6 Ways Managed Service Providers Drive AWS Value

6 Ways Managed Service Providers Drive AWS Value

By Corey Beck, Director of Cloud Technologies at DataStrike

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After working with dozens of businesses across various industries, startups, growing SMBs, and even some large-scale enterprises, there’s one thing I’ve seen again and again: most companies using AWS are only scratching the surface of what the platform can actually do for them. Too often, people assume that once they're "in the cloud," the hard part is over. The infrastructure is in place. Workloads are running. Mission accomplished, right?

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‍Not quite.

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At DataStrike, we work with a lot of clients who already have AWS up and running—but what they’re really looking for is a partner who can help them make it work better. Whether that’s cutting costs, boosting performance, or freeing up their internal teams, our job is to optimize not just their cloud, but the way they work within it. Here’s six ways DataStrike optimizes your AWS to drive peak performance and value.

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1. Identifying Gaps

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Some clients are still early in their AWS journey, while others have had infrastructure deployed for years. Regardless of where they’re at, the story is often the same: environments were spun up quickly, sometimes without a real strategy in place, and now the team is trying to maintain or scale without the time, headcount, or expertise to do it well.

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What I’ve found is that many businesses don’t even realize how much room there is for improvement. There’s this assumption that “if it’s in the cloud, it’s secure, scalable, and cost-efficient.” But in reality, most environments accumulate inefficiencies over time, whether it’s over-provisioned resources, missed savings opportunities, or outdated architecture.

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2. Performance Optimization

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Yes, cost optimization is always part of the equation, but the real magic happens when you balance cost with performance. At DataStrike, we go deep. We look at everything from resource sizing to usage trends to storage access patterns. Is your EC2 instance over-provisioned? Could your batch jobs run on spot instances or be moved to Lambda? Are you paying for high-performance compute you don’t actually need 24/7? This level of technical evaluation is where MSPs can make a huge difference. We don’t just recommend general cost cuts, we look at what your workloads actually do and build smarter architectures around that behavior.

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3. Strategic Automated Scaling

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Another area where we provide a lot of value is in automated scaling and resource management. But here’s the thing—it’s not just about flipping on Auto Scaling Groups or moving to serverless. It’s about understanding why and when your traffic or compute needs change.

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For example, let’s say your users are primarily in the U.S. but you’ve got some activity from Europe. We help you identify peak usage times, regional demand, and application dependencies—then we build a scaling strategy that supports that pattern without overspending.

It’s not about the tools. It’s about how you apply them, and that requires knowing your environment intimately.

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4. Simplifying Processes

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One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen isn’t even technical, it’s people and process. Many internal teams are doing the best they can, but they’re stretched thin or simply not trained in AWS best practices. Especially for companies coming from an on-prem world, the shift can be overwhelming.

That’s where we step in, not to replace your team, but to extend it.

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We handle things like:

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• Cloud monitoring and alerting

• Backup and disaster recovery

• IAM configuration and patch management

• Security audits and compliance

• Infrastructure management for EC2, ECS, RDS, and more

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This means your internal team gets to focus on higher-value, strategic work while we take care of the cloud plumbing. We’re available 24/7, and in a lot of cases, we end up improving team morale and work-life balance just by reducing the noise.

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5. Rethinking Architecture

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One of the most impactful parts of our engagement often happens during Well-Architected Framework reviews. These aren’t just box-checking exercises, we sit down with your workload owners and dig into the pillars: performance, cost, security, resilience, operational excellence, and now sustainability.

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From there, we propose architectural changes that aren’t just technically sound, they’re aligned with what your business actually needs next quarter, not just what worked last year. In some cases, that means rethinking your EC2 footprint. In others, it might mean re-platforming into container-based microservices. And sometimes, the best solution is helping the team realize what not to touch just yet. Our job isn’t to over-engineer, it’s to engineer with purpose.

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6. Continuous Improvement

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If I’m being honest, one of the biggest challenges I’ve run into isn’t AWS itself—it’s the perception that “the cloud just works.” This mindset is common, especially at higher leadership levels. The idea that “we moved to the cloud, so we’re good now” leads to a false sense of security. But AWS isn’t static. Workloads evolve. Security threats evolve. Your architecture has to evolve too. One of the most rewarding parts of the job is helping people see that—and giving them the tools to adapt. Our clients don’t just want someone who can spin up instances. They want someone who can tell them if the architecture from 2022 still makes sense in 2025.

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Final Thoughts: The Value of a Real Partner

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At the end of the day, what we offer at DataStrike goes beyond infrastructure support. We offer peace of mind, clarity, and momentum. If you're looking at your AWS bill and wondering where the money’s going...If your team is tired of chasing down performance issues or handling after-hours alerts…
If you feel like AWS has more potential than you're currently getting from it…

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That’s when you bring in an MSP like us. Not just to fix things—but to make sure your cloud actually moves your business forward. Let’s build something that works better, smarter, and longer. Contact us today to learn more about how we maximize value for your AWS environment.

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