Cloud computing providers range from large, international organisations to local companies and others specialising on the legal or professional services market. It is important to ask some key questions to ensure a potential provider meets your service delivery, security and compliance requirements.
What commitments around availability and performance of the services are being given?
Where will my data be held?
How easily can I get data back, both during and at the end of the service?
What backup arrangements are being offered if the service goes down?
If using a shared rack in a shared data centre, what would happen to my data if another customer's server on my shared rack was seized, perhaps by a regulator for investigatory purposes?
A cloud solution hosted on a dedicated server will come at a premium but should ensure a greater degree of security and control of your data and systems.