Tips for Finding the Right Cloud Computing Partner
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Posted 21 Dec, 2009
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As resources become more constrained and IT departments struggle to add business value while maintaining all their existing infrastructures, cloud computing is becoming the top option for many businesses, says Peter Bauer, CEO of Mimecast. He offers a few questions to ponder for those organizations needing to select a cloud partner.
- Is the basic design right? Tight integration of services at the provider level is critical.
- Can the partner lower IT costs long term? Partnering with a cloud provider must, at all times, be a low-commitment relationship.
- Can the partner offer business continuity? A cloud provider must be able to offer constant availability and have rigid service level agreements that back up its assertions.
- Can the partner reduce the cost of e-mail compliance? Partnering with the right cloud provider can substantially reduce the headache of managing and ensuring compliance, by providing an audit trail of all e-mail activity across all user accounts
Here are some cloud computing resources in the Knowledge Network that will help you understand cloud computing and make the transition to the cloud a little easier.
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Tom LoMedico
says:
Patrick raises some great points above but don't be afraid to go further. Many Cloud/SaaS offerings drastically increase efficiencies amongst the application users and can have a very positive impact to top/bottom lines. In addition, the agility of SaaS applications, through more simplistic administration platforms and "self service", allow businesses the flexibility to adapt quickly to the dynamics of their environment and capture opportunities that may have escaped the support of their on-premise counterparts.
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Richard Watson
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I agree with these criteria and would also add the importance of strong service levels, support and financial strength of the cloud vendor chosen. These are three key reasons in addition to the technology on offer that we chose to partner with and recommend Webroot SaaS to our client base -- and we utilize it ourselves. We enjoy bullet-proof spam and virus protection for our email stream using their EMail Security SaaS and all our browser sessions are protected using Webroot's Web Security SaaS.
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