Rule of Thumb: Check Cloud SLA of the Service Providers

One of the biggest and elemental service for data management, security, network and visualization is cloud computing. This enables enterprises and even individuals to store their data and other relevant information on a virtual storage called cloud. There are two types of cloud services offered by most service providers: public and private clouds.

Public and private clouds carry their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Few of the popular companies that utilize public cloud are Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Verizon wherein applications are shared and made available to millions of users around the globe. However, for private companies that consider data information as vital and confidential like banks and insurance companies, private cloud is a better choice and a probable recommendation for use.

To aid management executives in making one of the biggest decisions for their companies, various cloud service providers are already available for assistance.

Services offered by many private cloud service providers are standardized and they have gained several Cloud clients worldwide not only with the service coverage they offer but mostly because of their pledged Service Level Agreement (SLA) to their clients. Generally, cloud SLA for their clients includes 99.9% Network Uptime Target and 99.9% Server Uptime Target which means that they will fight hard to keep clients connected at all times. This network consists of the border routers, firewalls, load balancer and switches required for the operations of the company. These services are mainly hired by organizations with huge data to handle or by companies with very high volume traffic.

The Cloud SLA also guarantees a 30-minute response time for clients who needs technical support. This would mean that all reported emergency incidents by the company will be addressed in no more than 30-minutes. Lastly, a 1 millisecond latency of data transfer from one cloud server to another within the same network is also guaranteed to ensure real-time information.

Investing on the cloud is somewhat risky and often times expensive primarily on its implementation phase. Though some cloud experts vouch for reduced IT costs upon implementation, there is still no clear strategy on how to undergo adaptation or transition of a particular company’s traditional IT infrastructure to cloud computing.

Aside from considering the type of cloud service to pursue, you must also consider the SLA of a particular provider to ascertain if it will surely be a good investment for your success.