Challenges on the road to the cloud

In a recent article about the steps to cloud adoption, we mentioned the importance of acknowledging the complexities of moving to the cloud. Let’s dig into this a little deeper.

• Location of Data – Yes, it’s the big, ambiguous cloud, but the data resides somewhere. Know the location of your data and the privacy and security laws for this location.

• Cloud Environment – You don’t have to be an expert, but it’s worth knowing the environment, controls, replication, updates, etc.

• Service Level Agreement – You need to understand your obligations as well as those of your cloud provider. This might impact your configurations.

• Regulatory Compliance – Even with data in the cloud, you’re still accountable to your customers for security and integrity. Know the standards and procedures to help mitigate risk.

• Data Migration – Know up front how your vendors handle data migrations to make data portable and recoverable in the new infrastructure.

• Data Privacy – Hosting data in the cloud reduces your direct control to some extent, so understand who has access to your data and how.

• Data Security – It’s good to familiarize yourself with the physical and logical controls used by your provider to keep data secure.

• Business Continuity – The internet goes down and we all panic. It happens. Make a plan for how you’ll deal with a possible internet outage.

• Disaster Recovery – Be sure that, if disaster strikes, you’ve created a plan to keep things moving. Think about your recovery time objectives so that they are compliant with your customers’ objectives.

• Records Retention – If you’re subject to records requests, check into how your provider handles your needs.

• Provider Lockdown – There may come a time when your provider no longer meets your requirements. How would you move your data? In other words, what’s your backup backup plan?

• Open Mind – Keep one. Cloud is ever-advancing, so the most successful MSPs will be those who are open to new capabilities and opportunities.

Now, take a moment to shake off any undue paranoia about the cloud—the benefits still outweigh the risks, especially when you plan ahead.