How to select the right cloud service provider
With the world embarking on virtualization, transitioning to the cloud is the need of the hour. As more and more IT systems are getting externalized, it is crucial to analyze and compare the cloud services elaborately for long-term business success.
However, the comparison is difficult, considering the cut-throat competition in today’s vast cloud service market. The industry has many providers offering various services, from giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google to smaller niche players delivering bespoke cloud services. And this makes the selection of the right cloud provider increasingly challenging. The secret to making a safe cloud investment is establishing a defined procurement and selection process weighted towards unique business needs.
Want to select the right cloud service provider? Here are six criteria that businesses should consider before investing in any cloud services
- Security Certifications and Standards
- Reliability
- Transparency
- Technology Advancements
- Manageability
- Cost
1. Security Certifications and Standards
It’s simple, data demands security, so cloud service providers need to confirm their security standards to be top-notch. Cloud service providers must comply with significant industry certifications, including ISO 27001 or other Cyber Essentials Schemes initiated by the Government. The best data governance mechanism, followed by a structured service support process, remains the kingpin of cloud service providers’ selection process.
Multiple certifications and standards in the market ensure streamlining of the cloud providers’ data management processes. Businesses need to map their industry-specific security requirements and choose the necessary certificates that cannot be missed. It is essential to ensure that the providers plan their resources and support services elaborately, ensuring continuous adherence to the required certifications and standards.
2. Reliability
Before investing in any cloud service provider, it is crucial to check their performance for the past year and analyze customer feedback across industries. The wise decision is to measure the reliability of the cloud provider’s services based on their customer experience and satisfaction parameters. Also, firms must consider how the company has handled both planned and unplanned system downtime. This is a vital point as the seamless data recovery processes drive any cloud service provider’s success, especially when disaster strikes.
3. Transparency
The data preservation expectations, including the criticality of data, transparency of the data sources, data scheduling, backup, restoration, integrity checks, etc. – must be important selection criteria too!
Transparency regarding the set expectations and the delivery guidelines is the key to suitable cloud investments. Also, businesses can consider purchasing additional risk insurance to encompass all costs associated with overall data recovery not covered by the provider’s broader umbrella of terms and conditions.
4. Technology Advancements
Selecting a cloud provider that promptly adapts to the constantly evolving technological advancements and trends is preferred as they have advanced technical competencies and scalable operational capabilities. It is critical to verify whether the provider’s cloud services align appropriately with the dynamicity of the business needs.
5. Manageability
Each service leverages and supports different orchestration tools, promising to integrate various associated services. The services vital to the organization must be well-defined to ensure that the chosen cloud provider can easily integrate. It is also essential to determine how much effort and time it will take for the team to manage various aspects of the broader cloud infrastructure before making a final decision.
6. Cost
The cloud migration process is neither cheap nor straightforward, so choosing the right plan is unavoidable. Pre-defining the budget for setting up the cloud infrastructure and sticking to the pre-defined comparison criteria is recommended. Once the business needs are intricately mapped out, all cloud service providers must be compared based on the varied pricing plans and licenses. Making an accurate price comparison among the providers is difficult due to the varying pricing models and discount structures. But, seeking clarity in pricing plans is essential. Most reputable cloud providers offer online price calculators and free introductory tiers, allowing businesses to ‘try before they buy.’ And this is undoubtedly the best way to start.
Conclusion – Before You Choose a Cloud Service Provider
The best cloud service provider is agile enough to customize per the most peculiar business needs. Having a plan is vital, but it is equally important for it to be stuffed up with well-defined implementation milestones and clear business objectives. Remember, the key to a perfect cloud transition model is to begin somewhere, experiment fearlessly, fail quickly, and learn as the business scales.
