Multi-cloud is now mainstream in UK enterprise IT. Managing AWS, Azure and hybrid platforms takes time, skills and constant optimisation. This post explains how managed services reduce risk, improve outcomes and keep costs under control.
2025 data shows managed service provider usage has risen again, with 60% of organisations now using MSPs to manage part of their public cloud. Cost control remains a top concern, with 84% reporting cloud spend is hard to manage.
UK regulators have also highlighted concentration in the cloud market. Ofcom’s final report found Amazon and Microsoft hold a combined 70–80% of UK IaaS/PaaS, and the CMA has raised switching and interoperability concerns. That makes vendor-neutral management and portability more important than ever.
Why managed multi-cloud
- Complexity: multiple providers, services and teams need aligned standards and shared visibility.
- Resilience and portability: design for failover and exit paths so you are not tied to one vendor.
- Cost control: savings plans, reservations, hybrid licensing and right-sizing need ongoing attention, not a one-off review.[2]
- Compliance: align controls to UK frameworks such as ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus across clouds.
What Pipe Ten manages for you
- Architecture and portability: Containerisation, Terraform and Ansible automation to reduce lock-in and speed change.
- Identity and access: RBAC across AWS and Azure with least privilege by default.
- Observability: one view of logs, metrics and traces; clear SLOs and incident workflows.
- Security operations: patching, vulnerability management, CIS benchmarks and SIEM integration.
- Cost optimisation: rightsizing, discount strategy, egress and data gravity reviews on a cadence.
- Change and continuity: tested failover patterns, backup and recovery, disaster recovery drills.
Business outcomes you can expect
- Faster delivery: proven patterns shorten deployment time and reduce rework.
- Lower risk: fewer single points of failure; tested recovery paths.
- Better cost control: continuous tuning instead of reactive cuts.
- Clear accountability: one partner coordinating providers, tools and process.
How we work
- Assess: baselining workloads, cost, controls and risks across providers.
- Plan: target architecture, guardrails and success metrics agreed with stakeholders.
- Deliver: implement patterns, automate and document; measure SLOs.
- Operate: 24/7 monitoring, patching and incident response with cost and security reviews.
- Improve: quarterly optimisation across performance, spend and resilience.
Why this matters in the UK
- Market concentration: Ofcom reports 70–80% combined share for AWS and Microsoft in UK cloud infrastructure; CMA has highlighted barriers to switching and interoperability.[3][4]
- Rising MSP adoption: 60% of organisations now use MSPs for public cloud management, reflecting the need for skills and continuity.[1]
- Spend pressure: 84% struggle to manage cloud spend; optimisation is ongoing work, not a one-off task.[2]
Get started
Want a managed service that keeps your AWS and Azure environments available, fast and secure? We focus on portability and ongoing optimisation so you stay flexible and in control.
References
- Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud – 60% of organisations use MSPs for public cloud management. info.flexera.com.
- Flexera 2025 – 84% say cloud spend is hard to manage (press release). Morningstar / GlobeNewswire.
- Ofcom – Cloud services market study (final report): combined 70–80% UK share for AWS and Microsoft; switching and egress concerns. ofcom.org.uk.
- CMA – Cloud services market investigation and 2025 coverage of final findings on competition and switching. gov.uk; see recent press analysis for context.
Author: Carl Heaton
Carl is a founder and CTO/CISO of Pipe Ten and uses his role to drive the company’s vision to transform business online in delivering it’s mission to forge agile technical partnerships that accelerate web success. Carl boasts an illustrious career spanning over two decades, starting as a fledgling web developer in his teens, he swiftly ascended the ranks, honing his skills in architecting secure web application infrastructure. With his finger on the pulse of emerging web technologies, Carl has tracked and influenced the ever changing world of cyber security, internet governance, industry regulations and information security compliance ensuring Pipe Ten successfully achieved and maintain ISO/IEC 27001 certification.