Cloud services are everywhere; Google them, and you’ll receive million search results about cloud services. You will be able to find a number of well-known vendors with each company providing strengths and specialties that are tailored according to your needs.
If you decide to spend time comparing product descriptions, features and prices, it will benefit you in the long term, especially if you want to end up with the right cloud service vendor. You must remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution in cloud computing; that’s why we’re writing the following features and considerations as a guide.
If you’ve already decided to test the power of cloud to run your business, it’s high time to sit down for a while and take it one feature at a time with our checklist. Gartner, the leading research firm, said that cloud computing will affect almost all aspects of IT this year. If that is the case, then we must educate ourselves on what to do to understand the repercussions in our businesses.
1. No upfront fees and vendor lock-in
Compelling copywriting and marketing techniques on pricing plans require scrutiny when you are comparing the prices. If you think it’s too good to be true, then you can always do more research and call up vendors to enquire more information about it. Some cloud server vendors offer a pay-as-you-go model; so you’re only paying what you have outsourced and there is no vendor lock-in to give you more options from other cloud services. It also gives you the freedom to cancel anytime if you’re not satisfied.
2. Flexible server features
You can either choose a public, private or hybrid solution when outsourcing servers. Do the servers support different operating systems? Are they capable of hosting mission-critical apps? How much storage and how many storage options, e.g. block data storage, file storage and object storage, do they offer? Find a cloud vendor who can build the infrastructure with ultimate flexible server functionalities to match your business needs.
[Read also: Top 5 Benefits of Cloud Computing for Entrepreneurs]
3. Offers bare metal dedicated servers
Depending on what your business requires, you may need to have both cloud servers and dedicated servers for optimized architecture and the need to submit to compliance and legal requirements. Since there is no one-size-fits-all solution, you are free to mix and match computing resources for robust and efficient data processing with possible storage for optimum performance.
4. Strong SLAs
Spend time to read the long service level agreements on the services offered. With responsible reading and inspection of what the cloud vendor is capable of giving and its ability to compensate unprecedented outages, find out how the vendor is going to function if there’s a downtime.
[Suggested reading: Tips for Safely Using The Cloud]
5. Global CDN to host media
If your business requires rich media hosting, consider the global CDN (content delivery network) of the cloud service provider. Video streaming requires robust computing solutions for fast delivery of the media to end-users or viewers. Does the vendor use an integrated CDN to guarantee fast and efficient delivery of live streams, downloads, and uploads? Find time to compare each one of your candidates.
6. Rock-solid support
Where there is a dedicated support team to assist you, there is growth in your business as a whole. Find a customer-driven cloud service company that is willing to help you through the thick and thin of your business operations, whether it’s a technical issue, troubleshooting or maintenance.
[Image credit: Thomas Bach, Flickr]
I have been meaning to test out some cloud hosting service providers. As soon as I get some quality free time I will probably do so.
The pay as you go sounds like a good route especially for testing for the time-being. I checked several pricing structures out and they can get a little confusing trying to figure out what you need or will use.
Funny that all this cloud stuff didn’t come about sooner than what it did.
On top of the cloud service features, you should also read the terms and conditions to see what suits you best. Finding user reviews can give you a concise comparison between cloud services for a start.
I am actually using Dropbox for years now and I am most comfortable with it.
“Only $8 per month!” And then you have to squint your eyes to look at the tiny fine print below: “Minimum purchase of 2 years. Normal monthly price $13.” It has become a chore to find a genuinely cheap cloud service given all these marketing distractions.
It is indeed a challenge to look for good prices if you are buying in small quantities. Competition is fairly steep, so many companies do whatever they can to influence customers to buy in bulk and retain a longer-term profit.
Peter, when it comes to storing data I sure get way over my head of finding a service that would give me a larger capacity that what was given to me. The reason for me saying that is because of all the data that I’m storing as part of my job. Right now, my plan is to maybe talk to a managed it services that can help me out in reducing the files to make more room for my cloud storage.
Great article. I could not agree more. Before you hire any services, it is very important to understand the important factors such as: to what extent is your data protected? Which agencies can access your data with/without consent?
Does your cloud services provide cost savings, flexibility and scalability? Once you know answers to questions like these, you would know if you are making a wise choice or not.