A managed service provider (MSP) is a third-party company that remotely manages a customer's information technology (IT) infrastructure and end-user systems. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), nonprofits, and government agencies hire MSPs to perform a defined set of day-to-day management services. These services may include network and infrastructure management, security, and monitoring.  Adopting managed services is intended to be an efficient way to stay up-to-date on technology, have access to skills and address issues related to cost, quality of service and risk.

As the IT infrastructure components of many SMB and large corporations are migrating to the cloud, with MSPs (managed services providers) increasingly facing the challenge of cloud computing, a number of MSPs are providing in-house cloud services or acting as brokers with cloud services providers.  A recent survey claims that a lack of knowledge and expertise in cloud computing, appears to be the main obstacle to this transition.