Choosing a Cloud Provider

Written by Ross Daniels-Comcity

There is no doubt about it, cloud computing boasts many strengths and offers
extensive business benefits; increasing business mobility, speed and efficiency
while reducing unnecessary costs and time wasted. Having said that, cloud is
not without its challenges, this means IT and businesses need to work even more
closely together to ensure cloud adoption is not counter-productive. Selecting
the correct cloud computing provider will be key to the success of bringing the
cloud to your business. Essentially not all cloud providers are created equal
therefore there are several considerations you should review before committing
to one.

For most businesses the financial advantages are obvious, but their major 
concerns are around availability of the cloud service and security of their data.  
Businesses need to ensure their provider can address both of these adequately. 
Ask the provider for details on:

Location: Where is their cloud services located?  Are their distributed data 
centers located in Australia or overseas?  If they have overseas datacenters,
those locations are subject to that countries IP and privacy laws - are those
laws adequate to protect you and your customers?

Physical Security: Is it in a secure, world class data centre or stored in the
back room of their office?  Many providers will tell you it's "distributed" or "in 
the cloud", but ask for data centre locations and provider names so you can
verify them. Major Datacenters will have 24/7 security onsite, backup power 
generators, and extensive cooling, fireproofing and protection.

Data Security: Does the provider have adequate protection, using firewalls,
intrusion protection, leading anti-spam and virus protection, and is it regularly
audited? How does your provider regulate access to their own employees? Do they have 
a process in place to protect you should one of their own employees become disgruntled?

Disaster Recovery:  Your chosen provider should have their own DR plan. 
Although it's likely to be complex and you may not need all the details, find
out what their estimated time to recovery is. Assess them and their staff - do 
they have the capability to meet that timeline?

End to End Capability: Can your cloud provider provide desktop level support? 
Or will you find yourself in a situation where the cloud provider says their
systems are fine and your traditional IT provider says all the computers
are working fine - meanwhile your business is down! 

Service Level Agreements: Every business that buys any service from a cloud 
service provider must either accept a standard service level agreement (SLA) from 
the provider or negotiate such an agreement. You should not commit mission-critical
systems to the cloud without negotiating an SLA that suits your needs and wants.

Networking Knowledge:  If your network has issues, such as slow connections 
or dropouts, will your provider point the finger at the ISP, or will they have the 
skills and ability to assist you in troubleshooting the problem?

Integration and Application Support: Does the service provider offer migration 
and application-level support? Is the provided application support SLA acceptable?
Will application updates be applied in a timely manner? How quickly does a vendor
return your calls? How easy is it to migrate your data onto the service? Conversely, 
you need to ask how easy it is to retrieve your data in the event you wish to switch
service providers.

Support Responsiveness: Every provider will claim to provide the fastest! But 
how can you be sure? Ask about "guaranteed response times" and make sure 
they have a 24/7 support system. Is the support centre located in your time 
zone, and can the provider come onsite to your business if required?

The choice of cloud provider is as much a business as a technology decision. It
is clear there are risks, costs and benefits in moving to the cloud. A cloud provider
is also a business partner, not just a technology vendor. You need a dedicated
collaborator who is prepared to develop a deep understanding of your business 
needs, one who sees cloud's possibilities for achieving high performance and
performance and links them with a tailored practicality that suits your business
You want to address your current IT issues but also create a focused, strategic
roadmap for your organisations future goals.