Have you decided to shift your organization’s operations to the cloud? No transition could ever hope to be successful without careful consideration of all relevant factors. Are you aware of the concerns you should be taking into account for this change? Here is a definitive list of factors that you must consider when moving to the cloud.

Privacy and Security

One of the most commonly asked questions from people who are in the transition phase is: how safe is their data in the cloud? In order to determine the answer, it is important that you choose a verified Cloud Service Provider so that you know you can delegate control of your intellectual property to someone reliable instead of risking being on the wrong side of the litigation. Before making the change, you should weigh out these security concerns so that your company’s data is as secure as it can be.

Data Location

Where will all your data be located? It is important to consider where your datacentres are located, that transfers are secure, encrypted, and monitored so progress can be tracked. Data and privacy laws aren’t the same in every jurisdiction, so allow yourself the peace of mind that you know where your data is traveling to and from.

Disaster Recovery

One of the most important questions that you need to ask yourself is: what will your strategy be if your cloud computing system faces downtime, or how do you think your cloud service provider will get out of the mess? In order to ensure that there are no hurdles, proper access protocols need to be in place to let your clients access their data in case of a disaster. Furthermore, you should have a clear distinction about what constitutes an outage and when you are supposed to apply the fiscal penalties.

Scalability

Cloud applications generally have a pay-for-what-you-use fee structure in place, but you should know that even the cloud has restraints. Before the transition, focus on cloud strategy and work on important components like storage, technology, people, organization; this will bring to light the total cost of the entire feature and how scalable your application will need to be. You will also need to see the level of compatibility between the cloud and your existing software.

Reliability

You need to set limits when it comes to any security issues, the frequency of power outages, and the margin of error from the vendor. In order to make sure that your transition is smooth, you need to keep an eye on the availability of the cloud services being offered to you to be able to pick the best provider for your needs.

Customization

A cloud provider can offer you great services at really low prices if customization options are limited. Just as with any other kind of service, you get more customization options for a more expensive package. Assess your needs and discover the level of customization that your business requires.

Discuss all your considerations with your IT head so that you can come up with a great solution.