Business Tech: Top Questions to Ask Cloud Hosting Providers

Business Tech: Top Questions to Ask Cloud Hosting Providers

It seems like everyone is using the cloud these days, but that’s just for document and spreadsheet handling, right? Not so fast. Did you know that many businesses are ditching their native email clients for cloud-based email? If you’ve ever been curious about making the switch, here are a few tips on what to look for.

Look For The Right Service

Knowing the types of service that a cloud provider offers will dictate the company you do business with. Some providers, like Dropbox, only offer photo, document, and video storage. Intuit’s QuickBooks is primarily suited to online accounting. And, Salesforce is a customer relationship management app (CRM).

Services, like IBM cloud hosting, offer robust solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, but you have to have a tech team to help you build out the network. If you’re a large organization, however, it could save you $40,000 or more per year on storage and technical support, not to mention upgrades.

Scrutinize The Pricing Structure

What’s the pricing structure look like? In general, you don’t want to be stuck paying a flat rate for services you don’t use. Also, be leery about upfront costs. This isn’t normal for reputable cloud vendors.

The pricing scheme should be a transparent ‘pay-as-you-go’ scheme, with the ability to add on services as you need them.

Expect to pay fees either on an hourly, monthly, semi-annually, or annual basis. Prices for cloud computing can vary by a lot, depending on the company you’re doing business with. Some companies charge as little as $1 per month per user. Others charge $100 per month per user.

Obviously, if you’re in the market for a $1 per month per user, you’re going to be shocked when you get a bill for $100 each. Ask about pricing upfront, and tell them exactly what you need before you agree to service. If the price doesn’t seem like something you can afford, try negotiating before walking away.

Check Out The Security

Knowing how secure your data is impacts your decision, as it should. You want to make sure that you’re not doing business with someone who just decided last year that he wanted to get into the business so he set up some racks in his basement and put up a pretty website.

Make sure that your data is off-site in a secured building, with biometric locks and security guards – at minimum.

What Do The Data Recovery Options Look Like?

If you do lose your data, how do you get it back? If your cloud provider accidentally deletes something, or suffers a catastrophic failure of a server with your information on it, how do you get this information back?

Make sure you ask, and don’t assume anything. What are the provisions?

Have a Service Level Agreement that addresses data loss. Also, make sure you understand whether the provider will compensate you for your losses.

There should be basic redundancy built into the company’s server structure. That way, your data is never at risk from a single point of failure.

Shirley Polk has enjoyed a successful career within the IT industry. She is always pleased to share her views and offer useful advice online. Her thoughts and observations have been shared on a number of previous posts on relevant websites.