Rein in the cloud

In the current economic climate organisations are striving to reduce costs while not compromising on efficiency or productivity. In the IT space, cloud is seen as the solution to many challenges – especially as a means to bring down capital expenditure. However, if a business chooses the wrong cloud solution it may end up costing more in the longer term.

Get the most out of the cloud
The decision to move to the cloud is perhaps an easier one to make than selecting which solution to adopt. While drivers for doing so would include cost reduction and improved efficiency, there are many other issues to consider when evaluating the cloud solutions that are on offer in the market place. The core considerations should be based upon choosing an option that matches the specific needs of the organisation to provide the expected return on investment. In addition, it is advisable to check short-listed cloud providers have a good track record that inspires confidence.

What’s in a cloud?
Deciding what you want from a cloud solution should always be the first step in choosing which one is right for your business. A key advantage of cloud is that it offers the flexibility to manage change and growth, and it should therefore form the basis of your IT infrastructure to deliver the computing, connectivity and storage capacity to run the business.

Every organisation is different, so one size does not fit all when it comes to the make-up of your cloud infrastructure. Therefore, it isn’t advisable to limit your options; consider using multiple technologies (potentially from different providers)to complement your in-house services. If a multiple-vendor solution is chosen, it is important to consider what levels of integration are required and what interfaces will be used to allow users to get the most out of a new cloud set-up, both in the immediate- and longer terms.

Regardless of whether it is a multi-vendor solution, the selected platform should be one that is a consistent high performer that delivers capacity, security, and compatibility with guaranteed uptime. That said, with the sheer number of providers and solutions available, where do you begin?

Quality, performance and service outcomes
Not all cloud providers offer the same services at the same level of quality and performance. Once you have matched the services on offer to your business requirements, organisational structure, service methodology and existing infrastructure, the next step is to make sure the resources offered by the provider are guaranteed in the service level agreement (SLA). This should also cover downtime, which can be troublesome and costly. While it is not common, it does happen, so it is crucial to ask your provider about its downtime history, its contingency plans and what guarantees it can make.
The safety of the cloud platform itself should also be investigated in terms of firewalls, antivirus software, data encryption and managed backups.
Also look carefully at customer support provision. The levels of support offered should be a key concern for many organisations because problems do not only happen during business hours. Knowing beforehand what kind of support is offered, when it is offered (is it offered on a 24 / 7 basis), and who will be delivering it (a generic call centre agent reading from script versus a qualified engineer that fully understands the solution and application) should be a major consideration when selecting a solution and / or provider.

The network
Part of the research process should be dedicated to ensuring your organisation has access to cloud services through a flexible network. In certain cases it may be sufficient to use existing internet services to access the cloud. The benefits of this approach are speed and simplicity; but, may equally lack of control and integration options necessary for business-critical systems.

Cloud services can, however, be added to enterprise WAN by adding the cloud infrastructure as another site on the WAN or by making it a hub in a ‘hub and spoke’ topology. The benefits of either approach include quicker delivery of high capacity lines into data centres; the ability to shape and prioritise application traffic to direct site to service access; and the provision of corporate access protocols and processes to the cloud-based infrastructure.

How much will it cost?
While analysing the cost of a new solution may seem like common sense, it is important to look at the small print. What, if any, costs are payable upfront, and what is included in the structure in terms of services and support.

Many cloud providers offer fixed service contracts for cloud services. While this may work for certain businesses, it may be limiting, especially if additional services are added to the agreement. In this way the contract itself should offer some flexibility.

The cost saving element is evident where there aren’t any upfront costs and providers employ a pay-per-use or pay-as-you-go model in which the organisation pays according to what services or capacity is used. This means that while IT projects form part of the capital expenditure budget, cloud costs can be absorbed by the more agile operating expenditure budget.

The data centre
The data centre itself is a vital component of the cloud solution and, as such, should offer the highest levels of physical security. The provider must also be able to offer assurances that data centre employees are trustworthy (through proper vetting and checking).

Ideally the data centre should be located in the same legal jurisdiction as your business to handle any privacy and data sovereignty issues, as well as meet any regulatory requirements, such as those for the financial or healthcare industries. Location is also important when considering safety of the centre itself in terms of unrest, political issues and natural disasters.

Scalability
Your business will grow, your needs will evolve and the amount of data generated will increase. A good cloud platform will be one that is flexible enough to handle this growth and still deliver the performance and quality that is required.

Conclusion
Ultimately, the most appropriate cloud service for an organisation will depend on what its business requirements are. The best cloud service provider will be the one that can meet those needs and implement a solution that is cost-effective, efficient, flexible and reliable. The selection process should be as lengthy and deliberate as necessary, the investment in time and resource is worthwhile to ensure the final choice meets both the immediate needs and longer-term goals of the organisation.