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So much of what an organization does now is cloud-based, from the applications and programs your employees use to perform their work to the tools and resources you use to collaborate and communicate. And because so much more of what we do happens in the cloud, choosing the right cloud service provider is essential. Consider these factors when choosing your cloud service provider:
Where Will Your Data Be Stored?
Knowing where your data will be stored is crucial. Some cloud service providers are resellers who simply white label another provider’s services as their own and have virtually no control over where the data is stored. And you want to know where your data is being stored, because if it’s being stored in another country, your access and security may be compromised. Ask potential cloud service providers for the locations of their data centers.
How Will You Be Charged for Cloud Services?
Will you have predictable charges that allow you to plan for the future? Does your cloud service provider give you the flexibility of scale, so that as your organization grows, changes, or requires less space, you can quickly adjust? Ask potential cloud service providers about flexibility and scalability.
How Reliable Is Your Cloud Provider’s Infrastructure?
One of the reasons businesses are shifting to cloud-based services is to take advantage of the cost savings realized when someone else is responsible for maintaining the server infrastructure and equipment. However, downtime can be costly, whether your organization is responsible for repairs or not. Ask potential cloud providers about the state of their equipment and about the experience of the engineers operating the servers.
Who Owns Your Data in the Cloud?
When you store your data in the cloud, do you still “own” your data, or does the provider have the right to use it, even in a derivative form? And how secure is your stored data? When choosing a cloud service provider, be sure you understand their policies concerning the use of your data and who might have access to it. Seek a provider whose policies align with your security requirements and comfort level.
How Secure Is Your Data?
Maintaining compliance with a variety of directives is one of the biggest concerns with cloud-based business operations. From HIPAA to Sarbanes-Oxley, security is an essential consideration when choosing a cloud service provider. Ask potential cloud providers how they manage security and whether or not they can comply with regulatory, industry, and corporate security policies.
Cloud-based everything is the future. It is a cost-effective path toward faster growth, more flexibility, and improved collaboration. Having a true partner in your cloud service provider is essential. At thinkCSC, we manufacture and support our own cloud services. Because we own our own cloud, we can be very nimble when it comes to customizing solutions for your IT needs. Learn more.
It’s inevitable that more and more operations are shifting to the cloud for data storage and network security. It’s efficient, cost-effective, and makes it much easier to employ a mobile workforce. But if you don’t know where your data is being stored or who owns it, your shift to the cloud can be fraught with risks.
Ensuring Cloud Security
The best way to ensure cloud security is to know where your data is and who has access to it. And in choosing a cloud service provider, the following factors should be considered:
- Access to your data. Your cloud service provider should have adequate network availability to ensure you have access to your data in the cloud regardless of when or how often you need it. While not truly a security issue, if you can’t access your data, it’s no different than a denial of service, a cyber-attack, or a data breach.
- Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR): Your cloud service provider should make backup and disaster recovery processes their highest priority. As a business leader, you need to have confidence in knowing that your business operations will continue even if there is a disaster – either at your location or at the location of your cloud services provider. Protecting your data is a full-time job.
- Complete transparency. The cloud services provider with whom you choose to work should become a partner in your business continuity, working diligently with you to ensure your IT goals are met and taking the time to understand your specific needs, security requirements, and constraints.
- Proactive security. Your cloud service provider should offer aggressive, proactive security by providing enterprise threat detection, which screens potential threats before they become a risk to your business by blocking malicious connections, blocking threats by malicious domains, and detecting and blocking threats from any compromised device.
thinkCSC has not only invested in owning its own cloud but has developed partnerships to enhance security and services that ensure our clients:
- Avoid revenue losses from downtime
- Enjoy the ability to predictably plan business development with an OPEX approach to IT
- Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing their proprietary information remains private, secure, and in the U.S.
- Are compliant with regulatory, industry, and corporate requirements
Every business has data in the cloud. To ensure your cloud security, contact us today.
We often talk about our services in terms of what we deliver to our clients:
- Predictable costs
- Uptime
- Enhanced security
- Collaboration tools
- Secure remote work options
But what do these benefits really mean to our clients?
Government agencies must meet legislative requirements and serve a body of constituents. School district must not only comply with mandates but also meet parent and student expectations. Private business must remain profitable in a highly-competitive global environment while satisfying both customers and business leaders. thinkCSC services are designed not just to deliver on our promises but to make sure you can keep your promises to your customers.
Predictable IT Costs
Predictable IT costs are good for business because it makes budgeting easier when converting capital expenditures into operating expenses. But it’s not just about managing the budget; it’s also about your ability to offer competitive pricing to customers or meet mandates within the constraints of your budget that truly make predictable IT costs something worth pursuing.
Uptime
Uptime is a common goal for managed service providers. It’s the way that we measure, in part, our ability to deliver on our promises. Uptime also means that you have the ability to meet the needs of your customers when they expect you to.
Enhanced Security
Security is the foundation of the integrity of any business. And while enhanced security is something we offer our clients, our enhanced security really means that our clients have the ability to meet both mandated as well as guaranteed protection of customer data. Whether you operate a business that processes financial transactions or a medical office required to maintain HIPAA standards, enhanced security is as much a necessity of doing business as it is a benefit.
Collaboration Tools
The collaboration tools we offer allow you to securely and efficiently work with team members around the world. And the reason this becomes important is because it allows you to be flexible and responsive, offering your customers the best innovations at the most competitive prices possible.
Secure Remote Work Options
By offering you secure, remote work options, we provide you with freedom. Whether it’s the freedom to attract talent from other locations around the globe or the freedom to work from home yourself, it’s a powerful offering. But what it really means to your customers is that you can be available to meet their needs from wherever you are – or reach the members of your team who can.
Predictable costs, uptime, security, collaboration, and remote workforce tools: Those are the benefits we offer our clients. What we are really delivering, however, is the ability for you to keep their promises to their customers.
We’ve talked about cloud computing before, but technology is an industry that moves quickly, and Cloud – or Sky – computing, is something everyone from individual computer users to CEOs and IT managers need to start considering as a mainstream component to the way you store data and provide solutions for clients.
In cloud computing, data and software are stored on servers, and devices like smartphones and computers access them through the Internet. The move toward cloud computing allows for music and video streaming, photo storage and sharing, and document retention. From a business standpoint, it can also mean improvements in efficiency and the ability to better collaborate on projects across the miles. As more people use gadgets with limited data storage, cloud computing may become an everyday convenience.
When Apple unveiled their version of cloud services to compete in a fast-growing market led by Amazon, Steve Jobs announced, “We’re going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud. Everything happens automatically and there’s nothing new to learn. It just all works.” Wall Street analysts say with Apple’s iCloud service, the foundation has been laid cloud computing to effectively transform the way we store, access, share, and manage data.
Many users are already using cloud services without knowing it. Turbo Tax, with its internet-based tax preparation, Google Picassa and Yahoo Flickr are all well-known examples of the cloud at work. Even Facebook is a cloud-based interaction application. To most users, it’s just a popular web site, but they have an element of cloud computing to them: All the games – Farmville, Wheel of Fortune, Gardens of Time – are internet based with nothing stored locally on a computer.
Concerns for security and privacy are valid. Apple, Google and Amazon offer plenty of security promises about their cloud services, but promises don’t stop people from worrying about lost documents or privacy breaches. On the other side, PC and laptops are vulnerable to theft, loss or unrecoverable data damage. One of the advantages of cloud computing from a user standpoint is that if your system is compromised, you can log in from anywhere and recover all of your information.
The cloud has some pitfalls and bugs to address, and as technology increases, the concept becomes more appealing to business owners who can see the advantages of information being accessible to team members wherever they happen to be in the world. When handled correctly, the transition is less challenging. Netflix (the lack of popularity of their new pricing structure not withstanding) is a great example of a company that rebuilt its applications from scratch and smartly designed a successful cloud platform. Security issues need to be addressed with a more holistic approach. Traditional security techniques and aggressive monitoring by IT departments effectively apply to the cloud as well as existing hosted products.
thinkCSC believes that the future lies in the cloud. We understand security, privacy and the benefits of web-based data storage, and offer solutions that can help you and your clients achieve your data protection and storage goals. The advantages of thinkCSC managing our own cloud provide our clients with a local option and better service – with the same engineers that know your network — as well as fewer security concerns. We are ready to assist you to move forward – and upward. Meet you in the cloud!
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