It’s no secret modern technology has increased the demands placed on IT departments, which in turn has led to the rapid growth of IT solutions and services. More and more IT leaders are turning to managed service providers (MSPs) to not only augment their in house capabilities but to also offer strategic advice and the benefit of outside perspective. And as reliance on MSPs continues to grow, so do client expectations for performance and availability.

This trend has highlighted the advantages of partnerships between MSPs and colocation providers. For MSPs and their clients, colocation delivers the physical infrastructure and enhanced connectivity necessary to support today’s organizations. Both the MSP and their clients reap the benefits of an advanced data center – without the burden or cost of building or maintaining their own. Additionally, many MSPs prefer to work with colocation providers who do not also offer managed services. These noncompetitive partnerships allow both the MSP and the colocation provider to focus on their core competencies, thereby enhancing their respective offerings, and create a unique opportunity to drive growth for both partners.

BUILD ON A STRONG FOUNDATION
MSPs are often sought out for their cloud expertise, but even cloud deployments require a reliable foundation. This is particularly true for mission critical IT teams, whose data and applications must be accessible around the clock. Because colocation providers have the existing infrastructure to securely house private servers and enable access to cloud services and applications, colocation makes hybrid-cloud deployments easier to implement and maintain. Additionally, the most recognized names in cloud computing – Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, and IBM Cloud – rarely offer greater than 99.99% uptime guarantees. By comparison, the best colocation providers readily guarantee 100% uptime. This may seem like a minor difference, but it can translate to hours of disruption and lead to significant ramifications, including lost revenue, missed opportunities, and damages to brand reputation.

Regardless of what it supports, every technology stack is ultimately only as strong as its foundational layer. With a dogged focus on redundancy, security, and connectivity features, colocation offers an extremely reliable foundation to build upon. Many colocation providers also boast remote hands, or teams standing by to offer 24x7x365 on-site technical support, for those times when things do go awry.

START OUT TWO STEPS AHEAD
MSPs targeting clients in regulated sectors must be prepared to meet strict compliance measures, like SSAE 18 for financial reporting, HIPAA/HITECH in healthcare, and PCI DSS 3.2 for credit card payments. As a result, many colocation providers now also invest in data center features designed to meet industry compliance.

MSPs responsible for compliance should opt for colocation partners who at minimum offer full visibility into auditing reports and preferably provide access to audit logs on demand. By partnering with a colocation company that proactively demonstrates their understanding of and compliance with industry regulations, MSPs can share the responsibility of protecting their clients’ best interests.

Likewise, many IT leaders are becoming increasingly interested in edge computing to meet the needs of digital consumers. For such a powerful application, the concept is relatively straightforward: by leveraging data centers that are physically closer to end-users, the distance the data must travel is reduced, producing faster speeds and lower latency. In simple terms, adopting edge computing means splitting data processing among a network of data centers in multiple locations.

Few companies have the resources or desire to build and maintain multiple edge data centers. For MSPs, colocation is often the quickest and most cost-effective way to embrace the edge on behalf of their clients. Additionally, choosing a colocation partner with an existing network of data center facilities means not having to work with multiple providers in different locations.

MUTUALLY ASSURED GROWTH
Many MSPs start out as colocation customers, splitting the space and equipment within their colocation agreements between their clients and themselves. By choosing a colocation provider with value-added services like remote hands and data center infrastructure management, MSPs can promote their indirect benefits, such as enhanced customer service and deployment visibility, to their clients.

So, what makes a mutually-beneficial partnership rather than a customer-vendor agreement? Most colocation providers recognize that as their customers’ businesses grow, their data center needs typically grow as well. When a savvy MSP chooses a non-competitive colocation provider, it creates an incentive for the colocation company to share business referrals. IT leaders often reach out to colocation providers directly – if the provider cannot fulfill their need for managed services, they benefit by sharing the lead with their MSPs customers.

Providers who focus exclusively on colocation often have relationships with multiple partners and solution providers. In addition to providing foundational infrastructure, colocation providers can act as a digital marketplace for complementary IT services. And in the rare case when a client wishes to maintain a separate colocation deployment, MSPs can introduce non-competitive colocation partners without the fear of conflicting priorities.

Strong MSP-colocation partnerships create a host of crucial, competitive advantages for the MSP as well as their clients. In the increasingly competitive and ever-changing space that is IT services, both MSPs and colocation providers benefit when they opt to work with non-competitive partners.

Ernest Sampera is a co-founder at vXchnge. He can be reached at esampera@vxchnge.com