Insights

Know-how for cloud, AIand IT operations.

Practical know-how from our engineers: concise, vendor-neutral and with clear recommendations.

7 min read

Azure Landing Zone: structure, building blocks and common mistakes

An Azure landing zone is the prepared foundation of an Azure environment: identities, networking, governance rules and security baselines are set up properly once, before the first workloads move. It prevents sprawl, makes costs traceable and is the prerequisite for a secure cloud migration.

6 min read

Choosing a managed service provider in Germany: what to look for

A managed service provider (MSP) permanently operates defined IT services and is accountable for agreed service levels. When choosing one, what matters most is location and data protection, verifiable certifications, clear response times, a transparent pricing model and fair exit terms.

6 min read

IT outsourcing: pros and cons at a glance

IT outsourcing gives companies access to specialist skills, 24/7 operations without their own shift model and predictable monthly costs. The drawbacks are dependency on the provider, loss of knowledge and coordination effort. Clear SLAs, ongoing documentation and a contractual exit largely control these risks.

6 min read

What does IT outsourcing cost? Pricing models and cost drivers

The cost of IT outsourcing depends mainly on scope, service hours (business hours or 24/7), response times and the provider's location. Monthly fees per service package are common. At MAKONIS, managed services start at €490 per month and go up to €3,900 per month for operating sovereign AI platforms.

5 min read

What is a managed service provider (MSP)?

A managed service provider (MSP) is an IT provider that permanently and independently operates defined IT services, such as cloud platforms, applications or security monitoring. It is responsible for an outcome such as availability or response time, defined in a service level agreement (SLA), and usually bills a monthly flat fee.

6 min read

What is a sovereign cloud? EU cloud and hyperscalers compared

A sovereign cloud is a cloud environment in which data, operations and legal control demonstrably remain with the customer or within the EU. Three levels matter: data sovereignty (where data lives and who holds the keys), operational sovereignty (who runs the platform) and technological sovereignty (how easily you can switch).

7 min read

Running LLMs on-premises: a guide for companies

Running an LLM locally means executing a language model on your own or dedicated infrastructure so prompts and data never leave the company. It requires a suitable open-weight model, enough GPU memory, inference software, a connection to company knowledge (RAG) and access control with logging.

7 min read

Azure consulting in Germany: provider types compared

Azure consulting in Germany comes from four provider types: large system integrators, global consultancies, specialised cloud boutiques and managed service providers. What matters is proven Azure experience, security certifications such as ISO 27001, infrastructure as code as standard and whether the partner can also run operations after the project.

6 min read

FinOps service providers in Germany: models compared

FinOps providers work in three models: software tools for cost transparency, one-off cloud cost audits and managed FinOps with ongoing optimisation. Tools provide data, audits quick savings, and managed FinOps keeps savings in place. For mid-sized companies an audit followed by ongoing support is often the most economical.

7 min read

Sovereign cloud providers compared

Sovereign cloud offerings fall into three groups: sovereignty offerings of the US hyperscalers, clouds from European providers such as STACKIT, IONOS, Open Telekom Cloud or OVHcloud, and own or hosted private clouds. The key difference is whether a provider is subject to non-European law such as the US CLOUD Act. Many companies combine groups according to how sensitive their data is.

5 min read

External IT department: when does it pay off?

An external IT department takes over operations, support and development of IT wholly or partly. It pays off when a company is too small for an in-house team with every specialism, needs 24/7 availability or cannot fill open positions. Strategy, priorities and architecture decisions should stay in-house.

6 min read

IT outsourcing contract and SLA: the checklist

A good IT outsourcing contract covers seven points: scope, service hours, response and resolution times, escalation, reporting, data protection and exit. The service level agreement (SLA) makes them measurable. If one is missing, operations lead to disputes over responsibilities or high costs when switching providers.

6 min read

24/7 operating model: building a NOC and on-call

24/7 operations consist of three building blocks: monitoring with meaningful alerts, a network operations center (NOC) or on-call rota that handles alerts around the clock, and clear runbooks for resolution. Genuine in-house 24/7 coverage needs at least five to six people per role. That is why many companies outsource at least night and weekend coverage.

7 min read

AI GDPR checklist and the EU AI Act for mid-sized companies

For GDPR-compliant AI, companies need a legal basis, transparency towards data subjects, a data processing agreement with the AI provider, control over data location and retention, and a data protection impact assessment where risk is high. The EU AI Act adds risk-based obligations; for most mid-sized use cases AI literacy of staff and transparency duties matter most. This article is not legal advice.

4 min read

Glossary: what is a hyperscaler?

A hyperscaler is a cloud provider offering compute, storage and hundreds of services from data centres worldwide with almost unlimited scalability. The largest hyperscalers are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Benefits are breadth and scale; drawbacks are dependency, hard-to-predict costs and the question of non-European legal access.

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