8 Questions to Ask Your Cloud Provider Before Signing a Contract

Although it’s in organizations’ best interest to deploy cloud computing quickly, it’s as important to choose the best provider for their needs. Here are questions to keep in mind.

As companies move applications and data to the cloud, network bandwidth and connectivity become increasingly important. There’s no shortage of options between Ethernet, VPN, fiber and wavelength services. Since connectivity is a long-term investment, companies should have a firm understanding of their current needs and plans for growth to determine if their potential cloud providers offer options that meet their needs.

By utilizing automation tools within the cloud, you can quickly turn up new services to meet demand. This network automation enables speed and agility while also lowering risk of human error tied to common tasks that were previously done manually.

Creating a seamless and simple integration with software-defined networking (SDN) and network-functions virtualization (NFV) starts with investing in technologies today. The network you build should be flexible enough to support both SDN and NFV, which will provide continued agility as network needs change.

How you get your data to the cloud is just as important as how it’s handled when it’s up and running in the virtual environment. Understanding how your provider will keep your information safe in transit to the cloud is vital to data protection.

Some may call it keeping up with the Joneses, but being up to par with best practices is essential to your cloud’s longevity. When you choose a provider who continually works to meet the latest best practices, you’re ensuring your network will be able to take advantage of the latest and greatest technology the industry has to offer.

Orchestration tools are imperative to ensuring that your network can flex to changing traffic demands. Different cloud providers offer different orchestration methods, and it’s important to ensure your cloud provider’s tools are the best for your network needs.

Containers are growing in popularity and help organizations use IT resources more efficiently than ever before. If containers are tools your company is looking to leverage, make sure your cloud provider supports them.

How companies use the cloud is changing at a breakneck place, so it’s important for a cloud provider to offer flexible deployment methods that can evolve with your organization.