Which Hosted Solution Are You Depending On?

The cloud has taken over the business environment, and every business that takes advantage of it needs to consider several factors to ensure that they purchase the right one for their specific needs. Here are three common talking points for businesses to consider when investing in a cloud-based solution.

What Type of Cloud Is It?
Depending on the type of cloud solution, it could either be a public, private, or hybrid cloud. Public clouds are generally hosted off-site by a third-party cloud provider, whereas a private cloud is hosted in-house on your own infrastructure. A hybrid solution is likely a combination of both. The kind of cloud you have could determine which kind of solution you’ll want to invest in. For example, a public cloud solution will generally be hosted on the same infrastructure as other organizations’ and users. While it is partitioned off for your business, the fact that it’s hosted in the same environment could be a point of contention for some businesses. A private cloud is better if your business wants a solution hosted on its own hardware, but this also means that it’s hosted in-house, making it important that your business has technicians to handle maintenance.

What Are Your Organization’s Responsibilities?
If you’re not hosting a cloud on your own infrastructure, you’ll have to think about what your business is and isn’t responsible for managing. For example, you might have your cloud storage hosted on the infrastructure of a third-party provider, but how are you accessing it? Are you using access to the Internet? If this is the case, you’ll have to maintain constant access to the Internet so that you experience minimal downtime. Furthermore, you’ll want to know what kind of security you’ll need to handle on your end, and whether or not it’s covered by your cloud provider.

What Kind of Service Level Agreement Do You Have?
It’s inevitable that you’ll have to ask your cloud provider for help at least once in a while. Therefore, you’ll need to know when you can expect to hear back from them whenever you make a support request. Otherwise, any downtime you experience could be extended unnecessarily.

Is your business in the market for a solid cloud computing strategy? SCW can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (509) 534-1530.