Services based on the cloud computing model are gaining more and more importance and changing considerably the way companies used to manage their data. Some see it as a practical solution for automatic storage, others a way to guard against data loss, and others, the way to have constant access to their data.  Cloud computing can be considerable as one of smart beneficial adoption for companies, such as storage on demand, cost savings and multiple servers etc.

Studies have revealed that over half of companies adapting cloud computing resources have significant improvements in their productivity, plus, studies conducted by the Cloud Industry Forum shows that 90% of UK and European companies run at least two cloud services. However, it is not enough to register with a provider and to migrate data on a remote server and then passively enjoy the savings. Certainly cloud has its advantages, but companies must learn about cloud transition challenges before taking any further step in its direction.

A cloud failure is a good example of critical problems that any organization may face when operating cloud services. Cloud failures can make data inaccessible for companies or can even be a cause of valuable data lose. As a business, what can you do to prevent data loss? And what questions entrepreneurs should ask before choosing any cloud solution? Here below is a list of important you must ask any cloud vendor before signing the contract!

• Who is responsible for my data?
  Although data centres belong to the provider of cloud services, the ultimate responsibility of the stored data will usually attached to the client. Therefore, if data is lost for X reasons, this will certainly be the company, not the provider, who will be held accountable.

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• Your Cloud solution allow access 24h / 24, 7/7 … 365 days a year?
  Your company operates in real time and is based on your computer data: customer files, emails, accounting and important administrative documents … In case of a disaster such as, computer crash, virus or damaged hard drive, you won’t have enough time to save all you documents & files before the economic damage and data lose due to this accident.
  You’ll be happy to know that cloud is the ideal solution allowing you access to your data anywhere any time. But is this so sure?
  Before outsourcing your data in the cloud, check its availability rate, in other words, it’s the number of hours or days of maximum uptime guaranteed by your cloud provider. Time out break, whatever its duration, can result in a loss of money for company. This availability rate is a percentage and it is the third figure AFTER the point that matters. A guaranteed uptime of 99.9% may sound interesting on paper, but on the whole year, this can leave you with a service downtime of about nine hours without violating its obligations. A guarantee of 99.999% instead will turn in equivalent to only five minutes of downtime per year.
  So we advise you to avoid hosting below 99.995% (hours per year)!

• In case of natural disaster, can you cloud provider save immediately all your data WITHOUT loss?
  You must ask cloud provider, what type of restitution method will implement upon the occurrence of such incidents. Can you recover all your files on a simple demand? How quickly and what format?
  Insist your provider that you get ALL of your data on demand, whatever the reason, within a reasonable time and in a format your servers can read! You should know that most cloud services includes a backup by default. It remains significant to Carefully Consider the provider’s backup policies by checking the data retention time (this allows you to recover your data as They Were at a Particular time).

• Your data are “in the cloud” but where exactly?
  Do not let anyone play with your data privacy! To guarantee your data confidentiality, check in which country they are hosted. The jurisdiction of certain countries allows their different services to have a free access to your data. Therefore, if you host your data in Europe, America or Asia, you are not subject to the same legislation. The Privacy Shield ( “Personal Data Protection Shield”), the agreement regulates the use of personal data of European citizens by companies on American soil, was validated by States Member last July 8 but leaves many gray areas in practice.

• What are the security measures in place to protect your data?
  All Cloud providers have invested in higher or lower security measures to protect against external attacks. Do not hesitate to meet your future cloud service technical service and to ask them directly about security measures.

• What level of support is available?
  One of the most important points when choosing a Cloud partner, it is the level of service it offers, also called SLA (Service Level Agreement). Small businesses will be more dependent on advice and expert assistance on such matters in comparison of large groups. Big organizations have indeed the possibility to set up a public or private solution and manage it alone which is too complex and time-consuming for small structures.
  Dependent firms of this type of technical assistant need to determine what kind technical input they can reasonably expect from their cloud service provider. This assistance will focus mainly on maintenance and automatic updates of data. The choice of supplier is therefore essential on this aspect, which could make the difference between successful deployment and rollout to loss, where the customer is unable to take advantage of the tools at his disposal.

• What about the general conditions?
  It is recommended that companies take enough time to read the small print at the bottom of the contract, since they often contain essential clauses that could have important implications later on. For example, a standard contract often will state the level of compensation that a client can benefit if the service guarantees are not met, as well as information about data recovery procedures.
  The contract should also explain what happens to the data of the company at the end of a contract. The last thing a customer needs to know is that the supplier has not totally erased its data at the end of the contract, which can be cause of potential threats.

If you have asked yourself these questions and you got all your answers, then you are on the right path for a successful cloud project and finding a serious supplier with whom you can maintain good relation for years, knowing that your data will be safe and always available when you need it.