Wednesday 24 October 2012

What To Look For In Cloud Service Providers

By Lucile Jacobs


Businesses have no option but to move with the changes in the technological world. This is the only way by which they will be able to provide superior checks and still be able to make profits. Cloud computing is a service that is provided by cloud service providers and it seeks to reduce the amount of money spent by firms on software and hardware.

Technical expertise is a very important attribute. The chosen team should be in a position to set up the systems in such a way that the business will be able to run its operations without any form of interruption. Clients must therefore consider the quality of the team members.

Trust is a component that cannot be taken lightly. This is especially given that fact that one will be transferring his data to a third party server. All team members must therefore be interviewed in an attempt to decide whether they can be trusted with the company information.

Downtime guarantees are meant to make certain that a business does not experience frequent outages. More than one outage per month is not acceptable. Talking to existing and former clients will provide a basic idea on how long it takes the contractor to tackle an outage. It is also a good way to learn about the measures put in place to make sure that this does not happen.

Tools are also a very important part of this process. Businesses will need to manage and analyze their data from time to time. Data analysis tools must therefore be available at all times. A client should not have to install an analysis tool on his end yet he or she has a cloud provider.

Migration to a cloud is one of the hardest tasks that an enterprise can engage in. During the hiring process, it will be important to inquire from the team whether it has processes that can help in the migration process. It should not be hard for a firm to move its applications and data.

Performance guarantees are as important as the up time guarantees. A performance guarantee must indicate the type of servers being used as well as the disc access speeds. Network bandwidth and processor types are also factors that will affect the ability of a user to access information.

A client should only work with a firm that has a superior type of customer care. Without good customer care, it may be very hard for a client to perform his work when there are problems with an application. Good customer care will ensure that the problem is addressed and a solution found within no time.

Applications, servers and all information must be kept secure. Networks must also be secured with the aim of discouraging hacker attacks. Securing the client details is very important as it ensures that no unauthorized party will get access to this details which are crucial for the operations of an organization.

A vendor that has had a third party performance audit performed is one that can be trusted. The aim of a third party audit is to ensure that the cloud service providers provide the same services that have been advertised. It also makes sure that a contractor has professional accreditation and certification.




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