Selecting an effective cloud service provider (CSP) who meets the requirements of your enterprise is a challenging task in many cases. That's because there are no CSPs who can provide you the same services at the same pricing, notes Forbes.
Additionally, the cloud computing industry is full of different cloud service providers, from well-established ones to those with smaller financial budgets. Whereas each cloud service provider comes with unique benefits, it can be challenging to choose the ideal one if you don't know the factors to consider.
The following are the top six things to consider before you choose a cloud service:
Security is a central factor you must consider before selecting a cloud service provider. That's because, in the recent past, cloud security has become a concern for IT experts as more enterprises migrate to the cloud.
Security is vitally important since your entire organization could go offline suddenly due to a cyber-security attack that causes downtime. Therefore, you should consider cloud service providers with a secure network infrastructure that excludes and categorizes various network sections. Choosing such a provider means you'll still be safeguarded even if some parts of their servers are attacked.
Although cloud technology stores data electronically, the information is often situated in a physical location. It's of utmost importance for you to understand where a cloud service provider will store your organization's data. Also, you must understand that laws in some nations may impact who can access your company data and how the provider can manage it.
For instance, Alibaba, one of the biggest global cloud service providers, is not very popular outside of China. Organizations are concerned that China might compel them to surrender their intellectual property.
Additionally, natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes, may be more common at some data storage locations than others. Therefore, before choosing a cloud service provider, consider whether the data storage location will keep your company data safe and unaltered by anyone.
Simply put, a service level agreement is an official agreement between a company and its client. Often, the SLA defines the service level the client can anticipate from the company. Therefore, you must read and understand each SLA from each potential cloud service provider to confirm if there's something that may impact your organization's daily operations.
For instance, in 2021, Microsoft Office 365's clients migrating their data to the cloud encountered an office 365 migration service throttling backoff that significantly reduced migration performance. A comprehensive SLA is crucial in such cases as it requires the organization to take responsibility and resolve the issue at hand.
Yet another important factor to consider before choosing a cloud service provider is how easy it'll be to scale up as your enterprise grows. As a business owner or manager, you expect your company to expand in size, profitability, and the number of resources it requires to run optimally. That's why you must check the providers' capability to facilitate any future upgrade that can allow you to scale up your business. For instance, if you are looking into technology to help your recruitment process. You need to be sure that your service provider can keep up with workflow demand and be able to adapt as your business scales.
It's also crucial that you consider choosing a cloud service provider with a platform that can assist you in meeting compliance regulations applicable to your company and industry. Also, ensure you understand the exact role you and your provider will play in meeting the compliance standards.
When choosing a cloud service provider, failure to consider this factor can cause problems for you in later stages. Therefore, ensure you perform due diligence to avoid such inconveniences.
Whereas you might have a competent on-site IT team, they'll still have to collaborate with the team from your proffered cloud service provider. Timely and high-quality tech support is critical to offer the needed support to address any issues that might arise.
Additionally, your provider may need tech support to train users on using different technologies. Therefore, before choosing one, you must consider the support potential cloud service providers offer.
With the above six factors, you can choose a cloud service provider who meets the requirements of your organization. Therefore, consider these things before selecting a cloud service and fully enjoy the benefits of migrating to the cloud.
