The rapid growth of the business cloud sector has helped to mask the fact that the technology underpinning many products and services is, in some cases, still quite immature. Coupled with the trend of "cloudwashing," where companies describe every virtualized or mobile service as a cloud offering, this translates to a tough environment for even well-developed service providers.
However, according to a Computer Technology Review (CTR) article by contributor Eric Blum, there are four important ways that cloud IT Infrastructure solutions providers can separate themselves from the pack.
The first, he said, is the use of clear definitions and descriptions of a company's services. This not only makes it easier to avoid client confusion, it can be an important differentiator once cloud providers start going after specific verticals.
In particular, the use of recognized metrics to measure service availability can be a boost to a company's appeal.
"Cloud service providers should leverage management platforms that include the same type of key performance indicators (KPIs) found in traditional enterprise systems. This is needed to allow instant reporting on the quality of service, the time required to process changes, the mean time to repair, and the mean time between failures," he wrote.
Solid risk management programs, with positive track records and an ability to comply with any applicable industry regulations, are another important point for IT Infrastructure services providers to consider, Blum said. Businesses don't want to be dealing with reliability problems in their own backyards while simultaneously trying to provide services to their clients.
Another crucial consideration for cloud services is sales cost, the CTR contributor said. A good way to reduce the amount spent on doing due diligence for a potential client that doesn't have vital information at his or her fingertips is discovery and dependency mapping technology.
Finally, according to Blum, delivery costs should be reduced as sharply as possible. There are a number of ways to accomplish this goal, including the use of advanced automation for provisioning and maintenance tasks, and optimizing a business' own resources so that it can avoid waste.
Potential cloud clients, as well, could use Blum's list as guidance. Service providers that are following the instructions written by the CTR contributor may well be better options for businesses looking to move to the cloud.
