Not all cloud services and the providers who deliver them are equal. In the conclusion of our series Send in the Cloud: A limited series to help you develop a Cloud storage strategy, we thought it useful to present some final guidance when considering suitable cloud storage providers.

We’ll walk through four areas to look out for:

• The Cloud Storage Provider
  
• The Cloud Storage Service
  
• Your Data – Portability, Security
  
• Implementation and Support
  

Cloud Storage Provider

• The Organization
  

As with any decision involving the sourcing of a business service, it is important to determine whether the organization delivering it has the expertise and track record to demonstrate seriousness in the particular domain. Usually, a solid provider includes a long reputation of delivering similar or identical services.

• Trust
  

Consider a service provider with whom you feel you can entrust some of your most valuable assets, your data backup, intellectual property or the content that fuels your business. Just like you would treat holding your organization's cash with an established financial institution, consider a cloud service provider that is in good financial standing, engages in ethical business practices and presents fair and equitable terms and conditions for the service.

• Legacy of data centre expertise
  

Not only is the history of delivering IT services an indicator of trustworthiness, but also one of technical and organizational competency. Hiring, training, and managing experienced data centre professionals provides distinct skills and capabilities that are the foundation of a trust and stable cloud service.

The Cloud Storage Service

• Quality Commitment
  

The quality of the provided service should include a commitment for service quality. Enterprise class services entail a well-defined service-level agreement (SLA) with specified provisions should service quality not be met. Note that some services providers describe service objectives that the provider has no vested in reaching, in particular with value-oriented or free services.

• Flexibility
  

As with service providers, client organizations are not created equal. Good service providers will be able to adapt their services and work with you to address your specific needs. Modular services allow for more flexibility whereas integrated solutions can provide advanced capabilities. It is also helpful to consider whether the provided service offers room for future growth that aligns with your organization’s changing business requirements.

• Technical Capabilities
  

Some services are more capable than others, with some offering far more access and connection options, different back-up solutions, compatibility with existing IT systems and services or powerful management tools. It is up to you to decide whether these are essential for your organization or “nice to have”s.

• Subscription Commitment
  

Commitment from you, as the client, is a key deciding factor as well. Certain services providers offer service in a flexible manner, whereas some require term contracts. The level of incremental service or tier can also be large or small. Being able to try the service before committing is invaluable in choosing the appropriate provider for you.

• Fees
  

Obtain a clear breakdown of what is included in the service and find out the cost of any optional add-on services. Be well-informed of all overage charges, surcharges, or hidden fees. In the case of cloud storage specifically consider things such as bandwidth charges and the cost of performing bulk migration of data either to or from the service.

Data, data portability, data security

• Data Protection
  

Your data needs to be protected with the most modern IT and physical security practices from malicious activities and natural disasters. Fully-secured data centres with built-in redundancies are expensive investments that not all organizations are capable of making. Some cloud services offer multiple tiers of protection which you may find suitable for your needs even for additional fees.

• Data Security
  

Ensuring data security in a multi-tenant cloud is a key consideration and a known barrier to cloud adoption. A cloud storage service that obscures user account information from the stored data helps eliminates unlawful access to by both outsiders and the service provider’s staff. Some service providers perform background checks on all employees to prevent such occurrences.

• Jurisdiction
  

As your business data resides in your service provider’s facilities, consider the physical location of the infrastructure and the ensuing jurisdiction issues. An end-to-end Canadian service provider (incorporation, data centre facilities and network connections) is not subject to the US Patriot Act, which allows the US government access to data stored with the service.

• Data Portability
  

As a client, provider lock-in is both irritable and expensive. To minimize this concern, consider a service that uses industry-standard software and protocols that allows your data to be transferred at your convenience, and will not retain your data beyond your service commitment. Don’t forget to check for the existence and cost of optional services to perform bulk migration to the cloud storage service or from it when you choose to.

Implementation and Support

• Assistance
  

What levels of assistance and support will you receive when you subscribe to the service and on an ongoing manner, even round the clock support. Phone, e-mail, online (self-support) mechanisms and the languages in which these are provided vary between providers. Some providers will also provide integration or development support for cloud storage services that are accessible for application development.

• Ease of use
  

The level of complexity of the service can determine whether your organization is receiving the solution’s full value.  Those that are simple to integrate with your existing IT environment and easy to implement will reduce your operating costs and will also lower switching costs significantly. You will be delivering value to your organization much quicker as well.

I hope you found this blog series on Cloud Storage valuable and welcome your questions or comments.

Shawn Myron is the director of products and services for TELUS' hosting and data centres.