Considerations for Cloud Provider Selection

Selecting cloud providers involves making decisions in several business and technical areas.

From a technical point of view, the most important element is whether the provider can satisfy technical IT requirements. Below are some examples of questions you should ask. Not all of them will be applicable for BallotOnline.

  • Does the compute offering include the type of servers you need?
  • If needed, is automatic auto scale and load balancing available?
  • Are the required services (database, networking, storage) available?
  • Is the security zone isolation and secure remote access to them available?
  • Is the geographical distribution of data centers available? Does the provider support fast connectivity between them to implement a high availability solution?
  • Is the application migration and deployment easy? Does the provider make migration tools and automatic deployment available?
  • How fast is the server and application environment provisioning?
  • Are the features available for application management, monitoring, and auditing? Are they easy to use?
  • Does the vendor use any open-source software solutions, or are all the proprietary ones that could lock you down into using their services?
  • Are the cloud provisioning and management features available programmatically via application programming Interfaces, in case you would like to automate your deployments?
  • In case you would consider moving your application development and testing to the cloud, are DevOps (automated development and operations) services available?

Regarding business requirements, here are examples of issues to consider:

  • Are the vendor contracts and service-level agreements acceptable? Do they satisfy your requirements for deployment availability, support, and conflict resolution?
  • Is the vendor willing to customize your contract if needed?
  • If your industry requires companies to follow specific standards and acquire certifications (such as financial or health care industry standards), does the vendor follow them?
  • If the application is to be used in different geographies which may have data privacy and security rules (such as the European Union), can the vendor support it?
  • Are your application security requirements satisfied? Can the application and access to it be audited in case of problems?
  • How do application deployment and server prices compare?
  • What is the range and depth of supported services? Do they include new cloud industry trends so that the provider is "future-proof"?

References

Cloud Industry Forum. (n.d.). 8 criteria to ensure you select the right cloud service provider. Retrieved from https://www.cloudindustryforum.org/content/8-criteria-ensure-you-select-right-cloud-service-provider

Markey, S. C. (n.d.). Selecting a cloud service provider. Retrieved from https://iapp.org/media/presentations/12Summit/S12_Cloud_Service_Provider_PPT_version_2.pdf