8 Questions to Ask Your Cloud Service Provider

With the potential of the cloud, companies are changing the way they establish connections with clients, associates, and staff to create new opportunities employing digital goods and services. 

With the right cloud provider, you can use a hybrid environment or multi-cloud strategy:

• To quickly adjust to changes
• Become more resilient
• Save costs and 
• Implement anywhere

Are you unsure how to choose the ideal cloud service provider for your needs? This is a crucial choice; picking a cloud provider is not always easy.

In this article, we’ll walk through some crucial questions to be asked while choosing a cloud service provider. 

1. What are your data security policies?

Security needs to be the top priority when selecting a cloud service provider. Cyberattacks and data breaches are becoming more frequent, and cloud-based data is frequently a primary target. So, it is critical to comprehend how your cloud provider protects your data and upholds industry standards.

Some important questions to pose are:

• Techniques of encryption: Does the supplier provide encryption for data while it’s in transit and at rest?

• Is sensitive data protected by many layers of security mechanisms using multi-factor authentication?

• Certifications of compliance: Does the provider comply with international standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001?

2. Is work outsourced for hiring?

You might not get the support you anticipate if service work is delegated to another organization. It could not fulfil the unique requirements and goals of your organization.

Make sure to include the  in the comprehensive service level agreement:

• A secret clause

• A provision for insurance

• A change of business clause (i.e., what happens if the cloud service provider gets bought out or merges with another business)

• The location of backup data and the original data

• The data belongs to your organization.

• Conflicts across time zones

3. What is the scalability scope for the company?

Your company’s IT requirements will expand along with it. Scalability is therefore an important consideration when selecting a cloud service provider. 

It can save you a lot of money and guarantee that your systems can manage high consumption without any problems if you have the flexibility to scale resources up or down in response to demand.

Consult your cloud service provider and ensure:

• How simple is it to scale processing power, bandwidth, and storage?

• Do they have options for automated scaling that change in response to demands as they arise?

• What is the cost structure in terms of scaling up/down?

4. What is your uptime guarantee?

Any firm that runs important applications in the cloud is more vulnerable to the costly and disruptive effects of downtime. So, finding out about your provider’s uptime guarantee is crucial because reliability is of the utmost importance. 

With an industry requirement of 99.9% uptime, the majority of respectable suppliers will publish Service Level Agreements (SLAs) outlining their uptime percentages.

Following up with a few queries:

• How much money is given back if the uptime promise is not fulfilled?

• In what time frame do they typically resolve issues involving downtime?

• To guarantee ongoing service, do they provide any solutions for redundancy or failover?

The chance of unplanned outages impacting your company is reduced when you select a supplier with a good SLA and a track record of uptime.

5. How do you support converged networking? 

How well a cloud service provider supports converged networking is one of the most sophisticated factors to take into account for enterprises. 

With this architecture, management is made easier and performance is improved by combining networking, storage, and computer resources into a single, efficient system.

Consult your supplier to know more:

• Is convergent networking supported by your cloud platform? If yes, how is it set up?

• What effect does this architecture have on latency and performance in the network?

• Which tools are available in your cloud environment for managing convergent infrastructure?

Therefore, selecting a provider who offers converged networking can simplify the process of managing many systems and increase the effectiveness of your IT operations.

6. Do you provide insurance to cover power outages and data loss?

While many smaller cloud providers might not have the same level of insurance as larger, hyper-scale providers, they do carry insurance.

Your organization can fail if the cloud provider lacks insurance and the data kept there is lost or rendered unusable. Therefore, do not stake your future on an uninsured cloud provider.

7. What do you offer for disaster recovery and backup plans?

It is imperative to have a dependable backup and disaster recovery (BDR) plan in place to protect your data, as cloud systems are not impervious to malfunctions. 

Knowing how quickly you can recover your data and systems is critical since downtime caused by unforeseen problems, including server outages or natural disasters, can result in considerable losses for your business.

Inquiries to put to your cloud provider:

• How often is data backed up, and what backup options are available?

• How does disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) operate, and do you offer it?

• When a crisis strikes, how long does it take to restore data and systems?

A solid business continuity plan is necessary for any cloud service since it can ensure that operations continue even in the case of unforeseeable events. 

8. What customer and support services are available? 

It’s essential to have dependable customer service to handle any problems that can come up when utilizing your cloud services. Timely resolution of technical issues or billing inquiries can be greatly enhanced by having prompt access to competent support personnel.

Important questions concerning support:

• Which support channels—phone, email, and chat—do you provide?

• Does the assistance have a specific team for handling urgent situations, and is it available around the clock?

• How long do you typically take to respond and resolve issues?

Final Thoughts

By posing these queries to potential cloud service providers, you can choose one that best suits your needs and the company’s objectives. Establishing a successful partnership with a reliable CSP can lead to the creation of scalable, secure, and efficient cloud infrastructure.