Why would I not just go direct to my cloud provider?

In an era where cloud adoption continues to accelerate, with the global cloud services brokerage market projected to reach USD 44.34 billion by 2032, a critical question emerges for organisations: Why engage a cloud broker when you can go directly to providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud?

The answer lies in understanding the profound complexities of today's multi-cloud landscape and the unique value propositions that experienced brokers bring to the table. Far from being unnecessary intermediaries, cloud brokers have evolved into strategic partners that deliver measurable business value across four key dimensions.

Time Efficiency: Your Most Valuable Resource Protected

The modern cloud marketplace presents an overwhelming array of choices. Research indicates that 62% of large UK organisations already utilise multi-cloud environments, with an additional 18% actively transitioning. Navigating this complexity independently requires significant time investment that most organizations simply cannot afford.

Cloud brokers eliminate the need for organisations to independently research, evaluate, and negotiate with numerous cloud service providers. This efficiency is particularly valuable for small and medium enterprises that lack dedicated cloud expertise or procurement resources. By serving as specialised intermediaries with deep market knowledge, brokers minimise search time and reduce the operational overhead associated with maintaining relationships with multiple providers.

Consider the alternative: your internal teams spending weeks or months evaluating different providers, comparing pricing models, understanding service capabilities, and negotiating contracts. A cloud broker condenses this process into days, leveraging their existing relationships and market intelligence to accelerate your decision-making process.

Complete Market Visibility: See the Full Landscape

One of the most significant advantages brokers provide is comprehensive market visibility. Unlike going direct to a single provider—where you only see that vendor's offerings—brokers maintain relationships across the entire ecosystem. They provide apples-to-apples comparisons between different cloud services and deliver updated information about provider capabilities and costs at any given time.

This visibility extends beyond simple feature comparisons. Advanced brokers employ sophisticated algorithms and methodologies to match organizational requirements with appropriate cloud services. The ViBROS framework, for example, provides automated selection of cloud services through a matchmaking system that aligns consumer requirements with provider capabilities. This holistic approach considers factors such as performance characteristics, compliance capabilities, geographic availability, and cost structures.

Cloud brokers ensure you're not limited to a single provider's perspective. They can identify when Amazon's cloud might be perfect for high-volume web pages, while Microsoft Azure or another provider might be better suited for different applications. This provider-agnostic approach prevents vendor lock-in and ensures optimal service selection for each specific use case.

Comprehensive Deal Intelligence: Options You Never Knew Existed

The cloud pricing landscape is notoriously complex, with multiple pricing models, discount programs, and negotiable terms that vary significantly across providers. Cloud brokers frequently leverage their market position to negotiate preferred pricing, identify cost-effective service configurations, and optimize resource allocation across multiple providers.

Studies suggest that businesses can reduce their cloud spending by 20-30% or more just by applying effective cloud cost optimization practices. Brokers achieve this through several mechanisms: volume-based negotiations due to their aggregated customer base, identification of the most appropriate pricing models (Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot Instances), and ongoing optimisation recommendations.

Beyond cost savings, brokers provide access to deals and discount programs that individual organisations might never discover. Instead of having individual contracts, organisations can take advantage of the relationships a broker has fostered with the bigger cloud providers. This includes access to beta programs, early access to new services, and custom enterprise discount programs that require minimum spending thresholds.

Some innovative brokers are implementing market mechanisms, including auctions, to optimise the allocation of cloud resources while balancing provider and consumer interests. These approaches create more dynamic and efficient marketplaces for cloud services, potentially leading to better resource utilisation and pricing models that more accurately reflect actual supply and demand conditions.

Expert Team at Your Disposal: Knowledge That Makes the Difference

Perhaps most importantly, cloud brokers provide organisations with access to specialised expertise that would be difficult or expensive to develop internally. This expertise encompasses technical knowledge of cloud platforms, market intelligence about provider capabilities and pricing, and methodological approaches to service selection and integration.

For many organisations, particularly those in the mid-market segment, maintaining in-house expertise across multiple cloud platforms is impractical. Cloud brokers fill this gap by offering on-demand access to specialists who continuously monitor the evolving cloud landscape and understand the nuances of different provider offerings.

This expert support extends far beyond initial selection. Cloud service brokers serve to reduce the barriers to adopting, managing, and customising services in the cloud because they fill in gaps in knowledge and skills. They are often hired to evaluate services from different vendors and provide customers with information about how to use cloud services to power digital innovation.

The expertise includes critical areas such as:

  • Security and compliance guidance: Ensuring cloud services adhere to necessary security standards and regulatory requirements

  • Integration support: Helping organizations seamlessly integrate multiple cloud services and avoid the complexities of provider-specific APIs

  • Ongoing optimisation: Continuous monitoring and recommendations to ensure optimal performance and cost efficiency

Making the Informed Decision

The question isn't whether you can go direct to cloud providers—of course you can. The question is whether you should, given the complexities of today's cloud landscape and the tangible benefits brokers provide.

Cloud brokers have emerged as essential facilitators in increasingly complex multi-cloud environments, transforming from simple intermediaries into strategic growth partners. They bridge technical complexity and business value, enabling organizations to achieve greater flexibility, improved reliability, and enhanced innovation capabilities while avoiding the pitfalls of vendor lock-in.

As multi-cloud adoption accelerates with UK adoption of multiple public clouds expected to increase from 11% to 46% within three years, the role of cloud brokers will become increasingly strategic. Organisations that establish strong broker relationships now will be well-positioned to adapt to future changes and maintain competitive advantage in increasingly digital markets.

The value proposition is clear: while you can navigate the cloud landscape alone, partnering with an experienced broker saves time, provides complete market visibility, unlocks better deals, and gives you access to expert knowledge that can make the difference between cloud success and costly mistakes.