How to Maintain Compliance with a Managed Service Provider

Compliance regulations can be difficult to manage when moving to the cloud or making changes. Often, IT teams become overwhelmed with migration, so compliance-related problems can fall through the cracks. Managed service providers provide consulting, tools, and solutions to maintain compliance and keep your cloud running efficiently.

Many people use MSPs to maintain compliance with certain existing rules, such as HIPAA or SOC2. MSPs provide managed and professional services related to infrastructure and platform operations. Thus, it’s critical that MSPs help you maintain compliance while maintaining compliance for themselves. A lot of MSPs have a focus on compliance and provide the tools needed to have peace of mind.

Considering the interest in hyperscale public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP), understanding compliance concerns is important. These platforms are not inherently compliant, but they have the services to facilitate compliance. Managed service providers come in to eliminate these fears.

Migrating to the cloud

One of the greatest benefits of an MSP is the close relationship they forge with clients. When migrating, they work to fully understand their client’s needs. It’s important to find an MSP that can manage your compliance while working on your move to the cloud. Some providers offer migration services with compliance specifically in mind.

Compliant Infrastructure and Tools

Managed service providers offer a wide variety of tools. Some have exceptional strengths in certain areas, such as compliance and security. When making the move to the cloud, or when adding to existing cloud services, it’s important to find a provider that can build a compliance-centric cloud infrastructure.

MSPs that fit your compliance needs can build tools for management, assessment, security gap analysis, and more. These options make it easier for teams to see issues and resolve them. If a task is too difficult for an IT team to solve on their own, an MSP will likely be able to help.

Automation is inevitable for maintaining compliance in the future. Many MSPs can integrate automated compliance assessments, so you don’t need to worry about gaps in your system. Considering the vast amount of regulations, enterprises shouldn’t have to worry about ineffective cloud tools.

If you feel you don’t need a hands-on approach, there are other options to help your cloud. Most MSPs offer consulting and other professional services to help in a variety of ways. It’s never a bad idea to ask for help from large teams of Certified Cloud Professionals.

GDPR Compliance

Considering the recency of GDPR taking effect, many enterprises may still be confused or having trouble. Migrating to the cloud increases the complexity. Moving existing workloads and data can be daunting on its own but managing regulations can make it more difficult.

Many managed service providers have an international presence, especially those with a focus on enterprises. Since GDPR is exclusive to Europe, it can be difficult for companies working across the globe to build tools for European data. Connecting with an MSP with similar global presence to yourself, or what your expansion plans are, makes the most sense for having compliance efficiency. For European readers, the market for MSPs that have a focus on GDPR compliance is there, so be sure to understand all your options.