These days, it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that your business can achieve essentially anything with the cloud. Over the years, the variety of cloud functionality has flourished, as Solutions Review observes.
However, if you are considering shifting your firm to the cloud, the range of services to pick from can be bewildering. As cloud services are far from equal, you should ask providers these questions before proceeding.
“Can these services help me to meet my specific objectives?”
Why do you want to move your business to the cloud in the first place? You could put the cloud to a myriad of purposes, including increasing flexibility, agility and availability.
It might help you to assess the importance of your cloud-related objectives and try to rank them on this measure, as CIO advocates. How much are you willing to spend to meet particular goals?
“How exactly is the cloud Service Level Agreement (SLA) defined?”
With every cloud service provider (CSP) you consider, ask them what each SLA includes, as this will help you to discern which of them should best meet your requirements.
Keep in mind that SLAs can significantly vary in their breadth and complexity, and some SLA definitions could include worrying gaps that risk you falling foul of loopholes.
“How flexible is this service?”
While you might have a definite idea of your current cloud needs, those needs could fluctuate over time. For that reason, ask if you could add or remove services as necessary, Forbes recommends.
You might feel comfortable in choosing a cloud service based on a popular, versatile platform. Consider, for example, that Heficed provide Windows cloud server solutions for enterprise use.
“How is this cloud kept secure?”
Just like you wouldn’t task a company with installing a door that you know could easily be broken, you shouldn’t opt for a cloud that is lax in security.
Therefore, you should ask the CSP for details of their industry certifications and whether their services, including security and database offerings, have multi-platform compatibility. Also, ask who is ultimately responsible for securing your data – you, the CSP or both?
“Can all of my apps be migrated seamlessly to this cloud?”
Your company might rely on regularly using a broad range of apps, but are you certain whether all of those apps could be transferred hitch-free to the cloud?
You should be particularly concerned if any of those apps were written for a specific orchestration platform or are, in one way or another, vendor-specific. Therefore, ask the CSP whether they use the application programming interfaces that could save you having to rewrite apps.
“How can you help me with the migration process?”
Will the CSP require you to carry out all of the migration work yourself, or will they help you along the way? If the latter is the case, establish exactly what the provider will do and what will be left for you to do. You should also learn how the CSP will react if the migration process hits a snag.
