12 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Cloud Computing Partners

If you haven’t already moved part or all of your technology infrastructure to the cloud, chances are it’s on your list to do in 2016. To help you get started, here are 12 quick questions to ask when evaluating potential partners:

1. Who owns the data? Confirm your data won’t be used to build their advertising products.
2. How can you access your data, and can you access it at any time without their assistance?
3. Do they provide visibility into where data is stored and who can access it?
4. How will they protect your data from external attacks?
5. What are their backup processes? What happens to your data in the event of an outage?
6. What level of “uptime” can they commit to?
7. How will they keep you informed of changes in their processes and services?
8. Are they contractually committed to their privacy and security promises?
9. Do they offer the ability to turn off/on privacy-impacting features?
10. Which privacy and security controls are enabled (or disabled) by default, and which can be customized?
11. Do they undergo security validation and controls from independent auditors?
12. Do they comply with industry standards (ISO 27001, FISMA, etc.) and which ones?

If you’re starting down the path toward cloud computing, give us a call and ask to speak with one of our Cloud Enablement experts. We’d be happy to talk through your situation and explore areas where we might be able to help.