A cloud service provider has the ability to make or break your business. Therefore, it’s important to choose it carefully. dhra.info will provide some how to choose cloud provider straightforward best cloud for your company’s strategic goals.
How to choose cloud provider? Factors to Consider
how to choose cloud provider
1. Technologies & services roadmap
how to choose cloud provider that is compatible with the technologies your company employs and supports the strategic objectives of your company. To fill up the support gaps that the bulk of cloud service providers don’t provide, you must engage third-party partners.
The following are some questions you should ask yourself:
how to choose cloud provider that is compatible with the technologies your company employs and supports the strategic objectives of your company. To fill up the support gaps that the bulk of cloud service providers don’t provide, you must engage third-party partners.
The following are some questions you should ask yourself:
- Are your preferred methods of management and workloads supported by the cloud provider’s standards, services, and architecture?
- How would they grow and innovate in the future?
- Does their long-term vision align with what your business needs?
- Have deployments resembling the ones you’re considering been completed by the cloud service provider?
You may avoid selecting a cloud service provider that inhibits you from realizing your goal by asking these questions.
2. Cost
how to choose cloud provider
Take into account the cost of use (upfront, pay-as-you-go) as well as any minimums, volume discounts, reservations that can be made for the service, or the billing type (e.g., per hour/month, execution, user, or gigabyte). Compare the cost to other considerations as well. For instance, AWS has improved CPU engineering to provide the greatest price/performance compared to all competitors. Pay close attention to the tiny print on price hikes over time because many cloud providers will offer aggressive pricing to first-time users.
3. Security & Reliability
Organizations need to consider factors including a provider’s resilience and robust security, paying special attention to regional capabilities and uptime statistics. Backup/restore procedures, integrity checks, and the roles and obligations of each party should all be documented. The majority of cloud service providers will list any accessible integrations or security features, both free and paid. Examine particular areas, such as identity management, access controls, authentication, and the locations of data storage and processing.
4. Compliance
how to choose cloud provider
Organizations must take into account the effects of federal, state, and industry restrictions when selecting a cloud provider. how to choose cloud provider should be able to respond to inquiries regarding compliance with certain laws and frequently have a statement of shared responsibility for compliance. Certain regulations may forbid the storage, transport, or processing of customer data to cloud service providers whose data storage capabilities are located inside a particular geographic area or may have particular specifications for protection, confidentiality, or access controls. Additionally, each law includes detailed instructions on how to report infractions and handle them.
a. HIPAA
As long as the infrastructure and all of its components and interconnections are HIPAA compliant in terms of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards, cloud computing can be used in the healthcare industry for the back end, data exchange, or for patient-facing apps. The supplier must agree to sign a business associate contract. HHS offers advice on HIPAA & cloud computing here.
b. GDPR
Organizations in the EU that process data belonging to EU individuals are subject to the GDPR, which has strict guidelines for data protection, processing logs, and process security. GDPR imposes certain limitations on data transfers beyond the EU and mandates that data processing and storage take place in EU data centers.
c. ISO
how to choose cloud provider must possess certifications for ISO compliance, such as ISO 27018 (a code of practice for protecting personally identifiable information in public clouds functioning as PII processors) and ISO 27001 (for information security management systems). ISO standards apply to all businesses in more than 160 nations.
5. Tools & Features
Some components will be offered as add-ons and others as basic functionality by each cloud service provider. Search for both specific features and service types (PaaS) related to computing resources, monitoring, security, deployment, and even user experience. Microsoft presently has the widest variety of Saas, PaaS, and IaaS capabilities, according to Gartner.
6. Business Compatibility
The business, technical, and operational goals of the organization must be aligned with the cloud service provider.
7. Architecture
There are technological and financial benefits to remaining within sizable ecosystems like Microsoft, Amazon, or Google. Take into account how the cloud architecture integrates existing technology or services within the firm. Make sure the cloud provider you choose can handle your current and future demands by looking at serverless, multi-cloud, and microservices support choices.
8. Contracts, Commercials & SLAs
SLAs and contracts should be carefully reviewed and amended as appropriate. Make certain the SLA has a penalty or termination provision for unmet service standards. Numerous firms are also writing force majeure clauses in light of the COVID-19 experiences.
9. Migration Support, Vendor Lock-in & Exit Planning
Due to contractual obligations or proprietary technologies, vendor lock-in is a serious risk. This is the reason why certain cloud providers, according to Gartner, are pressing annual spending hikes at contract renewal time. Utilizing many cloud service providers and being cautious about proprietary technologies that can result in lock-in are two ways that organizations are addressing this risk.
10. Data Migration Support
Examine the migration services that each cloud provider provides. Most cloud service providers provide tools for migration evaluation, including specialized ones that allow database, server, or application migration.
11. Data Governance
Cloud governance describes the rules and regulations that apply to cloud services in terms of cost consumption, privacy, and security. To prevent the misuse of cloud resources, these controls, for instance, would set a maximum spend for a company or department on cloud use.
12. Project Size
Different demands will be made on the cloud service provider depending on the project’s size, scope, and objectives.
13. Service Dependencies & Partnerships
It’s critical to comprehend how to choose cloud provider relationships with various vendors, accreditation levels, technical skills, and personnel qualifications before selecting one. In an ideal environment, a service provider can easily integrate in. In order to avoid confusion in the future, all relationships and dependencies should be clearly stated.