Cloud services brokerage (CSB) is an IT role and business model in which a company or other entity adds value to one or more (public or private) cloud services on behalf of one or more consumers of that service via three primary roles including aggregation, integration and customization brokerage.

Cloud service brokerage provides the intermediary between cloud providers and cloud consumer that assist companies in choosing the services and offerings that best suits their needs. They may also assist in the deployment and integration of apps across multiple clouds or provide a choice and possible cost saving function which include multiple competing services from a catalog.

Value added services like migration, VM portability, and API management and normalization from cloud brokerage platforms like ComputeNext also allow end users freedom to move between platforms and keep options available at a variety of cloud vendors.

There are three primary areas a cloud service broker can address in accelerating the adoption of the cloud:

1. Aggregation – enabling the consumption of cloud by end users via a cloud application marketplace approved by the company

2. Integration – ensuring cloud applications exchange data with each other and with on-premise applications to orchestrate business processes

3. Customization – augmenting cloud services with changes to data schema or enhanced security and compliance

The challenge for IT is that the cloud is relatively immature compared to on-premise enterprise software. By adding customized capabilities on top of cloud services, the enterprise can realize the benefits of cloud, while also meeting its other business objectives including data security and compliance. In particular, organizations are looking to augment the cloud and achieve the following:

1. Reduce risk with more robust security and compliance capabilities

2. Add value and visibility with analytics

3. Centralize functionality for audit trails and policy enforcement

4. Streamline the selection process of cloud services

Advantages of CSB:

1) Broader Technical Expertise

2) Lower Total Cost of Ownership – Financial Returns

3) Operational efficiencies

4) Better options in dealing with risk, compliance and governance