1. EXPRESS COMPUTER MARCH,201520
Irrespectiveofwhetheritisalarge
enterprise,asmallbusinessoran
entrepreneurlookingtobuildastartup,
thechallengeinchoosingacloudservice
provideriscomplex.Therearemany
clouds,eachdevelopedandoperatedbyits
ownserviceprovider,whowillestablish
thedefinitionandoperationstandardsin
theirownmanner.Withsuchan
assortmentofcloudstochoosefromand
theeaseofprovisioningcloudoffers,
enterprisesmaytryvariouscloudsby
placingfewworkloadswithdifferent
serviceproviders.
AccordingtoFrost&Sullivanthe
Indianthirdpartycloudmarketis
expectedtogrowataCAGRof33.3%over
aperiodofFY2014-2020.
Herearesomeimportantquestionsto
askyourprospectivecloudservice
provider:
Service provider credibility
◗ Doestheserviceproviderhaveaproven
trackrecordthatwillmeetthecriteriaof
performance,scaleandreachthatan
enterpriseneeds,notjustforthebusiness
today,butasitgrowsandexpands
tomorrow?
◗ Forhowmanyyearshavethecloud
servicesbeenoffered,andinhow
manycountries?
◗ Howmanynewproductreleaseshave
happenedsofarandhowmuchisthe
investmentonR&D?
◗ Howmanycustomersdoesthecloud
serviceproviderpresentlyhaveinthe
countrytheenterpriseisoperatingin?
◗ Whichisthelargestcustomertheyhave
supportedandhowcomparableisone’s
workloadtothatofcustomer’sworkload?
Security
◗ Cantheserviceproviderfulfillthe
organisation’scompliancepoliciesand
externalregulatoryrequirements?
◗ Doestheserviceproviderhaveatrack
record/experienceoffulfillingthedata
privacyrequirementsinarespective
industryandgeography?
◗ Howcandataleakagebeprevented?
◗ Howcanonegetaviewofthedatathatis
notphysicallycontrolledbythe
enterprise?
◗ Howwillone’sdatabeseparatedfrom
otherclients,whowillbesharingthesame
ITInfrastructuresuchasservers,
network,andstorage?
◗ Doesthecloudserviceprovidersupply
anauditreportthatdetailsresultsand
responsesofperiodicsecurity
assessments?
Cost
◗ Areprovisioning,hosting,and
managementservicesincludedinthecost
modelordoesitattractextracost?
◗ Willanenterprisebeabletoscaleand
addadditionalusersatthesamecost?
◗ Wouldproductupgradesrequire
additionalcost?
◗ Isthereanextracostforcustomer
supportoranybugfixing?
◗ Isthereacosttomigratehistoricaldata
ontothecloud?
Reliability and Uptime
◗ Whatwillbethecloud’sannualuptime
metricsandhowaretheymeasured?
Whatistheaveragelengthofanoutage?
◗ Whathasbeenthetrackrecordof
annualreporteduptimeversustheservice
levelagreement?
◗ Isthecloudsolutioncertifiedbyan
authorisedindependentthirdparty
trustee?
Deployment and Integration
◗ What is the deployment time frame,
integration practice, and project manage-
ment methodology that will be followed?
◗ Whatistheroleoftheenterpriseandthe
serviceproviderintheimplementation?
Willtherebechargesforguidingthe
enterprisetoperformitsroleeffectively?
◗ Arethereanytoolsforintegrationor
loadingthatmayberequiredfromthe
enterprise?
Features and Specification
◗ Howisthissolutionuniquetosupport
theenterprise’srequirementsas
DECHACCA PONNAPPA,
SENIOR RESEARCHANALYST,
ICTPRACTICE,FROST&
SULLIVAN
HOWTOPICK
YOURCLOUD
SERVICE
PROVIDER?
Dechacca Ponnappa provides
an expert checklist of
requirements that
enterprises must consider
while selecting their cloud
service provider
52COLUMN yearscelebrating

2. COLUMN
EXPRESS COMPUTER MARCH,2015 21
comparedtoothersolutions?
◗ Willtheenterprisebeabletoachievethe
requiredperformancefromtheworkloads
hostedonthecloud?
◗ Howwilltheworkloadsoncloud
seamlesslyinteractwiththeenterprise’s
existinglegacyinfrastructure?
◗ Isitascalablesolutionthatcanalignto
theenterprise’sgrowingbusinessneeds?
Thecloudstrategyoftheenterprise
shouldnotjustmatchtoday’svision,but
alsobecomeafoundationforthefuture.
Specifically,theenterprisesshouldlook
forthefollowingcharacteristics:
● Interoperability:Interoperabilityis
sometimesdescribedas“HybridCloud”.
Toextractmaximumbenefitfromcloud,
enterprisesshouldchooseasolutionthat
allowsworkloadstooperatefromdifferent
environments.
● ServiceLevelAgreementGiventhe
dislocatedrelationshipthatcanexist
betweentheproviderandtheenterprise,an
acceptableuserpolicywheretheenterprise
shouldknowwhatiscoveredintheSLAby
lookingforexplicitlystatedexceptionsand
understandwhytheproviderhasexcluded
thesame,hastobeestablished.
● CostCloudisacosteffectivemodel
comparedtoanon-premisedatacenter.
However,comparingpricetagsof
differentiatedserviceproviderswith
undifferentiatedmassmarketcommodity
providersisnotalikecomparison.There
couldbehugehiddencostsforabusiness
inthecloudarchitectureoradvisory
services,whichmaynotbecapturedinthe
pricingcataloguethatispublished.
● VersionControlTheprovider’s
servicewillevolveovertime.Thefeatures
presenttoday,maybewithdrawn
tomorrowandonlysomemaypersist
indefinitely.Whentheinitiallyaccepted
agreementsofacontractarechanged,
thentheenterpriseshouldreviewthe
impactofthewithdrawaloradditionof
serviceswiththeserviceprovider.Hence,
enterprisesshouldputamechanismin
placetobeinformedofthechangesand
amendthecontracttosuittheirfuture
requirement.
● AccesstoTechnicalExpertise
Althoughcloudismostlyautomated,quite
afewenterpriseswillstillrelyonthecloud
serviceproviderforsupportsincetheydo
nothaveinternalstafforadministrators.
Itisthereforeimportanttovalidatethat
theprovideroffersthelevelofcustomer
servicetheenterpriseisaccustomedto.
Additionallevelsofsupportsuchas
advisoryservicesandprofessional
servicestohelpdevelopalongtermcloud
strategyforoptimallongtermcloud
performancehavetobepartofthekey
evaluationcriteria.
Last word
TheTCOanalysiswillbeamajordecision
factortomigratetocloudandenterprises
oftenmisscriticalvariablessuchasIT
staffrequiredtomanageanunmanaged
cloud,timetomarket,competitive
advantageetc.Thefutureofcloudwillbe
hybridcloud;allowingenterprisesto
derivemorevalueanddriveinnovation.
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