Seven Criteria for Choosing an IaaS Provider

The debate over the Affordable Care Act has made one thing perfectly clear – America’s health care industry is undergoing massive changes. Specialized health care applications are playing an increasingly important role in helping health care providers reduce costs and increase the quality of patient care. For health care software developers, this spells opportunity, but it is also creating delivery challenges as health care clients demand an op-ex, “pay-as-you-go” procurement model. Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider, says the time is right for health care software companies to consider software as a service (SaaS).

To help health care developers considering a SaaS strategy choose the right cloud partner, Logicalis has outlined seven key criteria to look for in an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider.

Click through for seven criteria to look for when choosing an IaaS provider, as identified by Logicalis US.

Look for a fully managed IaaS cloud solution running in an enterprise-class data center with secure, reliable cloud services to support and deliver hosted software solutions.

Ask what opportunities exist to generate additional revenue with services that create annuity income, including disaster recovery, application monitoring and service desk offerings.

Accept only a best-practices approach based on ITIL v3 standards; the provider should have 24x7x365 monitoring and management in place, as well as highly automated processes with a wide range of sophisticated software tools, all combined with real-world experience working with software companies to deliver hosted solutions.

Explore the cloud solution provider’s ability to deliver flexible capacity to accommodate fluctuations in customers’ production workloads, as well as on-demand capacity for training, demonstration, proof-of-concept or test/development.

Look for a consultative approach to architecting a cloud solution tailored to the software solution’s requirements rather than being just another cookie-cutter cloud offering. Alternatives such as legacy operating systems, hybrid solutions and managed appliances should be offered.

Examine the provider’s service-level agreements: There should be a designated service-level manager overseeing stringent SLAs backed by stiff financial penalties to ensure target resolution times – not just target response times – are met.

Choose a provider with a proven, industry-recognized solution that has earned certifications and awards and that fares well in comparative rankings.