Part 2 - Ten Tough Questions to Better Qualify Any Cloud Vendor

How can you more quickly qualify and evaluate any cloud vendor?

This white paper is designed to reduce the complexity of the cloud buying process by providing ten penetrating questions to ask cloud vendors to become a more informed buyer. Customers interested in purchasing any cloud service (for example, IT help desk or customer service) encounter a myriad of problems and obstacles during the purchase process. The white paper provides practical "how to" advice to help avoid mistakes that even the most experienced professionals make that cost a lot of time and money. Use these questions to poke and prod at your list of cloud vendors.

Some topics covered include:

• Using uptime and support service level agreements to manage our relationship
• How to qualify the reliability and security of a data center; SSAE 16 (formally SAS 70), Trustwave PCI Certification and SysTrust Compliance
• Access to your data and rights in the cloud
• Source code escrow rights and responsibilities
• Termination clauses, contract term commitments, discounts and hidden fees
• What if my company is dissatisfied?
• What if my company finds better technology?
• Deployment "out-of-box" vs. time and cost of customization/configuration
• Preparing and comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of all alternatives
• Most overlooked critical fine print in software maintenance agreements
• Vendor product roadmaps and commitment
• What are the costs for post-implementation customization/configuration?
• What qualifies as routine technical support vs. professional services fees?