality

SaaS vendors are exceptionally good at one thing before you sign: making you feel like you’re about to get exactly what you need. The demos are polished. The slide decks are beautiful. The onboarding is smooth. Eighty percent of your requirements? Covered, on day one.

It’s that remaining twenty percent where things get interesting.

That twenty percent is where your actual workflows live. The edge cases. The things specific to how your organization actually operates. And when you file a support ticket asking about them, you enter a fascinating parallel universe where time moves differently. Features are “on the roadmap.” Updates will come “in a future release.” Your vote has been registered. Thank you for your feedback.

Meanwhile, you’re paying. Every month. For the product as it exists, not as it was promised.

The Numbers Are Telling

The scale of SaaS sprawl is difficult to overstate. According to BetterCloud’s annual State of SaaSOps report, the average number of SaaS applications per company peaked at 130 in 2022 and even after a wave of consolidation, still sits at over 100 today. That’s more than 100 subscriptions to manage, renew, secure, and integrate. For every single organization.

The waste embedded in that sprawl is just as striking. Gartner estimates that approximately 30% of purchased SaaS licenses go unused, what they bluntly call “toxic spend.” BetterCloud puts a price tag on it: companies report wasting an average of more than $135,000 per year on unused software licenses alone. And Gartner projects SaaS spending will continue growing at around 19% annually, reliably outpacing the budgets meant to fund it.

Do the arithmetic on a typical mid-market tool. Fifty users. €50 per user per month. That’s €30,000 per year. Every year. With annual price increases that arrive in your renewal email as a polite fait accompli. After five years, you’ve spent €150,000-plus on software you don’t own, can’t modify, and can’t easily leave and somewhere between a quarter and a third of those licenses have been sitting idle.

Something Changed

Here’s what’s different in 2026: building software got dramatically cheaper and faster. Not incrementally but by an order of magnitude.

Tools like Claude Code and Kiro represent a new category of agentic coding assistants. They don’t just suggest the next line. They can take a requirement, reason through a solution, write the code, test it, catch errors, and iterate, with minimal human supervision. What previously required a team of developers and months of work can now be done by one technically capable person in days.

This isn’t science fiction. It’s happening right now in engineering teams across the world.

And it fundamentally changes the math on one of the oldest questions in IT: should we build or buy?

What You Get When You Build Your Own

When you build a custom application -even a relatively simple internal tool- you build exactly what you need. No more, no less. You control the data model, the workflow, the integrations, and the roadmap. And critically: you decide what gets built next. Not a product manager in Sydney who’s never seen your workflows.

Running on cloud-native infrastructure like AWS means scalability, security, and availability are largely handled by the platform. The operational gap between “something you built” and “something a vendor hosts for you” has narrowed considerably. And the cost gap has flipped.

A custom-built equivalent to that €30,000/year SaaS tool, developed with AI-assisted tooling and running on serverless AWS infrastructure, might cost a fraction of that annually in operational expenses, after a one-time build investment that has also come down dramatically. More importantly: you own the asset. It does exactly what you need. And you’re not waiting seven years for someone to let you update an email address.

A Word of Honesty

Custom software isn’t free of responsibility. Someone has to maintain it, secure it, and evolve it. The SaaS argument, that someone else handles the infrastructure, the uptime and the patches, is not without merit. And for commodity functions like email, video conferencing, or payroll, that argument still wins. These are solved problems. Building your own would be an expensive act of reinvention.

But pairing custom-built applications with managed cloud services gives you the operational coverage of SaaS without the product dependency. You get uptime. You get security. You get to decide what comes next.

So What Should You Actually Do?

Not everything should be custom-built. That would be its own kind of madness.

The question worth asking is simpler: where are your core differentiating workflows? The processes that encode years of operational knowledge. The edge cases that keep showing up in feature request threads, yours and everyone else’s, year after year, status unchanged.

Those are exactly the features that will never quite make it onto a SaaS vendor’s roadmap.

The question is no longer “can we afford to build?” The question, in 2026, is whether you can afford to keep waiting.

JSDCLOUD-5746 would like a word.

The post Dear SaaS Vendor, We’ve Been Waiting Since 2017. appeared first on Cloudar.

In the AWS ecosystem, MSPs take vastly different approaches when building customer-specific landing zones and cloud management platforms. Some approaches preserve your freedom and flexibility. Others quietly build the walls of a gilded cage.

The Two Paths: Open Standards vs. Proprietary Platforms

The Open Approach: AWS Landing Zone Accelerator (LZA)

AWS Landing Zone Accelerator represents the gold standard for customer independence. As an open-source solution built on AWS CDK and CloudFormation, we deploy LZA to provide several critical advantages:

• Complete transparency: All infrastructure is defined as code that you can read, understand, and modify
• No licensing fees: Open-source with no proprietary components
• AWS-maintained: Continuously updated by AWS to keep up to date with new services and features
• Industry standard configuration: With multiple documented sample configurations, you do not need to start from scratch.
• Full customer ownership: Deployed directly into your environment with complete access to the Infrastructure as Code
• Exit-ready from day one: If you ever want to manage it yourself or switch MSPs, you own your landing zone configuration

At Cloudar, we’ve built an entire landing zone practice around LZA precisely because we believe customers should never feel trapped. Your AWS foundation should be an asset you own, not a chain that binds you to any single provider.

The Proprietary Approach: Custom Orchestration Platforms

In contrast, many MSPs have developed proprietary cloud management platforms that create significant lock-in. These are often marketed as “revolutionary” or “next-generation” platforms that promise to make cloud management easier with “just a few simple clicks” or web-based portals that abstract away complexity.

The convenience is real. The long-term cost is hidden.

Here’s what proprietary platforms typically involve:

• Black box deployment: Resources are created through proprietary tooling that abstracts away the underlying infrastructure
• Dependency on custom APIs: Your operations become dependent on the MSP’s platform rather than native AWS tools
• Limited portability: Moving to another MSP or bringing management in-house requires re-platforming
• Knowledge gap: Your team never develops deep expertise in AWS native tools because they’re shielded by the abstraction layer
• Commercial leverage: The MSP knows that switching costs are high, affecting pricing negotiations and service quality over time

The Lock-in Mechanisms You Need to Watch For

1. Custom Landing Zones Without Source Code Access

Some MSPs deploy your resources using “their” landing zone—a pre-configured multi-account setup built with proprietary Infrastructure as Code that remains their intellectual property. When you want to leave, you inherit an AWS environment you don’t fully understand, configured by tools you can’t access.

The Cloudar difference: We can deploy LZA directly into your AWS accounts. Every CloudFormation stack, every configuration file, every security baseline—you have access to it all.

2. Web-Based Orchestrators That Become Operational Chokepoints

Fancy web portals that let you “deploy with one click” sound appealing. Until you realize that every operational change must flow through the MSP’s platform. Want to modify a VPC? You’re dependent on their UI. Need to adjust security groups? Better hope their platform supports your use case.

These orchestrators create operational lock-in: You can’t effectively operate your AWS environment without the MSP’s tooling. You’ve traded AWS complexity for MSP dependency.

3. “Simplified” Interfaces That Hide AWS Reality

Abstraction layers that promise to “make AWS easy” can create a dangerous gap between what you think you’re deploying and what’s actually running in your account. When problems arise—and they always do—you discover that your team doesn’t understand the actual AWS infrastructure because they’ve only interacted with it through the MSP’s simplified interface.

The Real-World Impact of Lock-in

Scenario 1: The Price Increase

Your MSP announces a 30% price increase. With an LZA you own and open standards, you have options: negotiate from a position of strength, bring management in-house, or transition to another MSP in months. With a proprietary platform, you’re looking at risky and arduous re-platforming work—and your MSP knows it.

Scenario 2: The Service Quality Decline

Your MSP gets acquired. The new parent company shifts focus, key engineers leave, and service quality drops. With an open approach, you can transition smoothly. With lock-in, you’re stuck enduring declining service while planning an expensive migration.

Scenario 3: The Strategic Pivot

Your company wants to build internal cloud expertise and eventually self-manage. With LZA, your team can learn standard AWS tools and practices from day one. When you’re ready to transition, you already have the skills and the code. With proprietary platforms, your team has learned the MSP’s tools, not AWS—setting your in-house capability building back by years.

Scenario 4: The Platform Limitation

Your business needs evolve, and you need to implement a complex AWS architecture that isn’t supported by your MSP’s platform. You’re now in the worst position: paying for a platform that constrains you, unable to use native AWS capabilities, and facing the choice between living with limitations or undertaking an expensive re-platforming project.

How to Evaluate Your Current or Prospective MSP

Ask these critical questions:

1. “What landing zone solution do you use?”
   • Red flag: “Our proprietary solution” or vague answers. Subscription based landing zones (yes they exist!).
   • Green flag: “your own AWS Landing Zone Accelerator” or “a per-customer AWS Control Tower with Customizations for Control Tower”
2. “What happens to our infrastructure if we terminate the contract?”
   • Red flag: Vague answers about “transition planning” or “it depends”
   • Green flag: “You keep everything—we’ll help with knowledge transfer, and you’ll have all the code and documentation”
3. “Will our team learn AWS-native tools, or primarily your platform?”
   • Red flag: “Our platform abstracts AWS complexity away”
   • Green flag: “We teach AWS best practices and native tools”

The Cloudar Philosophy: Your Cloud, Your Terms

Here’s what that means in practice:

Full LZA Implementation

Every customer gets its own AWS Landing Zone Accelerator, deployed directly into their accounts with complete source code access to the LZA configuration. Deployments happen in your account, giving you end-to-end visibility on your Landing Zone.

AWS-Native Tooling

We use CloudFormation, CDK, AWS Config, Systems Manager—tools that work with or without us. If you hire another AWS expert or build an in-house team, they’ll recognize everything immediately.

Comprehensive Documentation

You can read about every configuration option today, in the documentation published by AWS. So while we pride ourselves in sharing our knowledge, you are not dependant on us to explain what is going on

Additionally, we write customer-specific documentation  in our Confluence – from architecture decisions to operational procedures.. If you decide to leave, we can provide you with an export of that information.

Open Book Operations

You have full Read Only access to your AWS environment —we’re partners, not gatekeepers. Want to check our work? Go ahead.

Standard AWS Best Practices

We follow AWS Well-Architected Framework principles and industry-standard patterns. No “special sauce” that only we understand.

We succeed by giving you excellent service so you want to stay, not by making it painful to leave.

The Economics of Freedom

Some argue that proprietary platforms are necessary to provide better service or lower costs. We disagree.

Lower costs come from:

• Automation that scales across customers (which we use)
• Deep AWS expertise (which we have)
• Efficient processes (which we’ve refined over years)

Not from locking customers into proprietary platforms.

Better service comes from:

• Highly skilled engineers (which we continuously train)
• Customer focus (which our retention rate proves)

Not from proprietary abstraction layers.

We’ve proven that you can deliver excellent MSP services at competitive prices while keeping customers completely free. In fact, we believe customer freedom makes us better—we can’t coast on lock-in, so we must continuously earn our customers’ business.

Making the Right Choice

Before signing with any MSP, ask yourself:

• Do I understand what I’m getting into? Can you clearly explain how your infrastructure will be deployed and managed?
• What’s my exit strategy if things don’t work out? Is it measured in weeks, months, or years?
• Am I choosing this approach for the right reasons? Is convenience masking a lack of control?
• Do I retain full ownership? Of code, configurations, documentation, and knowledge?

Red Flags in MSP Sales Processes

Be wary if you encounter:

• Heavy emphasis on “simplicity” with little discussion of the underlying AWS architecture
• Vague answers about exit strategies and transition processes
• Marketing focused on proprietary platforms as the primary differentiator
• Contracts that grant the MSP exclusive rights to infrastructure code
• Lack of clarity about what you actually own vs. what you’re licensing

Conclusion: Freedom as a Feature

In the rush to cloud transformation, it’s easy to prioritize speed and convenience. And yes, a well-designed proprietary platform can deploy faster than custom LZA implementation—at least initially.

But cloud strategy isn’t measured in weeks. It’s measured in years and decades. The question isn’t “who can get me to cloud fastest?” It’s “who can help me build sustainable cloud capabilities that serve my business long-term?”

The MSP industry has a pattern: some providers build their business model around customer stickiness achieved through proprietary tooling. They create beautiful interfaces and slick demos that abstract away AWS complexity. Then, months or years later, customers realize they’ve traded AWS vendor lock-in for MSP vendor lock-in—often worse, because at least AWS is standardized.

At Cloudar, we reject this model fundamentally. We believe that customer freedom isn’t a bug to work around—it’s a feature to build for. We’re proud to be an AWS Premier MSP Partner that wins business through excellence, not lock-in.

Your cloud infrastructure is too important to be held hostage by convenient abstractions. You deserve an MSP that treats you as a partner who will grow and evolve, not a captive customer who might someday try to escape.

Choose partners who believe you should always have the keys to your own kingdom. Choose partners who succeed by being valuable, not by being necessary.

Choose freedom.

The post The Hidden Cost of Convenience appeared first on Cloudar.

Cloudar Renews AWS MSP Partnership with a Perfect Score!

At Cloudar, we are very proud to announce that we have successfully renewed our AWS Managed Service Provider (MSP) partnership for the second time—and with a perfect score! This achievement further solidifies our position as a leading AWS MSP, ensuring that our clients receive the highest level of cloud expertise and managed services.

A Hard-Earned Accreditation

Achieving the AWS MSP competency is no easy feat. The renewal process involves an extensive and rigorous two-day external audit, where AWS evaluates a company’s capabilities in security, automation, DevOps, customer success and more. This intensive assessment ensures that only the best-in-class providers are recognized, and we are happy to have met and exceeded every requirement.

A Six-Year Legacy of Excellence

Cloudar has been an authorized AWS MSP for six years, continuously demonstrating our ability to deliver exceptional managed services to our clients. This designation reaffirms our deep expertise in AWS technologies, proactive monitoring, and automation, helping businesses optimize their cloud environments while focusing on their core operations.

The Only Belgium-Based AWS MSP

We take great pride in being the only AWS MSP headquartered in Belgium. In a competitive and ever-evolving cloud landscape, this distinction highlights our unwavering commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction. Our local team of AWS-certified experts works tirelessly to provide best-in-class cloud solutions tailored to each client’s needs.

An Exclusive Global Network

The AWS MSP designation is highly exclusive, with only 185 companies worldwide holding this prestigious competency. As part of this elite group, Cloudar continues to set the standard for managed cloud services, ensuring businesses maximize their AWS investments.

Why Work with an AWS MSP?

Partnering with an AWS MSP like Cloudar means businesses can focus on what truly matters: delivering value and innovation. Our expert team handles the complexity of cloud management, security, and optimization, allowing organizations to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and scale with confidence.

We are incredibly proud of this accomplishment and remain dedicated to helping businesses thrive in the cloud. Thank you to our customers, partners, and the entire Cloudar team for making this achievement possible!

Looking for a trusted AWS MSP partner? Get in touch with us today and discover how Cloudar can elevate your cloud journey!

The post Cloudar renews AWS MSP partnership appeared first on Cloudar.

At Cloudar, we pride ourselves on being the only local Premier AWS partner in Belgium. While global system integrators (GSIs) offer their services on a massive scale, we believe that being a smaller, local player comes with unique advantages. In this post, we’ll explore the benefits of partnering with a local AWS expert like us compared to working with a large GSI.

1. Personalized Attention and Customized Solutions

Unlike larger firms where clients might feel like just another number, we provide personalized attention to each of our clients. Our team takes the time to understand your specific needs, crafting customized AWS solutions that align perfectly with your business objectives. This tailored approach ensures that your company receives the exact support it needs to thrive.

2. Agility and Flexibility

In today’s fast-paced business world, agility is key. Our smaller size allows us to make quick decisions and adapt to your needs rapidly. This flexibility extends to our service offerings, ensuring scalability that supports your business’s growth every step of the way.

3. Local Market Understanding

Our in-depth knowledge of the Belgian market sets us apart. We’re not just AWS experts; we’re experts in how AWS services can best be utilized in Belgium, considering local regulations and market trends. This local insight is invaluable for ensuring compliance and tailoring solutions that work best in our specific market environment.

4. Direct Communication and Stronger Relationships

Working with us means you’ll have direct access to our team of experts. At Cloudar we don’t work with offshoring or nearshoring. This ease of communication fosters stronger, more meaningful relationships. We’re not just a service provider; we’re a partner invested in understanding and contributing to the long-term success of your business.

5. Competitive Pricing and Cost-Effectiveness

We offer competitive pricing that challenges larger GSIs, ensuring that you receive top-notch AWS services without an exorbitant price tag. This cost-effectiveness is part of our commitment to providing value, ensuring that your investment in AWS services yields the maximum return.

6. Community Engagement and Support

As a local business, we’re deeply involved in the Belgian community. We believe in supporting local initiatives and contributing to the local economy. By choosing us, you’re not just getting an AWS partner; you’re contributing to the broader community and fostering local business ecosystem growth.

Choosing a local AWS partner like Cloudar offers a range of benefits that large global system integrators can’t match. From personalized service to local market expertise, our team is dedicated to providing the best possible AWS solutions tailored to your specific needs. If you’re looking for an AWS partner that values your business and is committed to your success, look no further. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business thrive with AWS.

The post Shop Local appeared first on Cloudar.

#1 Hybrid cloud is the new normal

Hybrid cloud approaches take advantage of the scale and security of public clouds while keeping data on-premise or supporting edge computing. In a hybrid cloud, applications run in a combination of different environments. As hybrid becomes a dominant approach, providers will offer more flexible options to fit each customer’s data storage and workload needs. AWS is helping to reinvent the hybrid cloud by extending its infrastructure and services to customers wherever they need it.

Rather than offering a clunky mish-mash of tools and environments, AWS extends the cloud to where customers’ on-premises applications reside. Cloud infrastructure and services are deployed wherever they are needed for a consistent cloud experience. To stay competitive, platforms like AWS are focusing on industry-specific cloud products offering features and functions focused on sectors like finance, healthcare and telecom. AWS Outposts is a set of fully managed solutions delivering AWS infrastructure and services to virtually any on-premises or edge location for a truly consistent hybrid experience!

#2 Security is more essential than ever

The cloud opens up tremendous possibilities to boost efficiency and convenience. It also exposes companies to new cybersecurity threats. Compliance is also an issue, as there is more and more legislative restriction around how companies store and use personal data. Trust is everything, and keeping customer data safe is essential to stay in business.

All this contributes to cybersecurity being a higher priority than ever for global business. For companies balancing security with rising costs, it is essential to find innovative ways to save costs while optimizing security. A prime moment for AI and predictive technology to step in and help identify potential threats. There’s no question that investing in security pays off, so expect cloud security to be a huge growth segment.

#3 The cloud drives sustainability

Companies are relying on the cloud to help meet their sustainability goals by boosting efficiency while minimizing their environmental footprint. AWS designs sustainable and low-cost workloads that help brands reduce carbon emissions, energy consumption and waste. The impact is real, with AWS working to help Amazon achieve their goal of switching to 100% renewable energy.

Public cloud servers are much more efficient than traditional data centers due to highly utilized infrastructure. Moving software from hardware systems to the cloud also makes a major dent in energy consumption.  AWS can help customers lower their IT carbon footprint by a huge percentage, reducing emissions from consumed energy purchases. AWS is also pioneering water stewardship initiatives for a more efficient use of water resources. In times defined by accelerating climate change, there is no doubt that the environmental case for moving to the cloud is strong.

#4 The low- and no- code revolution

Low-code and no-code solutions are poised to make a major impact on the tech landscape. These tools and platforms allow anybody to build websites, applications and a wide range of digital solutions with little to no coding skills. They are even becoming available to create AI-powered applications. The timing couldn’t be better as it helps to compensate for the talent shortage of a booming IT sector and help accelerate digital transformation. Benefits include increased automation capabilities, faster turnaround, reduced error and greater accessibility. It’s safe to say that low- and no-code are going to be used for a majority of development in the near future.

The key is of course, the cloud, where users access these solutions as a service instead of having to own the computing infrastructure needed to run them. This is yet another area where the cloud is a major driver of innovation. AWS has been at the forefront of the low- and no-code revolution with Amazon Honeycode for building apps, AWS Amplify Studio for web-app development and no-code platform SageMaker Canvas for machine learning (ML). We’ll provide more details about the latest AWS announcements and innovations in low- and no-code in an upcoming blog!

#5 AWS solutions to keep your eye on

There were lots of other exciting developments announced at the end of 2022 at AWS re:Invent, giving us lots to look forward to in 2023. Here are just a few of them:

• SimSpace Weaver: this new managed compute service simplifies the creation of huge spatial simulations with multiple data points without hardware restrictions.
• Application Composer: this tool is set to speed up the development process of serverless applications. It maintains deployment-ready infrastructure as code definitions and offers a browser-based visual canvas.
• Amazon Security Lake: this service automatically centralizes security data from all on-premises and cloud sources so analysts can aggregate, manage, and optimize huge volumes of data to respond to security threats.

There’s lots more in store: keep an eye on our blog for more juicy AWS developments!

AWS Managed Services Providers (MSPs) like Cloudar help you tap into the opportunities of AWS more efficiently and securely. Want to know how we can help you accelerate innovation? Get in touch!

The post 2023 in the AWS cloud: 5 trends to look out for appeared first on Cloudar.

#1 Downtime don’ts

AWS is very secure, but network issues at data centers do happen. Luckily there are AWS Availability Zones to route workload across several data centers within an AWS region to reduce the risk of downtime. Distributing workloads across multiple servers can also balance workloads. Horizontal partitioning provides extra redundancy to each app stage. Redundant instances should be located in various availability zones to reduce inevitable downtime.

#2 Access uh-ohs

If we don’t restrict administrator access, we can end up giving data access to unintended parties. This is a prime opportunity for hackers to exploit valuable data and customer information. It’s important to take the right precautions before switching over to AWS. This includes verifying cloud management and security systems before transferring information. In addition to rigorously restricting physical access, securing passwords and access keys according to AWS best practices is crucial. AWS procedures regarding compromised data should be followed in the case of a breach.

#3 Certificate concerns

This big blunder is often overlooked. Certificates that expire without notice can cause major mayhem. To avoid inconvenient outages and other chaos, apply AWS Config monitoring to all AWS ACM-based certificates to alert people to expiring certificates in advance. Also enable automatic renewals for internal certificates. Limit the use of single certificates to decrease the impact of any outages. It’s all part of prioritizing certificate management before migrating to AWS, looking at how certificate will be tracked and renewed and who will issue them.

#4 Configuration chaos    

Misconfigurations are a major source of attacks. Data can end up being exposed if there isn’t enough authentication needed. Misconfiguring network functionality or providing system users with too much access can also be a vulnerability, as are exposed passwords and keys. Misconfigured APIs are also at the root of many breaches. This is where change management practices come in. It’s essential that this receives due attention, and that multiple people are charged with looking at what is configured and how to manage risk.

#5 High priced hiccups

While AWS delivers cost-effective infrastructure and services, it’s common for organizations to underestimate costs while evaluating services. AWS users don’t always keep track of their capacity utilization, which impacts the cost. They wind up underutilizing AWS services which they are billed for. Using AWS EC2 reserved instances reduces application computation expenses. Careful tracking of what resources are used avoids unnecessary costs. AWS Trusted Advisor can be used to keep track of AWS charges.

AWS partners like Cloudar are there to help you leverage the power of the Cloud in the safest and most cost-effective way. Reach out to us to talk about how we can work together!

The post Bumps in the road: 5 AWS cloud adoption pitfalls to watch out for appeared first on Cloudar.

Shared responsibility model 

Security and Compliance falls under the shared responsibility model between AWS and the customer. Under this model, AWS takes on some of the customer’s operational burden by operating, managing and controlling certain system components as well as the physical security of the facilities in which the service operates. Meanwhile the customer is responsible for the guest operating system, other associated application software as well as the configuration of the AWS provided security group firewall. This model helps share the load while providing flexibility and customer control. 

Under the shared responsibility model, AWS is responsible for the security “of the cloud”, protecting the infrastructure including the hardware, software, databases, networking, and facilities that run AWS Cloud services. The customer is charged with security “in the cloud”, and their responsibility will be determined by the AWS Cloud services they select, which impacts the amount of configuration work they must perform. Their remit includes data protection, identity and access management (IAM), OS configuration, network security and encryption.

Top security considerations 

Here are some of the top security challenges to keep in mind when migrating to the cloud:

• Regulatory and compliance requirements: The cloud environment must meet regulatory requirements and compliance requirements. AWS will have their regulatory requirements covered, but under the shared responsibility model the customer must ensure that they meet privacy requirements on their end, especially concerning sensitive information and access. They may also need specialized controls to meet certain industry requirements.
• Visibility and monitoring: Cloud environments like AWS are large and complex, and contain a wide array of settings to monitor. Security teams may struggle to understand what is going on in cloud environments, especially because cloud migrations imply dynamic change. Provisioning and decommissioning cloud assets rapidly and technical complexities can make security difficult to manage. Gaining visibility is key to identifying dark data and handling data privacy. It’s important to employ industry best practices for initial risk assessment, configuration and security, followed by careful monitoring.
• Managing DevOps: The DevOps team includes developers and infrastructure specialists who manage the DevOps pipeline: coding, building, validation and deployment. When migrating to the cloud, they are responsible for integrating security tools and addressing security issues. They also have to protect against threats when workloads and applications go live.
• Governance standards: Governance workflows and alignments need to become more agile in the Cloud, involving a wider variety of stakeholders. Establishing a set of security standards and baselines in collaboration with the governance team is key. A cloud governance committee can ensure cohesion across teams.
• Protecting network traffic: Just like traditional environments, cloud-based environments can be targets for malware, bots and data breaches. It is essential to control data privacy and protect against cyber threats while securely connecting the cloud to on-premises networks. Information security should be employed to maintain network security parameters.

The way forward 

While it’s important to always carefully account for security considerations, it should still be a no-brainer to go ahead and migrate to the cloud. After all, it’s the new normal for enterprise IT operations. Working with a consulting partner like Cloudar, companies can create a migration roadmap suited to their specific organization. This of course includes all the particulars of their industry and configuration needs. Not only will this make cloud migration more efficient and advantageous, it allows companies to benefit from Cloud Best Practices including security. 

As a Premier Consulting partner, Cloudar has a proven track record of migrating applications and infrastructure to the Cloud. Want to know more about how we execute secure migrations from start to finish? Reach out to us today. 

The post Seamless & secure cloud migration: top things to consider appeared first on Cloudar.

Focus on data management and analysis

We can no longer afford to focus only on configuring and maintaining cloud environments. Going forward, we will need to pay close attention to how we manage the data that’s stored in the cloud as well. To ensure data security and prevent data leaks, everyone who operates in the cloud should implement a solid backup strategy and disaster recovery plan. The more the cloud develops, the more interesting it becomes for data thieves. We must protect our data by prioritizing data management and cloud security.

Adequate and future-oriented data analysis is the key to accessing greater operational insights to improve wider data-driven decision making. Managing and analyzing our data effectively will become more important than ever, requiring extensive expertise and know-how. After all, we all want to get the most out of our existing data assets and resources. This means there will be a growing need for certified cloud specialists.

From IoT to IoB

The Internet of Things (IoT) enables us to connect devices, systems and data to efficiently exchange information without the need for a central server. IoT also facilitates the constant collection and storage of data in the cloud. With IoT, companies will be able to act based on automated analytics to truly propel innovation.

Every organization relies on personal relationships, be it with customers, vendors, or employees. They are our most valuable assets. This is where Internet of Behavior (IoB) comes in. IoB evolved from IoT, but where IoT is technology focused, IoB pivots around people and their connections. IoB applications allow people to trust data through their personal connections with others or with companies, without having any need or ability to access the data directly. In the years to come, IoB will combine social interactions with machine learning. Social networks and apps will use IoB for user behavior tracking and personalization.

Automate and optimize with AI

With the help of AI, seemingly mundane tasks can be automated and optimized. This frees up time and resources to develop innovative products and revolutionary services. AI will create intricate new ways to offer personalized and tailor-made services to customers, allowing for very specific customer segmentation and experience creation.

Looking ahead, IoT, IoB and AI are set to propel us into a completely new way of doing business.

Do you want to make sure you’re ready for the cloud revolution? Contact us at Cloudar. We’re an official Next Generation AWS Managed Service Provider Partner, born in the cloud and offering Managed Services fit for the cloud. Let’s talk!

The post 2022 and beyond: The future of cloud managed services appeared first on Cloudar.

#1 Free your mind and results will follow

COVID-19 showed us that flexibility in business and the way we regard work in general were the determining factors in how companies were able to successfully navigate these extraordinary circumstances. Organizations that were quick to integrate managed services and trusted them with the tasks that aren’t business-differentiating, created the opportunity for their employees to focus on innovation and recovery.

#2 Agility is key

The agility necessary for companies to adapt to changing circumstances has become all the more essential and noticeable. Its importance can therefore not be overstated. Integrating and training swift and flexible resolution and survival compels businesses to collaborate with new partners, such as managed services providers.

The confidence companies need to make agile business practices possible requires knowing operations and data are safe and secure at all times. Although there is no longer a need for physical backups, it’s still a good idea to back up virtual servers. AWS offers you the building blocks to take those backups. On top of that you’ll still need a framework to implement retention schemes, cross region backups, cross account backups and more. Having a trusted managed services partner to provide and manage such a framework will give you the assurance you need.

#3 Full force digital

Even before the pandemic, many businesses were implementing tools and applications to maximize digitization and automation in their operations. Ready or not, the pandemic has aggressively sped up this process. Managed services give companies solutions that already include fast, cost-effective access to technologies such as AI, trusted intelligence and automation as well as the technical expertise needed to master these, without the big upfront costs or challenges of finding the right talent.

#4 Continuous compliance

Even though businesses have been through very trying times, it’s important to keep looking at the future. Reshaping our professional landscape requires decisiveness, courage and boldness. In that process of change and transformation, continuous compliance is key. A dependable managed service provider can guard compliance, even when regulations and circumstances keep changing around us. In this way they provide companies with the confidence to venture into uncharted territory and discover new ways to do business.

Monitoring and managing compliance and smooth operations is a hefty assignment that is not to be underestimated. Subscribing to managed services takes this task off your hands. Dedicated monitoring, immediate reporting and round-the-clock support will limit downtime and issues. Together with your managed services partner, you decide on the support you need while making sure you only pay for what you need and use.

#5 Optimize costs, maximize results

Managed services providers like Cloudar keep an active eye on the cost of the cloud infrastructure they manage for you. Through monitoring, we have a clear view of how your provisioned infrastructure fits the measured activity and where we can better optimize the cloud cost to be in line with business value.

We work with you to make sure that your infrastructure fits your needs at all times and actively help you keep control of your cloud bill. We make sure that you pay for what you use and not just for what you provision. Our cost management comes down to this: using an external managed services provider helps you free up time and resources to focus on growing your business instead of only growing your cloud bill. This allows you to really maximize the business value you get out of your cloud infrastructure.

#6 Next-level expertise and analytics

The sooner businesses are able to respond to their changing circumstances, the smoother the transformation. Adaptability enables smarter and faster decision making. These strategic shifts are made possible through the expertise and thorough data analytics provided by managed services. They guarantee durable results, ongoing support and up-to-date knowledge and expertise.

When you decide to subscribe to managed services, you gain immediate access to a team of trained and AWS-certified engineers who are continuously refining their skills, following up on updates and patches, upping their game. They never stop looking for ways to improve and optimize your setup to make your infrastructure more reliable, performant and cheaper to run. You could hire an expensive team to try and manage all of this in-house, of course. But why would you?

Are you excited to find out how managed services can transform your business? Contact us at Cloudar. We are an official Next Generation AWS Managed Service Provider Partner, born in the cloud and offering Managed Services fit for the cloud. Let’s talk!

The post Fast-tracking change: 6 ways managed services spark business innovation appeared first on Cloudar.

AWS has limited responsibility

Yes, AWS takes away a lot of the so-called heavy lifting. They do this by managing all the physical infrastructure and providing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). They also go further up the stack and provide you with a managed Microsoft SQL Server (RDS) for example, or a managed NFS (EFS) in what we call Platform as a Service (PaaS). They even offer Software as a Service (SaaS) tools like QuickSight, which is a competitor to the likes of Tableau and Power BI. But there are very clear boundaries between what they do and don’t manage for you.

As you can see in this image of the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, everything in blue is the sole responsibility of the customer. That would be you! And what a huge responsibility it is: I’m sure you’ve heard the horror stories of companies misconfiguring AWS services and leaking confidential data or getting hacked. Or running up their cloud bill to insane amounts in days. Unfortunately those stories are true.

When pitching our Managed Services Offering to prospects, we sometimes get the question why they would need an MSP. Isn’t AWS managing everything already? In this article I’d like to debunk the biggest Cloud Myth: no, AWS does not manage everything, and yes, an MSP will add considerable value to your business. Not in the least because it allows you to focus more on that business, and less on the operational burden of your cloud environments.

You need trained brains

You can see why you would need the proper expertise to adequately manage your AWS environments. Sure, your developers can write your CloudFormation or Terraform code and make sure everything works. But your AWS doesn’t just need to be developed: it needs to be managed. At this point you have two options: either hire and train the staff you need to support and manage your AWS environments, or make use of an MSP.

We find that customers often have a very hard time finding skilled engineers, as there is a high demand for AWS profiles on the market. Keeping them on board once they’re trained is another challenge (recruiters are vicious!). To fully manage an AWS environment around the clock while providing good working conditions for your employees and accounting for the occasional absence, you’ll probably need a team of at least four engineers. Even if you don’t really have enough work for them to do.

The big advantage an MSP has is scale. Instead of all our customers implementing their own services 24/7, we provide them. And instead of hiring, constantly training and retaining qualified engineers, we’ve already got them on board. The service an MSP provides is in most cases cheaper than staffing your own operations, and you no longer have to worry about finding and keeping the talent you need.

Your MSP has got you covered

There are other benefits too: MSPs implement and operate your AWS presence in a Well-Architected way, and offer traditional services like monitoring, a service desk, backups and patching. They also make sure you don’t spend too much and advise you on architectural decisions. Not only will they help define a deployment strategy, they will be your developers’ best friends in a true DevOps kind of way. And last but not least, they’ll keep your environment secure, preferably by using a Cloud Security Posture Management System.

MSPs are trusted partners. We can be yours! To find out more, feel free to get in touch with us.

The post Why you should partner with a Managed Services Provider appeared first on Cloudar.