Over the past few years, the term “enterprise cloud computing” has become increasingly common. It is getting harder and harder for people and businesses to maintain their crucial data, programs, and systems on internal computer servers as society transitions into the digital 21st century. This is because data use has increased exponentially throughout this period.

The answer to this issue has existed for almost as long as the internet, but it has only recently received mainstream acceptance among businesses. Like web-based email clients, cloud computing enables users to access the system’s functions and information without needing to retain a significant portion of that system on their personal computers.

In reality, most people now use various cloud computing services without even being aware of it. Examples of cloud-based programs include Google Drive, Gmail, and social media platforms. Users transfer their private information to a cloud-hosted server for each service, which saves the data for later access. These programs are helpful for individuals, but they’re even more valuable for companies that need access to multiple data over a safe network online.

When choosing an enterprise IT cloud, you must evaluate several factors to ensure that the solution meets your organization’s specific needs. Here are some key things to assess:

Security

Security matters when choosing an enterprise cloud solution because it ensures that sensitive data and applications are safe from unauthorized access, breaches, and data loss. With the increasing cases of cyber-attacks and data breaches, businesses must protect their data and systems.

A secure cloud solution can provide encryption, authentication, and monitoring to safeguard against potential threats and keep data safe. Additionally, a cloud provider with a good security track record and certifications such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS can assure the customers that they are following industry-standard security practices.

Analyze a provider’s security and data management policies, paying close attention to how they relate to data privacy laws. Ensure there are enough assurances on data ownership, usage rights, confidentiality, access to, location, and jurisdiction of the data.

Scalability

When choosing an enterprise cloud solution, you should consider scalability because it allows your company to quickly increase or decrease its resources as needed. This can help with cost management and ensure that the company has the resources to handle increased traffic or usage. Additionally, a scalable cloud solution can also help with disaster recovery and ensure that a company can quickly respond to unexpected demand or outages.

In other words, the cloud should scale up or down as needed to meet the changing needs of your organization. This includes the ability to add or remove resources, such as computing power or storage, and handle large spikes in traffic.

Flexibility

The cloud should be flexible and customizable, allowing you to choose the specific services and resources that your organization needs. Some key areas where flexibility is essential include the following:

• Platform: A cloud solution should support various operating systems, programming languages, and databases to accommodate different applications and workloads.
• Scale: The solution should easily scale up or down to match the changing needs of the business, whether handling a temporary spike in traffic or accommodating down during off-peak hours.
• Deployment: The solution should support a variety of deployment models, such as public, private, or hybrid cloud, to give businesses the flexibility to choose the right option for their specific requirements.
• Customization: The enterprise cloud solution should provide the ability to tailor the platform to the business’s specific needs, whether through APIs, SDKs, or other customization options.

Reliability

The cloud should be highly available and reliable, with minimal downtime. This includes features such as automatic failover and disaster recovery, as well as the ability to quickly restore service during an outage.

Expecting perfection is unrealistic because any cloud service will occasionally have outages. What matters is how the service provider handles the downtime. Ensure that the monitoring and reporting tools are adequate and compatible with your overall management and reporting systems.

Also, ensure the provider you choose has established, documented, and tested procedures for handling both planned and unplanned downtime. They should have procedures and plans that detail how they intend to get in touch with customers during disruption, including how to prioritize concerns, communicate on time, and gauge their severity.

Integration

The enterprise IT cloud should be able to integrate with existing systems and infrastructure, including on-premises systems and other cloud services. This includes the ability to use a variety of protocols and APIs, as well as the ability to use a standard identity management system.

Support

The cloud provider should offer robust support and resources, including documentation, tutorials, and a community forum. Additionally, the cloud provider should provide a dedicated support team that can help troubleshoot issues and answer questions promptly.

Be sure that the service and deliverables are clearly defined. Get clarification on the distribution of duties and responsibilities between your company and the service provider (delivery, provisioning, service management, monitoring, support, escalations, etc.).

Cost

The cost of the cloud solution should be in line with your organization’s budget and easy to understand and predict. This includes the ability to pay for resources on a pay-as-you-go basis and set budgets and usage limits.

Location

The location of the cloud provider’s data centers is also an essential factor. Suppose you have users and customers in different regions. In that case, you will want to select a cloud provider with data centers in those regions to ensure low latency and fast performance.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, the key to choosing the right enterprise IT cloud is to carefully evaluate your organization’s specific needs and requirements and select a solution that can meet those needs cost-effectively and efficiently. By considering factors such as security, scalability, reliability, flexibility, cost, integration, support, and location, you can ensure that the cloud you choose is the right fit for your organization. Overall, a highly flexible enterprise cloud solution can help businesses quickly and easily adapt to changing business needs and stay competitive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.