Cloud computing is becoming a preferred storage platform for IT managers and organisations in general. In Australia alone, 31 percent of businesses reported the use of paid cloud computing services, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ IT Use and Innovation in Australian Business 2015-16 study. Of those businesses, 85 percent cited software as the most common paid cloud computing service used while 60 percent claimed that it was storage capacity. In the next few years, more and more companies are expected to merge this technology with their existing IT infrastructure in an effort to improve information access across their organisations.
Because of this growing popularity, experts in the IT field are engaging in discussions as to which cloud service provider to use. With Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and other large players offering exceptional packages, it has become difficult to choose which one to go for.
So to make the decision easier for you, here are the top three things you need to remember when choosing a provider:
Know your enterprise by heart first. With the business demands that your organisation has, make sure that you know what you are looking for in a cloud provider. Identify which option works best for your firm. Will your IT structure allow for a software-based cloud? Will a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering fit you or is a hybrid of cloud and on-premise the best choice? It is vitally important for you to be clear about your business requirements, data volume demand, budget, security needs, and other important factors so that you can easily scour through the range of options available.
Shortlist the providers according to their compliance with globally recognised certification standards. You should see their commitment to adhere to industry best practices. It is also important to look into the data security and privacy policies. See to it that your top supplier choices are aligned with your organisation’s information protection requirements and guidelines. This way you can guarantee that confidential data is secure on cloud-based storage. Other criteria to consider are partnerships, reliability, migration support, lock-in and exit options, to name a few.
Scrutinise the service packages and pricing. Remember that pricing depends on the storage volume, usage period, number of users, and the like. Assess your options according to flexibility in terms and discounts for long-term partnerships. This way, you will be able to choose the ideal provider that meets your demands at the right price.
Does the provider allow building infrastructure from code. In today’s cloud environment it is critical that services are stood up using a CI/CD process. This allows to reduce downtimes for patching using Blue/Green deployment methods and make updating your environment very cost effective.
Does the service provide autoscaling and autohealing. In order to reduce the running and support cost, it is important that services can be horizontally scaled automatically. This will reduce the cost of running peak loads without manual intervention. The same can be said for autohealing. Once an instance is identified as corrupt using automatic metrics the service should shutdown the old and create a new instance automatically.
Choosing a cloud supplier can be a nuisance especially for the busy IT professional. Keep in mind that when it comes to partnering with a cloud provider, there is no one-size-fits-all assessment criteria. Evaluation is unique to each company and is arguably the most important step in the migration process. However, for an easier cloud service provider selection process, contact the specialists at Fusion Professionals who can provide you with in-depth advice on the best partner when it comes to your cloud computing needs. Call us!
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