The plethora of cloud services on offer is both a godsend and a headache. How can you be sure of choosing the right solution(s)? That's one of the tasks of a cloud broker. Cloud brokers play a major role in today's world. As companies embark on their digital transformation, they are logically interested in online services. But which solutions to choose? This is often a headache. That's why it's a good idea to use a cloud broker, who is independent of suppliers.
It takes into account functional requirements, specific constraints (regulatory, budgetary) and its own processes to determine the most suitable offers. It therefore acts as an intermediary between the buyer of a cloud computing service and the platforms.
In general, a cloud broker can take on three roles:
- The negotiator: may be mandated to negotiate contracts. In this case, he can divide services between various suppliers to maximize savings, despite the complexities of multi-supplier negotiations. Once the search is complete, the broker presents the customer with a list of recommended suppliers, together with a comparison of service features, cost breakdowns, SLAs and other criteria.
- Service aggregator: combines and integrates several services into one or more new services. He ensures data integration and secure connections between his customer and multiple cloud providers. He can choose services from several providers, according to criteria previously determined with his customer.
- The enabler: can enhance a given service by optimizing specific capabilities, or by offering value-added or customized services. This may involve managing access to cloud services, identity control, performance reporting and so on. It can also offer complementary services, such as encrypting and transferring customer data to the cloud, or managing data lifecycle management (DLM). All these functions can be accessed via a user interface that hides the complexities.
The advantages of using a cloud broker
Its various missions enable companies to avoid focusing on complex and rapidly evolving issues. Integration between different cloud offerings or application portability between different cloud providers are two missions that can be difficult to master. This is precisely the role of a cloud broker.
Generally speaking, there are three main advantages to using a cloud broker:
- Improved business continuity by reducing dependence on a single cloud provider. If this is one of the company's wishes, this broker will select the most suitable services available on different platforms. It will also offer tools enabling customers to monitor the performance of the selected services, while overlooking the functional and technical complexity;
- Cost reduction: a broker can more easily obtain discounts, as he negotiates larger volumes of services. At the same time, this specialist must provide full cost visibility and budget projections for service consumption on a project-by-project basis;
- Enhanced data security: before starting to migrate applications or information to a platform, the cloud broker can check that the selected suppliers fully meet the required security standards. These may include standards or certifications imposed in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare and financial services.
The various missions of a cloud broker are very useful for companies. But a broker can only justify the extra cost of his services by the added value he brings to the suppliers' core services: not only must he facilitate his customers' day-to-day work, but also that of tomorrow!
A relationship of trust must therefore be established between broker and customer, in order to define the most appropriate migration strategy. This support should help optimize the digital transformation policy. There is a plethora of services on offer. Selecting the right services and platforms is a delicate but decisive step.
