Hybrid and Multicloud Strategies for MSPs: Avoiding Vendor Lock-In

Hybrid and multicloud environments are by far the most popular cloud deployments. In fact, 86% of corporate cloud deployments are hybrid or multicloud. 

This popularity arises from the fact that these environments allow cloud customers to select the provider that best meets their needs for a particular use case in terms of cost, capabilities, and other factors. Additionally, distributing or duplicating cloud-based resources across multiple providers’ environments reduces an organization’s risk of exposure in the event that a particular provider suffers an IT or security incident. 

However, most cloud providers want to be the sole provider of cloud services to their customers and they implement various roadblocks to curtail the adoption of competing services and technologies. These restrictions and the hidden costs that come with them make it challenging for MSPs who want to adopt hybrid or multicloud approaches. 

The case for hybrid and multicloud strategies 

Hybrid and multicloud strategies both distribute an organization’s infrastructure across multiple environments. Hybrid cloud involves a combination of on-prem and cloud environments, while multicloud environments use the services of multiple public cloud providers. 

Both of these approaches have their benefits, especially when compared to a “monocloud” architecture. Some of the most significant of these include: 

• Cost efficiency: With the ability to choose between multiple providers and environments, an organization can take advantage of various cloud cost optimization opportunities. An organization can optimize and tier its data storage to different providers, storage types, performance levels, etc., based on data requirements. 

• Resilience and redundancy: In a hybrid or multicloud ecosystem, an organization’s systems are distributed across multiple discrete environments. This can prevent downtime caused by the failure of a single provider’s services. 

• Regulatory compliance: Regulatory requirements may dictate how and where data is stored. For example, hybrid cloud environments may be necessary to ensure that highly sensitive data is stored and protected on-prem. On the other hand, some industries require multi-region, multi-site, or multi-provider storage to enhance operational resiliency. 

• Best-of-breed solutions: MSPs with a multicloud environment can select and sell the best products from any cloud provider. This vendor-agnostic approach increases the potential customer base, expands the product catalog, and can grow margins. 

Vendor lock-in: a “walled garden” approach to data management 

Most hyperscalers have a service offering for each of their customers’ cloud needs. This wide variety of service offerings induces “stickiness” since a customer might prefer to stay on a familiar service even if a better option is available for a given service. 

These cloud service providers reinforce this “stickiness” by penalizing users for leaving the hyperscale environment. For example, $0.09 per gigabyte is common for egress fees, meaning that moving 10 TB from a host environment to another cloud environment costs the user $900. What’s more is that hyperscalers don’t charge anything for users to use services within their own environment, effectively discouraging the adoption of any services other than their own. Hyperscalers use these fees to create a “walled garden” ecosystem where it is often cheaper and easier for users to stick with their primary service provider even if they’d prefer to leave or diversify. 

This walled garden approach harms cloud users and MSPs alike by limiting their ability to choose the optimal solution for a particular use case. Once a cloud user is locked into a particular vendor ecosystem, an MSP may be forced to recommend that provider’s solution for a particular application even if it’s not their customer’s first choice. 

In contrast, a best-of-breed approach to cloud infrastructure provides users with the freedom to choose the right solution for their needs. By offering more choice for the customer, this also creates more opportunities for the MSP to add value and make sales. 

Selecting cloud storage providers that optimize MSP value 

MSPs are most valuable to the customer when they can offer a solution that exactly fits their needs, both solving the problem at hand and integrating with existing infrastructure. This flexibility is the bedrock of successful multicloud and hybrid cloud ecosystem, and it’s a key factor in selecting the right cloud storage provider for hybrid and multicloud environments.  

For customers adopting multicloud environments, MSPs need best-of-breed services that align best with their pricing and use case objectives (analytics, primary storage, secondary storage, etc.). Customers may prioritize different factors and features (cost, interoperability, performance, etc.), and multicloud environments are ideal for finding the correct solution and cloud provider for a particular application. 

From a hybrid cloud perspective, interoperability with an organization’s on-prem infrastructure and existing workflows, such as backup, data management, archive, and media processing is essential. The power of hybrid cloud environments is in optimizing data utilization across on-prem storage and the cloud. 

Empowering data freedom with Wasabi 

In both hybrid and multicloud environments, the decision of where to store the data is critically important. Wasabi helps MSPs and their customers achieve data freedom by offering various benefits, including: 

• Predictable pricing: Wasabi doesn’t charge for API requests or egress fees for reasonable usage, eliminating vendor lock-in concerns and making storage costs predictable month-to-month. 

• Easy data transfer: Wasabi offers multiple data transfer solutions designed to make it easy to move data between on-prem and cloud environments. 

• High speed performance: Our architecture is built for high performance, offering high read and write speeds ideal for a wide range of use cases and performance-intensive workloads. 

• Seamless integration: Our cloud object storage is S3 compatible, allowing for simple interoperability with all AWS S3 applications and integrates with on-premises storage hardware through collaboration with major organizations. 

• Built for MSPs: Wasabi offers purpose-built tools to support billing and administration for MSPs, such as the Wasabi Account Control Manager, which simplifies multitenant storage account management. With this one-of-a-kind tool, MSPs get a single-pane-of-glass view into all their storage accounts’ activity and billing. 

Optimizing cloud strategies with hybrid and multicloud storage 

Hybrid and multicloud environments offer greater customizability and resiliency than a single-provider environment. Both routes enable cloud users to select the environment best suited to a particular use case and are more insulated from the potential effects of a single-provider incident. These cloud strategies also allow MSPs to recommend and provide best-of-breed solutions for their customers without concerns about vendor lock-in.  

Controlling data storage is one of the key elements of hyperscalers’ strategies to keep MSPs and their customers within their walled garden ecosystems. Understanding these hidden fees is essential to optimizing cloud spend and developing a robust hybrid or multicloud strategy. Download our new eBook, Demystifying Cloud Object Storage Costs, for an in-depth guide to the fees that are breaking MSPs’ budgets.