Healthcare organizations continue to look toward the cloud for building and running critical applications and services. To accelerate time to market, ensure regulatory compliance, and maximize cloud benefits, many engage outside consultants and managed service providers (MSPs) with expertise in public cloud environments.
Logicworks emerged as a popular choice for some organizations moving to or operating in the cloud. But how does this company stack up against other key cloud partners, including Cloudticity, ClearDATA, and Mission Cloud? Comparing the pros and cons of these companies can help you determine which is the right partner for your organization.
Logicworks—now owned by the telecommunications giant Cox Communications—helps organizations migrate applications to AWS and Azure, and then run those applications in cloud environments. The company’s Cloud Reliability Platform is designed to simplify management of AWS and Azure services while enabling organizations to achieve security, compliance, availability, and cost-saving goals.
Logicworks was acquired by Cox in 2023. Since then, Cox Business (a division of Cox Communications) has rebranded Logicworks as part of RapidScale—a managed cloud services platform. Cox promotes RapidScale as “powered by Logicworks.”
RapidScale offers a wide array of managed IT and professional services, including desktop-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service, security-as-a-service, cloud orchestration, monitoring, and other offerings. Its cloud-specific services—several of which were acquired or enhanced through the Logicworks acquisition—include migration, optimization, security and compliance, and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) services, among others.
In the past, Logicworks has focused on highly regulated industries such as healthcare and finance. RapidScale, however, serves organizations in a broader range of fields, from automotive and education to real estate and retail.
Logicworks, and now RapidScale, operates in the highly competitive marketplace for technology and cloud MSPs. But some of the closest competitors have unique capabilities or areas of expertise that make them good alternatives.
Founded in 2011, Cloudticity is a cloud-based MSP that focuses exclusively on helping healthcare organizations be successful on the public cloud. It offers a unique combination of public cloud and healthcare expertise that enables organizations to build and run innovative applications and services on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. With Cloudticity’s consulting, managed services, and automated capabilities, organizations can speed time to market for new applications, tap into cutting-edge technologies (including generative AI), strengthen security, maintain regulatory compliance, achieve HITRUST certification, and more.
Cloudticity played a key role in some of the earliest and largest healthcare successes on the public cloud, including:
Cloudticity assists healthcare organizations optimize cloud environments for innovation. With its deep expertise in healthcare, cloud platforms, and regulatory compliance, Cloudticity helps those organizations protect sensitive data, comply with HIPAA and other regulations, and accelerate HITRUST certification. Its emphasis on automation and access to real-time spending information can help streamline operations and reduce costs.
Cloudticity might not be the best fit for companies outside of healthcare and the life sciences, or companies not dealing with protected health information (PHI). And because Cloudticity focuses on public cloud environments, companies looking to build and run applications exclusively in on-premises environments might not make the most of what Cloudticity offers.
Cloudticity will be best for healthcare providers, payers, health tech companies, genomics and life science companies, public sector organizations, and other healthcare organizations that want to build, run, and secure applications or services in public cloud environments. The company has a track record of working with healthcare organizations of all sizes and has never had a breach.
ClearDATA claims to provide the first and only cloud compliance and security solution purpose-built for healthcare. Established in 2009, the company offers several managed services and professional services, including cloud compliance, managed detection and response, cloud operations, cloud enablement, and staff augmentation. The ClearDATA CyberHealth Platform is cloud security posture management software designed to prevent, detect, and remediate compliance drift and sensitive data security gaps on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
ClearDATA is strongly focused on helping healthcare organizations protect data and achieve regulatory compliance. It offers a variety of robust security solutions for safeguarding sensitive healthcare data. And the company’s team understands the unique challenges and requirements of healthcare organizations.
Compared with Cloudticity, ClearDATA offers less flexibility in cloud configurations, makes it more difficult to access and modify cloud environments, and concentrates less on automating key tasks. In addition, ClearDATA’s focus on healthcare means that organizations outside of that field will be better served elsewhere.
ClearDATA could be a good alternative to RapidScale for healthcare organizations looking specifically to strengthen security or improve regulatory compliance in the cloud.
Mission Cloud offers a suite of managed cloud services, consulting services, and software to help simplify adoption and management of AWS applications. The Mission Cloud team can guide organizations through migration, optimization, modernization, app development, and data engineering projects. Its Mission Control platform allows organizations to benchmark, analyze, and track the performance of their AWS cloud environments. The company serves multiple industries, including not only healthcare and life sciences but also media, finance, retail, private equity, and software.
Mission Cloud can provide organizations with a variety of services for streamlining management, improving performance, and reducing the costs of building and running applications on AWS. Its focus on AWS means that the company can help its customers tap into the latest AWS technologies, including generative AI.
However, Mission Cloud services are available for AWS only. Organizations interested in using Azure or Google Cloud should look elsewhere. In addition, the company might not have the same level of expertise in supporting healthcare organizations and ensuring regulatory compliance as other Logicworks alternatives.
Mission Cloud might provide a good alternative to RapidScale for organizations looking for a partner with a focus on AWS.
How can you decide whether RapidScale/Logicworks or an alternative would be the right fit for your organization?
What clouds are you using or do you intend to use? If you’re using AWS only, you could work with RapidScale, Cloudticity, ClearDATA, or Mission Cloud. However, if you plan to use any cloud other than AWS—now or in the future—you might need to cross Mission Cloud off the list. Its focus on AWS means you will have limited options now and little flexibility for change later.
All of the companies reviewed here can help healthcare organizations. But Cloudticity and ClearDATA are exclusively focused on healthcare. That focus can be helpful in navigating the complexities of HIPAA compliance and HITRUST certification, as well as compliance with other rules and regulations. Both firms enable organizations to inherit or partially inherit controls that can be used in their own HITRUST certification process. Moreover, working with a healthcare-focused team ensures that you can all speak the same language as you build and optimize cloud environments for healthcare apps and services.
Managing cloud environments can be challenging, especially when you need to maintain high availability for critical applications, protect highly sensitive data, and sustain compliance with rigorous laws. Look for MSPs that capitalize on automation as much as possible for monitoring, remediation, and other tasks. Automation can help decrease risks and significantly reduce the human bandwidth required for administration—and that can save you money.
One of the great advantages of the cloud is its flexibility for change. You can easily scale resources up or down, restructure architectures, or adopt new services, all without having to worry about capital expenditures. Your cloud-based MSP should ensure that you can fully benefit from that flexibility. You should be able to make changes rapidly and directly, without having to go through a ticketing and contact system. You should also have clear visibility into your environment so you can better understand what all of your options are.
As part of your due diligence, be sure to evaluate not only the expertise of team members but also the training and support services available. First, you need to be sure that an MSP has sufficient expertise with your industry and the challenges you want to address. But you also want to make sure that you are not hiring a black box, where all knowledge and skills are shielded from you. Your MSP should help your team better understand how to build, manage, and operate cloud services. You should have access to self-service capabilities and be able to fully participate in modifying and optimizing services.
In addition, an MSP should provide the support you need, when you need it. Whether you are ready to make a strategic architectural decision, want to find ways to reduce costs, or need to put your ransomware recovery plan into motion, your MSP should be ready to help.
Pricing will, of course, play a role in selecting an MSP. Beyond comparing the costs for supporting your first engagement, consider costs for a longer-term relationship. Choose an MSP that will enable you to achieve economies of scale as your cloud environment grows.
Logicworks, now part of the Cox-owned RapidScale, offers a range of services for organizations looking to build, run, and secure applications in public cloud environments. But whether you are just starting your cloud journey or are considering a move from Logicworks, there are several alternatives that could be a better fit for your healthcare organization. Consider working with an MSP that can offer the right combination of healthcare focus, expertise in regulatory compliance, automation, and flexibility for change.
Learn more about why Cloudticity is a strong alternative to Logicworks. Contact us for a free consultation today.