Understand Cloud Vendors for Better Cloud Performance

Choose Vendors who use Multiple Systems

Ensure you Have Good Relationships with your Vendors

Ensure your Supplier is Suitable

Understanding cloud vendors will make all the difference to your business

 

Making the cloud work for you

A key area for effective cloud management is to understand your vendors.  This is true in performance terms, security, and their future direction.  The idea of this article is to help you understand the sourcing strategy you require for the cloud and that through careful consideration you can decide exactly what you need from your cloud supplier.

Key Elements of Cloud Suppliers

Business Needs

As the cloud allows you to build apps which are bespoke to business requirements, it is important you choose a supplier which is more aligned and in-tune with your business.  Ideally, you want vendors that can facilitate multiple software systems, to minimise your API development.  Without covering well trodden ground, some aspects you need to consider are:

Data Storage: Where will your data be held?  Does it violate your present client contracts?  See my article; Will Compliance stop you implementing the Cloud?

Suitability: Will it deliver what you need to make your business more efficient?  If you are going to endure a transfer period to the cloud, related hardships during the process, you have to ensure you will have a better more agile way of working at the end of it.  See my article, Transforming to the Cloud- A Restructure Story

Cost:  Do the long term costs justify the expenditure?  This is often hard to assess as pricing models for the cloud are quite different from traditional IT services models.  Nonetheless, it is possible to get a reasonably accurate picture of cloud costs by looking at data consumption of previous years.  Where it is hazier is trying to predict the impact of having more of your staff working on app development.  This is a major selling point of the cloud.  Your workforce will be more agile once implementation is complete.

Business Security

With a cloud platform security both in terms of accessibility and data storage location are issues.  Given that your provider can store your data to the satisfaction of your clients and regulation, how is accessibility managed by your provider? And how effective are the controls?  This may not be a major concern with bigger established suppliers such as SAP, IBM, and Microsoft, but it might be a problem if you go with a small independent supplier.

Future Direction of your Cloud Provider

A key to good cloud vendor management is to understand their future direction.  Are they comparable to the needs of your business?  A year downs the line do you envision a better or worse cloud system?  The key to getting a picture of their future direction is to maintain a good relationship with your supplier.  Make sure you have a way of getting advance notice of major changes, and from your side ensure you have key people involved at every stage.

When you choose to go down the cloud route your selection of vendor will be crucial to success.  Ensure you choose one which can both deliver a good agile system and one which complies with your business needs.