Introduction
When companies are gaining momentum with their customers and market, one of the greatest drains on resources and energy is the combined complexity, cost, and tedium of cloud infrastructure management. As their growth outpaces their cloud capability, many scramble to keep up with rapid hiring and hasty technology decisions.
Enter Defiance Digital, the managed service provider (MSP) for companies who want to prioritize success without sacrificing safety. By outsourcing the most consuming aspects of cloud management to a dedicated expert who understands cloud operations and the needs of growing businesses, you can focus on the success of your core products.
Why us?
Defiance Digital helps scaling businesses navigate and optimize the complex world of Cloud Operations. We help our customers focus on innovation without the worries around security breaches, system downtime, cost overruns, staffing/talent gaps, or regulatory compliance issues.
what we offer
Defiance Digital’s five managed service offerings–Managed Cloud, Security, Observability, Compliance, and Automation–are designed to be flexible and scalable. These offerings provide expert help individually and additional synergies when combined and match bandwidth, skills, and expertise with our clients’ current needs and future goals.
Cloud
WHAT IS ? [MANAGED CLOUD]
Managed cloud is a service for outsourcing a company’s cloud management and maintenance to a dedicated service provider. The service covers general infrastructure components (e.g., hardware and software, virtualization, etc.), security, monitoring, support, and optimization. Managing cloud is a strategic value because it establishes a solid cloud technology base to grow other technical initiatives.
Defiance Digital Managed Cloud is the foundation of our services. It is a crucial starting point for customers, as elements of other modules like compliance and security frameworks are included in the initial setup. Whether working with clients starting with the cloud from scratch or companies that want to move from another cloud provider, we bring expertise and best practices for planning, prioritizing, and executing a well-managed cloud experience.
Our Managed Cloud offering entails two main phases: the initial setup of a cloud environment and ongoing infrastructure maintenance. During implementation, Defiance Digital works with the client on infrastructure setup, account and security configuration, machine spin-ups, new user provisioning, and establishing frameworks to make future compliance easier. Defiance Digital also implements security protocols and best practices, such as using the proper account and role permissions, network segregation, logging, visibility, backups, and redundancy strategies.
Once satisfied with the operating state of the cloud environment, we move to the second phase, which reflects long-term cloud management. After implementation, Defiance Digital operates as the support and protection of your cloud infrastructure, taking ownership of the system and its integrity while maintaining open lines of communication and transparent collaborations. This long-run working relationship is one of the primary values of managed cloud, as it allows businesses to grow without the constraints of being the sole operator of their complex and evolving cloud environment.
Key Features:
- Expertly architected & managed cloud environment
- Core Security & air-gapped data recovery included
- Unlimited changes, incident, alert, & service requests
- Billing management, reducing cloud cost via cloud structure optimization
- Cloud networking management
- 24x7x365 critical incident response
- End-to-end re-platforming services
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
CHALLENGE
A fast-growing technology startup offering a SaaS platform was making significant headway in its market and acquiring customers quickly. They wanted their internal development group to be able to concentrate on product innovation, so they outsourced their cloud infrastructure management to Defiance Digital’s specialized team of experts.
SOLUTION & RESULT
Defiance Digital provided guardrails for security, access, and cost control to prevent excessive spending and ensure compliance with industry standards. Defiance Digital also offered a distinct division of responsibilities. It acted as a counterpoint to development teams, ensuring functionality was deployed rapidly without compromising existing systems. This approach minimized risk, enhanced scalability, and allowed the company to focus on core business objectives, boosting overall efficiency and performance.
Security
WHAT IS ? [MANAGED security]
Managed security is the ongoing guardianship of a company’s cloud environment via best-in-class security measures and processes. Managed security will include establishing, supporting, and updating firewalls, encryption, access controls, threat detection, and incident response.
Defiance Digital’s Managed Security module is a dynamic offering that enables continuous security maintenance and optimization in businesses’ cloud infrastructure. Unlike the initial security configuration conducted during Managed Cloud implementation, Managed Security enacts real-time security measures using specialized tools like Lacework and is an ongoing process.
Managed Security provides continuous monitoring and analysis to safeguard the client’s cloud infrastructure effectively. Agents installed on specific machines provide an internal view of processes, software, and components, allowing for proactive security assessments. This real-time scanning covers various aspects, including the system’s periphery, ingress, egress, open ports, services, and the internal network and system, such as device and machine interactions. Anomalies are detected through applications and AI-driven scanning, and potential security breaches are flagged. In the event of a security issue, our services include thorough investigation and mitigation.
One of the primary values of outsourcing cloud security is the flexibility of the MSP provider. Defiance Digital’s ability to scale up or down and access a wide range of expertise ensures that clients receive the necessary support during security incidents or high-demand periods. Defiance Digital ensures that the system stays up-to-date with continuous adaptations to address new threats and vulnerabilities. As cloud providers and software vendors frequently make changes, increasing the potential for breaches, Defiance Digital helps mitigate risks and maintain high security.
Key Features:
- Security assessment & remediation planning
- Infrastructure & application security architecture
- Alerting & notifications for key security events
- Compliance reporting
- User activity tracking & monitoring
- Vulnerability scanning & real-time monitoring
Real-World Example
CHALLENGE
A rapidly expanding e-commerce business recognized the critical need for robust security to safeguard its data and customer information across its complex infrastructure and hosting environments. They partnered with Defiance Digital to implement a dynamic security approach enabling them to monitor and analyze data from various sources.
SOLUTION & RESULT
Defiance Digital reviewed the business’s data sources and identified anomalous behavior and potential threats using AI and real-time scanning, promptly alerting the company of potential security risks. Agents were installed on specific machines to strengthen security further, providing detailed insights into internal system health and potential vulnerabilities. This proactive approach allowed the MSP to identify and mitigate security issues before they escalated, ensuring the overall security posture of the business’s infrastructure.
Compliance
WHAT IS ? [MANAGED COMPLIANCE]
Managed compliance ensures a company’s cloud infrastructure and practices adhere to current industry regulations, standards, and data protection requirements. A cloud compliance provider will diligently observe and adhere to the evolving compliance landscape to help the company avoid potential legal and regulatory issues.
Defiance Digital’s Managed Compliance is an advisory-centric service that helps companies establish and meet ongoing compliance standards. Our flexible approach is tailored for companies just starting their compliance journey, and for those that want to perform it more effectively in the cloud.
Defiance Digital has specific expertise with all the common frameworks attached to using cloud technology today, including SSAE-18 SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS. We can provide assistance, best practices, and insights for managing compliance across many industry and business use cases, such as data storage and management for sensitive customer financial information (e.g., SOC 2) or health records (e.g., HIPAA).
Defiance Digital gathers information and requirements to help lay the groundwork for successful ongoing compliance, such as network setup, VPN usage, login frequency, access audits, and penetration testing. We track and maintain vital information utilizing specialized software platforms for compliance management and will also work directly with auditors. We help organizations align their existing practices with industry-approved standards for code deployment, focusing on people, decision-making, and problem-solving within the organization.
Key Features:
- Initial and continuous compliance advisory and remediation
- External audit readiness assistance
- Continuous compliance guidance
Real-World Example
CHALLENGE
A young technology firm was growing rapidly and needed a comprehensive compliance framework for its first upcoming regulatory audits. They hired Defiance Digital’s Managed Compliance experts to assess the firm’s existing practices and develop a tailored compliance strategy.
SOLUTION & RESULT
Defiance Digital reviewed areas like the client’s network setup and VPN usage and performed penetration testing. It facilitated ongoing tracking and maintenance of vital information by leveraging specialized software platforms for compliance management. Additionally, Defiance acted as an advisory resource, offering valuable insights and guidance during audits and compliance evaluations. Defiance’s ongoing Managed Compliance provided the company with a streamlined and effective compliance process, allowing them to grow with confidence.
Observability
WHAT IS ? [MANAGED OBSERVABILITY]
Managed observability uses integrated monitoring technology to provide real-time insights into individual component performance, availability, and behavior. These insights allow companies to identify potential issues quickly and continuously improve the efficiency of their cloud environments.
Defiance Digital’s Managed Observability is a vital aspect of our services. While security focuses on threat and risk mitigation, observability focuses on real-time system efficiency. Observability provides real-time data across multiple infrastructure components, allowing organizations to anticipate and address potential problems before they escalate and ensuring their cloud infrastructure’s overall health and reliability.
Observability covers logging, performance tracking, availability metrics, and general robustness and reliability. It addresses the inherent visibility challenges that come with a distributed environment with monitoring agents that run locally on individual machines, collecting detailed metrics and data for valuable insights. For example, observability helps detect resource constraints like low disk space or high CPU utilization, allowing proactive measures before the system becomes overwhelmed.
Observability also helps identify potential security threats, such as denial of service attacks or unusual spikes in access. Observability requires ongoing adjustments as systems, user bases, and applications change.
Defiance Digital supports observability by maintaining system availability and health and improving insights into system performance. Defiance Digital offers this service using DataDog as our primary platform, though we are adaptable to various technology platforms. Our services cover a subset of DataDog’s features tailored to our client’s needs.
Key Features:
- Cloud infrastructure monitoring & alerting
- Observability platform management
- Proactive monitoring of microservices
- Application performance monitoring
- Intelligent log management
- Reporting dashboards & insights
Real-World Example
CHALLENGE
A high-growth fintech experiencing rapid growth was upgrading its systems, shifting from a monolithic structure to a modern microservices and API-based framework. In their current state, they had difficulty tracking system and customer issues, leading to revenue generation concerns, declining customer service quality, and increased downtime. Defiance helped the fintech instrument their microservices and transition to a modern infrastructure, including leveraging observability best practices and processes.
SOLUTION & RESULT
The strategy included integrating Datadog to provide end-to-end observability. Defiance helped the fintech collect and create meaningful applications and custom metrics. They helped optimize a centralized logging strategy, implemented advanced tagging structures, and built valuable dashboards turning metrics into insights so the fintech could see how downtime impacted revenues. The fintech’s leadership gained valuable visibility into platform performance, and developers benefited from faster time to resolution through distributed tracing, a critical aspect in a microservices environment.
Automation
WHAT IS ? [MANAGED AUTOMATION]
Managed automation is the practice of streamlining how applications, assets, and resources are approved, tested, and deployed. It automates tasks like merge approvals, application build and test, and deployment to multiple environments so that companies can build, maintain, and improve their code and application base more efficiently and effectively.
With Managed Automation, Defiance Digital helps clients build an effective, seamless development pipeline in alignment with an existing cloud infrastructure. This module allows businesses to capture the efficiency of an automated development and deployment process without worrying about the complexities of managing the automation infrastructure. Automation is crucial to Defiance Digital’s services, although it is not mandatory for all our clients. However, combining Automation with Managed Cloud increases the value of Automation dramatically.
Automation streamlines the technical aspects of building, testing, and moving code through different environments with proper approvals, leading to its successful deployment in production. Changes made to code and pipelines can be synchronized, resulting in a more efficient and effective workflow. Defiance Digital ensures the ongoing success of automation by maintaining the system and keeping it up-to-date.
Automation, like infrastructure, is often overlooked until a crisis occurs. Testing and other critical aspects may be neglected when under pressure to meet deadlines. However, when automation and cloud management are integrated, enforcing best practices and implementing more sustainable and holistic processes (e.g., trunk-based development) becomes more manageable, ensuring a smoother development process.
Key Features:
- Build & deploy automation
- Completely managed DevOps pipelines
- CI/CD pipeline development
- Pipeline documentation
- Automation tool chain implementation & maintenance
- End-to-end Infrastructure as Code management
- Multi-environment deployment
Real-World Example
CHALLENGE
A software development firm faced challenges streamlining its development process while maintaining synchronization with its cloud infrastructure. They adopted Defiance Digital’s Managed Automation services to help implement a development pipeline, including building, testing, and deploying code.
SOLUTION & RESULT
Defiance Digital took care of the technical aspects and ensured the automation process was up-to-date and aligned with best practices. The client experienced smoother collaboration between automation and infrastructure management, resulting in increased productivity, reduced downtime, and accelerated delivery of software updates to production.
About [Defiance]
Founded in 2020 out of Defiance Ventures, Defiance Digital is an AWS managed services provider offering pay-as-you-grow cloud services and consulting for small and medium businesses. We focus on delivering personalized support and exceptional results through direct access to elite cloud engineers who embrace our ‘customers as co-workers’ ethos. Our mission is to maximize cloud benefits while minimizing complexity and costs, allowing our clients to focus on their core business.
Our team of cloud experts offers end-to-end support, from strategy to execution, providing our clients with reliable, secure, and scalable solutions tailored to their unique needs. We foster strong relationships with AWS, Datadog, Lacework, Clumio, and other strategic partners to provide the best-of-breed security, observability, automation, and public cloud solutions. We operate with transparency, thoughtfulness, proactivity, and agility and constantly evolve to remain valuable partners for our scaling customers.
