What is Cloud Service Management?

Companies are much more likely to improve cloud computing reliability, performance, cost containment and sustainability when they have a cohesive management strategy. Read on to learn how cloud service management (CSM) can help streamline efficiencies and help businesses achieve their operational goals.

What Is it?

Cloud management is essentially the exercise of control over private, public or hybrid cloud infrastructure services and resources. A thoughtfully designed cloud management strategy can help IT professionals maintain control over those scalable and dynamic computing environments. It can also help organizations achieve some critical goals, including:

• Workflow automation allows teams to manage cloud instances without human intervention.
• Greater flexibility is achieved when IT pros are able to access and create cloud resources, monitor cost and usage, and adjust resource allocations.
• Cloud oversight and analysis help track user experiences and cloud workloads.

The practice of cloud service management combines various software products and technologies to provide a cohesive management process. Without a competent IT staff in place, however, it’s difficult for any cloud service management strategy to succeed. These professionals must possess knowledge of the best practices and proper tools; they must also have an intimate understanding of the unique cloud management goals of a particular business.

What’s the Best Approach?

There are a lot of different ways to approach cloud management, and they should generally be implemented in concert. Cost-monitoring tools give IT shops the power to navigate even the most complex vendor pricing models. Applications run faster and more efficiently when they utilize performance optimization tools and have architectures designed in accordance with best practices and proven methodologies.

Many of these strategies and tools work within environmentally sustainable architecture to reduce energy consumption. With all that said, since effective cloud management ultimately hinges on each business’s distinctive priorities and objectives, there is no single, one-size-fits-all approach. When it comes to designing and implementing effective cloud service management, a tailored approach is best, and it pays to work with a provider that will take the time to fully understand a company’s unique challenges, goals and shifting needs.

What Are the Advantages of CSM?

Cloud service management shares many fundamental principles with traditional ITSM (IT service management). CSM tools help providers administrate the applications and systems that facilitate the seamless, on-demand service delivery model. The goal of CSM is to improve the overall efficiency of the business cloud environment and ensure a high level of customer satisfaction.

When companies invest in CSM, they reap a lot of benefits including:

• Lower Costs: Cost is the primary reason companies switch to cloud-based management. Having a full-time, in-house IT department is costly, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. By outsourcing to CSM, your business can save thousands and gain all the functionality of a skilled, full-time IT staff without the unwieldy costs.
• Automatic Updates: In-house software starts depreciating the moment it’s purchased. Constant system updates can be costly and time-consuming. With cloud-based management, your software is automatically updated to the latest technologies with no real maintenance.
• Security and Recovery: Breaches and hacks can cost a business millions in labor, lost data and revenue. Cloud systems include secure encryption, which means your data is stored in a centralized, secure location in case something happens. This also ensures against data loss resulting from overwriting mistakes and other human errors.
• Accessibility: Cloud-based service management allows your team to access data from anywhere in the world, so they can work on the go. The cloud promotes greater collaboration between employees, while providing simultaneous access to the same data in real-time.
• Flexibility: Companies are able to scale and switch between different types of models, based on their budgets and needs. They also enjoy different levels of control, tool selection and storage options. At any time, they can also switch between different types of cloud management services — Platform as a service (PaaS), Software as a service (SaaS), or Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) — to meet their changing needs.

If you’re looking to streamline efficiencies, secure your systems and embrace automation, Fisher Technology can help. We provide a diverse array of professional IT services for companies of every size. We can enhance your business operations and safeguard your data from hackers and malware with automated technologies, innovative workflow solutions and electronic document automation. Contact our attentive team of experts to learn more.