High-touch managed services - Closing the cloud skills gap

Cloud technology now underpins how many businesses operate and grow. It enables organisations to innovate faster, scale with flexibility and access powerful tools without heavy infrastructure costs. For many, the cloud is not just an IT choice but the foundation for resilience and future competitiveness.

Yet the scalability, collaboration, security and cost benefits are becoming harder to access, with 57% of UK businesses in Hyve’s IT and Tech Skills Gap Report having an unmet need for in-house cloud computing skills, a reflection of the skills shortage in the wider industry.

The rapid pace of technological advancement, insufficient training and a shortfall in skilled applications from schools and universities have exacerbated the issue. In some cases, cloud projects are being slowed down or even shelved as businesses struggle to find knowledgeable and experienced cloud talent.

While improvements in the talent market are possible with targeted initiatives, businesses can’t sit and wait for them to happen. If they don’t take immediate action, the shortage of internal cloud expertise can create security gaps, leading to breaches or compliance failures that erode trust with customers and partners. In fact, the O'Reilly 2024 State of Security Survey report, finds that cloud security expertise remains a major concern, with 38.9% of respondents pointing to it as the most critical skills gap.

Yet, the problem extends beyond security. It can also result in costly outages or poorly executed migrations, which reflect badly on a company’s reliability. Over time, these missteps signal to the market that the organisation lacks the capability to manage modern technologies, harming its reputation and competitiveness.

For SMEs, the impact is greater, as they compete with larger firms for scarce talent while working with tighter budgets and lean teams, and are therefore often forced to offer higher salaries. At the same time, limited budgets and lean teams mean even small missteps can drain resources, damage credibility and slow growth, leaving them less able to compete against larger, better-resourced rivals.

Finding a way forward

An alternative solution is needed to bridge the skills gap and provide an immediate impact for SMEs in particular. MSPs are the partners that bring deep experience and specialist knowledge to the table, designing and deploying optimised cloud hosting solutions that meet the specific needs of a business. And they are becoming increasingly popular. Flexera’s 2025 State of the Cloud Report highlights that 84% of organisations globally struggle to manage cloud spend and 60% now use MSPs in some capacity.

Opting for an MSP approach ensures the business has a range of external experts to call upon for support, 24/7. And by avoiding onboarding delays or hiring overheads associated with internal hires, businesses can save on costs at the same time.

Equally, using an MSP often delivers enhanced value over the long term. With expertise in cloud strategy, these organisations can remotely manage a company’s IT ecosystem and give smaller businesses access to the latest technologies and best-in-class providers that would be otherwise unattainable for SMEs. This can include helping with the right infrastructure, migration, management and optimisation.

From the security perspective too, they can handle key tasks such as managing protection settings, or implementing threat detection and monitoring, allowing internal teams to concentrate on essential business operations.

Making the right choice

Providers vary in approach and depth of service, so selection matters. When making a choice, companies should prioritise a high-touch approach that goes far beyond the transactional model of hyperscalers or MSPs driven by private equity. Instead, they should favour providers that focus on building multi-year relationships rather than concentrating primarily on consumption growth or financial targets like many hyperscalers do.

This means opting for a partner that leads structured discovery workshops, designs reference architectures aligned to business and compliance needs, provides transparent cost models and guarantees measurable service levels supported by expert availability round the clock.

With these foundations in place, a high-touch MSP can move quickly to deliver tailored hosting environments for mission-critical workloads, ensuring consistent uptime and alignment with business objectives. The best providers put relationships first, offering flexible management tiers, direct engineer access, and dedicated account managers, demonstrating a commitment to long-term trust and exceptional service rather than short-term profit.

Building confidence in the cloud

The cloud offers enormous potential, but the skills gap continues to hold many businesses back from realising its full value. For SMEs especially, the risk of missteps can be costly, both financially and reputationally. By working with the right MSP, organisations can access the expertise, security and reliability needed to safeguard operations and drive growth. High-touch managed services help bridge the divide between ambition and capability, enabling businesses to focus on what they do best while knowing their cloud infrastructure is resilient, secure and built to support long-term success.