Although cloud adoption is growing at a fantastic rate, many CIOs still have doubts when it comes to choosing the right service provider. Indeed, making such a decision is by no means an easy task. Still, even if you're sure a particular company offers all you need, you shouldn't rush into signing an SLA (service level agreement) with them. Before signing a contract with a cloud provider and making a long-term commitment, you might want to contemplate several important things.

Security and authorization

If you're familiar with cloud technology, you must have realized the potential risks of storing your data there. Security has always been a heated topic in the cloud, so you must ensure your provider uses high security standards. Enquire about the encryption strength they use to protect your data, as well as about the people who are authorized to access it at any time. In most cloud companies, groups of employees are allowed to access your data in case you encounter problems. What you need to sort out with your provider is that nobody else can ever do so.

Service availability

Maximum uptime is crucial for every cloud user, especially for businesses or commercial websites. While many providers guarantee 100% uptime, you must know this isn't possible. Every service needs network maintenance every now and then, so you might want to check your provider's schedule. Additionally, ensure service uptime doesn't refer only to scheduled uptime, as providers tend to exclude 'planned downtime' from this digit. Planned downtime allows the service provider to check bugs or introduce features at a specific time of the week or month. Usually, this is a short period at points when the network traffic is least intensive.

Understanding Downtime with an SLA Uptime Calculator

When tailoring a cloud Service Level Agreement (SLA), understanding the real-world implications of uptime guarantees is crucial. While providers may advertise high availability, such as 99.9% uptime, it's important to recognize that this still allows for potential downtime. Utilizing an SLA uptime calculator can help quantify this, revealing that 99.9% uptime equates to approximately 43 minutes and 50 seconds of allowable downtime per month. This insight enables businesses to set realistic expectations, plan maintenance windows, and ensure the SLA terms align with their operational requirements. By incorporating tools like an SLA uptime calculator into the SLA negotiation process, organizations can better assess the suitability of a provider's uptime commitments and make informed decisions.

Server location

As cloud providers usually establish their server farms across different states or even countries, it may be useful to know where your data is actually stored. If your data crosses national boundaries, it becomes subject to different laws. This is why many European businesses are restrained from using US-based cloud services, as this would probably make their data accessible to the US government under the Patriot Act. Anyways, wherever your business is located, you might want to check this issue in order to avoid possible inconsistencies with local legislation.

Hidden costs

Service price was probably one of the major factors influencing your choice of a specific cloud vendor. However, even though the contract costs are always neatly listed on the SLA, there is a possibility that some extra fees, taxes, or upgrading costs are outlined somewhere in the back of it. It is important that your provider makes these things clear, so that you avoid any potential misunderstandings. Enquire about the exact situations when you may be required to pay extra, and make sure there won't be any possibilities for your provider to charge anything you weren't already prepared to pay.

Obviously, there are plenty of reasons why you should carefully read every single sentence in your SLA, especially the ones that may be listed in tiny print. Here you may learn about the things mentioned above and thus eliminate any doubts that the provider you chose would meet your cloud expectations.