Why We Built Servala: Solving the Managed Services Gap in Cloud Native Environments
In today’s cloud native world, one thing is clear: modern applications rely on more than just compute, storage, and network. They need databases, caches, identity services, monitoring, and more - all as reliable, managed services.
And yet, too often, these services are missing from cloud platforms. This gap inspired us to build Servala - the open cloud native service hub for cloud providers, software vendors, and DevOps teams.
Here’s the story behind why Servala exists, the problem it solves, and how it opens up new opportunities across the cloud ecosystem.
The Challenge: No Managed Services Where You Need Them
After over a decade of supporting developers with platform engineering at VSHN, we identified a recurring problem across public clouds, enterprise platforms, and Kubernetes clusters: most environments lacked ready-to-use managed services for critical components like PostgreSQL, Redis, or Keycloak.
That meant development teams were forced to build and operate these services themselves - every time, in every environment. It was a huge duplication of effort, and it took time and focus away from delivering value to users.
Even in 2025, many cloud platforms still provide infrastructure only - compute, storage, networking - but leave out the most important part of the application stack.
The Insight: It’s Not Just Us
We weren’t the only ones struggling. From internal IT departments to software agencies and cloud users across Europe, the same issue kept surfacing: everyone had to bring their own services. There was no standard way to deliver managed services in hybrid or sovereign environments.
Large hyperscalers like AWS and Azure solved this years ago - offering rich catalogs of SaaS-like managed services natively. But most regional or sovereign cloud providers don’t have the capacity or know-how to match that.
That’s where the opportunity began.
The Breakthrough: Delivering Managed Services via Kubernetes
In 2020, we developed a solution for a customer: provisioning managed services directly inside a Kubernetes or OpenShift cluster, with full automation, monitoring, and compliance.
By early 2021, this was in production, and developers could instantly launch secure and scalable services without ticketing or manual setup. Over the next two years, we expanded the catalog and refined the self-service experience developers love.
By 2023, we asked:
What if we gave this capability directly to cloud providers - so they could offer a modern, hyperscaler-like experience to their customers?
That’s when Servala was born.
Introducing Servala: Empowering Cloud Providers & Software Vendors
Servala is an open cloud native service hub that helps:
Cloud Providers offer modern, fully managed services on their infrastructure
Software Vendors turn their applications into SaaS offerings with zero operational overhead
DevOps Teams discover, deploy, and manage services across cloud, hybrid, and sovereign environments
For Cloud Providers: Compete with Hyperscalers
If you're running a cloud platform and already offering compute and storage - you can now add a catalog of managed services that are provisioned, monitored, backed up, and updated automatically.
Servala gives you a white-label-ready ecosystem of services, powered by open standards, Kubernetes-native provisioning, and full transparency.
You focus on infrastructure. Servala handles the service layer.
👉 Want to enhance your cloud offering? Get in touch.
For Software Vendors: Offer Your App as SaaS
We quickly discovered another gap: many software companies want to become SaaS providers but struggle with the operational side - monitoring, compliance, alerting, backups, 24/7 support... It’s a lot.
With Servala, you can offer your software as a managed service without running your own infrastructure or setting up your own DevOps team. Simply onboard your app, define packaging and parameters, and instantly reach multiple cloud providers and enterprise customers.
👉 Want to SaaS-ify your product? Let’s talk.
What’s Next for Servala?
In 2025, we’re focused on making Servala a truly self-service platform for software vendors, so they can onboard and operate their services independently - with guardrails and support built in.
We’re also expanding our open standard for cloud native SaaS delivery, with a consortium of cloud providers, vendors, and enterprise users helping shape the specification.
Want to Learn More?
🎥 Watch the “Intro to Servala” webinar
🔗 Explore the Servala Service Catalog
📬 Subscribe to Updates (below)
Experience the Future of Managed Services
Whether you’re building infrastructure, developing software, or running platforms - Servala gives you the tools to deliver services at scale, with confidence.
Now’s the time to stop reinventing the wheel. Let’s build the future of cloud native together - open, composable, and sovereign.
