Cloud computing is greatly considered today by most businesses. Small and large-scale businesses alike have seen the advantage of cloud computing. Because of the ability of getting every data processes in the cloud (online), business will enjoy mobility without being held down to a single application.
The real time interaction of cloud computing is not only based on single person in the local gadget. Everyone involved will have real time interaction with the data and might even offer some changes.
But transferring from local data availability and processes to cloud computing is a lot difficult said than done. For highly established businesses transferring the entire database to businesses will take precious time and resources to make things work.
Local vs. Vendor Offered Cloud Computing
One of the biggest considerations for businesses who wanted to implement cloud computing is to choose between local cloud computing and vendor provided.
In local cloud computing, businesses would have to spend considerable amount in hardware as well as applications to properly implement cloud computing. The disadvantage, of course, is based on the funds needed for cloud computing. On the other hand, businesses would have the ability to manipulate the data centers to their advantage.
Vendor assisted cloud computing is probably the choice for most businesses today. They won’t require any expensive hardware components as everything will be hosted in a separate server offered by the provider. Depending on the provider, the possibility of building an application through available functions is also a possibility. The downside of the vender assisted cloud computing is on the vendor themselves: if the business fails to select the right vendor, more harm will be done in the business process.
Proper Selection of Cloud Computing Provider
Not every cloud computing provider in the industry could fulfill the basic needs of every business. As every business has a unique need, the need could only be provided by a handful of providers. The quality might even very likely because of the disparity of hardware and its location.
The following are the steps recommended in selecting a provider:
• Research – before you start shopping for a provider, understand what you need first in cloud computing and what you could get from a provider. With the popularity of cloud computing, almost every company that offers this type of service today has a specific reviewer. Carefully research each provider’s advantages and disadvantages for your business process and compare them.
• Physical Visit – as much as possible pay a visit to the company’s actual data center and/or server farm. This will give you a good idea on how the will help you in your services and what measures they observe to ensure your processes will not be interrupted at anytime. Notice the general environment of the data center and the outside conditions. This is highly recommended if you are dealing with a local provider.
On the other hand, if you can’t physically visit their company’s data center, research as much as you can on their capabilities. Companies such as Google, Amazon and other internet giants will most likely deny your request a visit to any of their data center.
• The Worst Case Scenario – always look for information or ask the vendor on how they deal with certain situations that will affect your business process. More often than not, business will provide you with a guaranteed uptime or SLA (Service Level Agreement). But don’t settle for this data alone. Insist on what they usually do when a downtime happens. They will always have processes in place and you should know about it so that you have an idea on how they work in case something wrong happens.
• Ability to Upgrade – it is an imperative for a vendor to expect upgrades from their clients. However, some vendors miss this feature which could jeopardize the operations of the business. Most vendors do allow upgrades but with a certain fee. The additional payment is usually determined by the degree of upgrade a business would implement in their operations.
Whether local or vendor provided, businesses should carefully consider the advantages and advantages of these options. In selecting the right provider, it is important to carefully research as well as consider other data to ensure the vendor will work as expected.
