July 9th, 2014

Credibility: Widely research the companies you are choosing from. You must make sure that they have the experience, knowledge and security you require. To do this study the companies’ websites, look at blogs and study industry reports. You could even ask for advice from other businesses or IT consultants who can point you in the right direction. By doing this, you are maximising the potential of your cloud experience by choosing the right company for you.
Communication: If you need to speak with your provider, you need a quick and reliable way to get in touch. Your contact at the company should be easily reachable by phone during all work-hours. You should check that this is guaranteed with your service.
The Small Print: Make sure you understand the agreement with the company. For example, sometimes your provider could have a period of maintenance, which could limit your access to the cloud. This could potentially hurt your business. Study the service level agreement, so you know your rights in these situations.
Evaluate Your Systems: If you plan to back-up your systems on a cloud, check that your storage is in the best state to be sent. This could mean compressing and deduplicating your files. By reducing the size of your data in this way, you will potentially pay less for your service. You should also be able to access your files faster.
Security: As you will be using a third-party provider, security is paramount. You must thoroughly check your provider’s security policies. You should pick a company who has strict controls over who can access the data. These are your sensitive files and they must be kept safe. You should also choose a company who employs high quality firewalls, anti-virus protection and disaster recovery.