Multi-Tenant Cloud: The Future of MSP Business

Data consumption continues to grow, driving innovation and improving day-to-day operations. Ninety percent of organizations anticipate their cloud storage capacity increasing in 2024. 

However, only two-thirds of organizations can accurately forecast their cloud budget. From understanding the average cost per customer and the fees associated with accessing stored data, lack of visibility continues to grow as a concern for many organizations. For many businesses, roughly half their cloud storage bill is spent on fees instead of storage capacity. 

Managed service providers (MSPs) are needed now more than ever to help organizations understand what is happening in cloud environments and drive growth over waste. No organization is the same, and IT requirements and initiatives are constantly evolving. 68% percent of IT professionals work with service providers to accelerate business outcomes for top priorities like network and digital transformation.  

By demonstrating expertise in cloud economics and helping clients navigate the complexities of multiple IT environments, MSPs can position themselves as trusted advisors and strategic partners in their clients’ digital transformation journey. Leveraging a multi-cloud architecture allows MSPs to deliver custom-built cloud solutions at scale while optimizing cost efficiency for their customers. 

What is a multi-tenant cloud?

A multi-tenant cloud architecture enables managed service providers to effectively serve their clients, deliver optimized services, address security and compliance requirements, manage costs, gain a competitive edge, and stay ahead of the ever-evolving industry trends.  

Understanding multi-tenancy in cloud computing 

In cloud computing, multi-tenant architecture refers to a model where a single instance of the software or infrastructure serves multiple customers, known as tenants. Tenants share underlying resources, such as computing, storage, and networking, while remaining separate. Customizable configurations include: 

• Logical isolation: Despite sharing the same underlying infrastructure, tenants are logically isolated from each other to ensure data privacy, security, and performance. Each tenant’s data, configurations, and processes are segregated from those of different tenants, typically using access controls, encryption, and virtualization. 

• Elasticity and scalability: Designed to be elastic and scalable, allowing resources to be dynamically allocated and scaled up or down based on the needs of individual tenants; configurations can accommodate fluctuations in demand without impacting performance or availability. 

• Efficiency and cost-effectiveness: Optimizes resource utilization and reduces the overhead associated with managing multiple, separate instances of the cloud environment. 

Multi-tenant architecture is often the best solution for organizations prioritizing cost savings, scalability, and collaboration over high security and customization needs. Because resources are shared among all customers, multi-tenant architecture is generally less expensive than a single tenancy.  

The evolution and future trends of multi-tenancy 

The growing demand for cloud storage has driven the adoption of multi-tenancy. Software as a Service (SaaS) providers and MSPs increasingly seek cloud providers with solutions to efficiently manage and optimize client services. In addition to cost savings, multi-tenancy enables enterprises to leverage readily available resources from their software providers. As data production and collection methods evolve, a more sophisticated approach to managing multiple tenants within a single application instance is being implemented.

Gartner forecasts worldwide public cloud end-user spending to reach $679 billion in 2024. With the rise of industry cloud platforms, the cloud has become indispensable. Industry cloud platforms address industry-relevant business outcomes by combining underlying SaaS, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) into a product offering with customizable capabilities.  

An elastic cloud platform, such as a multi-tenant cloud architecture, can support many strategic initiatives IT professionals and enterprises are focused on adopting. Whether companies are looking to adopt innovative technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) or generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), the ability to back up and tier data into the cloud quickly and efficiently will determine the success of these deployments. The evolution and future trends of multi-tenancy in cloud infrastructure will play a crucial role in the growth and success of cloud MSP businesses.

Overcoming challenges in multi-tenant models 

Multi-tenant cloud architecture is often the best solution for organizations that prioritize cost savings, scalability, and collaboration over high security and customization needs. A few best practices mitigate risks and optimize customization. 

Ensuring data security and privacy 

One of the best ways to protect sensitive data in the cloud is to set certain access control points. Bad actors can come from anywhere, inside, or outside of an organization. Setting up additional users to authenticate and approve requests provides an additional layer of security by making it impossible for anyone to delete your cloud storage account.  

A multi-cloud architecture that expands across multiple regions might have additional regulatory compliance requirements and practices for your organization to leverage.  

Strategies for effective resource allocation 

It’s important to have multiple immutable backups. Implementing a “3-2-1” strategy for data protection can keep operations up and running without interruption. Always have three copies of your data, which includes one working data set, a primary copy, and a secondary copy stored off-site and rendered immutable from any accidental or malicious deletion/encryption.  

Simplifying multi-tenant cloud object storage with Wasabi 

Wasabi Account Control Manager simplifies multi-tenant data complexity and is designed with MSPs in mind. It harnesses the power of API provisioning and an easy-to-use interface to cut provisioning time in half. Wasabi’s three-tiered structure enables distributors, MSPs, and resellers to manage multiple tiers of users and accounts, providing flexibility to manage multiple products and contracts through one portal.  

And gaining insights into data capacity has never been easier. Wasabi Account Control Manager provides data that helps organizations accurately forecast capacity trends without incurring unexpected fees like egress or API requests from their customers. If a customer exceeds capacity, the MSP is given a 30-day grace period with no overages so that they can spin up more capacity with just a few clicks. 

Operations are automated end-to-end, from trialing to billing. MSPs can custom-build cloud architecture to meet their clients’ diverse needs. Creating trials, converting accounts to paid accounts, and billing consolidation are just some of the features automated to build a Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS) platform for MSPs.  

Best practices for seamless transition 

Transitioning to multi-tenancy can be complex, but following best practices can help ensure a seamless and successful migration. 

Creating a comprehensive assessment plan is one of the first steps to successful deployment and maintenance. Outlining clear objectives, identifying stakeholders, and auditing existing resources can help you understand the full project scope from deployment to usage.  

Having a support team also leads to success. Defining roles and responsibilities early on can make the ability to use and benefit from scalability and cost savings easy. Roles like user management, access control, testing, development, and monitoring can provide an end-to-end management system for success. 

Once a plan is made and roles are defined, training, support, and a feedback loop should be created to generate continuous improvement. Training programs can help IT staff and end users get familiar with the new shared environment. Regular stakeholder feedback can help development teams continuously iterate and improve the architecture and processes.  

Advantages of multi-tenant cloud for MSP business 

Most enterprises see over 10% of operational cost savings with an MSP. Building the infrastructure to support a digital-first world has proven challenging, where MSPs are the leading experts to help businesses thrive, not just survive, in this digital ecosystem.  

From IaaS to PaaS, MSPs help organizations navigate and implement the tools needed to support and grow their customer base. A multi-tenant cloud strategy allows MSPs to provide a STaaS. 

Cost efficiency and reduced operational expenses 

Cloud waste is often the result of overprovisioning, duplicating purchases, hidden fees, and maintenance. Multi-tenant environments allow for centralized resource management, reducing the complexity and cloud costs of managing multiple, separate environments. Provisioning is automated, allowing customers to get what they need when needed, improving their user experience while MSPs see the benefit of lower costs. There are more predictable and controllable expenses for MSPs and customers utilizing usage-based billing models, allocating costs more accurately and on resource consumption. 

Enhanced scalability and flexibility 

MSPs can scale usage for their customers up or down based on demand without large upfront infrastructure investments. This flexibility reduces waste and ensures that expenses align with actual needs. For organizations with complex environments like hospitals looking to connect to clinics, pop-up medical sites, or retail that spans over 20 locations, MSPs can provision unique environments in minutes and tailor billing to their customers’ needs.  

Simplified management and maintenance 

Multi-tenant cloud architecture can identify how cloud resources are being used, bringing transparency to customers and providers. With a centralized cloud management platform, there is end-to-end management, from provisioning account trials to simplified billing.  

Wasabi Account Control Manager is a multi-tenant cloud architecture built for MSPs. To ease the management of multiple accounts, Wasabi simplifies cloud storage creation, management, and billing across multiple tiers. MSPs can gain insight and information on how storage accounts are being utilized as well as: 

• Identify and generate reports for active and deleted storage 

• Identify and generate reports for API requests 

• Analyze how much data is being egressed 

• Assess the number of stored objects and deleted objects 

Wasabi MSP program 

Wasabi provides the tools, training, and products to build a STaaS business model that is meant to scale with: 

• Seamless integration: Wasabi works with hundreds of best applications and solutions providers in data management. Wasabi is an easy add-on to any custom-built and tailored solution MSPs provide to their customers. 

• Shared marketing resources: Wasabi’s partner portal provides assets from pre-built marketing campaigns, emails, social media posts, and assets that are easily accessible through a self-service portal. 

• Sales support and training: Learn the ropes of what’s happening in cloud and data management by taking courses that help you understand how Wasabi’s products enable customers to succeed. 

Real-world example of multi-tenant cloud success 

Whalley Computer Associates experienced the challenges of supporting cloud backup and recovery solutions for their customers at scale due to hidden costs and fees. With over 20,000 customers across New England, New York, and eastern Canada, the MSP provider had little insight into how their customers consumed and used data, creating challenges with customer support and increased storage bills.  

Switching over to Wasabi to build a multi-tenant cloud architecture, Whalley Computer Associates was able to gain visibility into data consumption and quickly provision accounts from trial to production. Their customer support was empowered to solve and answer questions for their customers, all while lowering bills and providing a predictable cloud budget.  

According to Bill Suarez, Technical Account Manager at Whalley, “Using Wasabi Account Control Manager we can quickly provision accounts for users to trial the service, and then transition that to production seamlessly and quickly with all of the necessary support behind the scenes. It’s the only tool like it in the industry.” 

Become a partner today 

With no financial investment to get started, MSPs can try Wasabi today to build a multi-tenant environment for their customers.  Wasabi Account Control Manager provides data analytics that lets you accurately forecast capacity trends. Our simple partner program enables channel partners to start making real money right away with our highly secure, affordable, and predictable cloud service. As a Wasabi partner, you'll gain access to self-service online sales training and dedicated resources to drive demand right away. Wasabi is on a mission to keep data simple, secure, and affordable for all in the age of exponential data growth, allowing MSPs to feel confident as they build cloud architectures for their clients.