Cloud Services | April 12, 2022

9 Things You Should Know About Cloud Service Providers

Did you know that, according to information released by Business Wire in 2019, 87% of companies experienced business acceleration due to their using cloud services? Additionally, for 52% of them, their security experience was better in the cloud (than within IT on-premise environments).

Considering these statistics, you might be thinking of seeing what cloud service providers are out there to decide whether you want to hire one for your business.

However, if you don’t know much about them, you might be feeling stressed or overwhelmed about making this decision.

Fortunately, in this article, we’ll review everything you should know about cloud service providers. Finally, you can decide if a cloud service is right for you and run your business more smoothly than ever. Read on to learn more.

1. Cloud Service Providers Can Meet Your Regulatory Compliance Needs

Depending on your industry, there might be certain regulatory compliance requirements that you have to meet. For example, if you’re in the healthcare industry and you transmit, create, or collect protected health information, then you have to meet HIPPA compliance regulations.

It can be stressful to ensure that you’re following the regulatory compliance requirements of your industry.

Fortunately, when you hire a cloud hosting services provider, they can manage this task for you. Additionally, if requirements change, they’ll make updates as necessary so that you’re still following the changed requirements.

This will save you both the hassle and stress of having to do this yourself.

2. Cloud Service Providers Can Adapt to Your Infrastructure Requirements

Whatever your infrastructure requirements, providers of cloud services can adapt to them. They’ll be able to take all your hardware and software and ensure that they’re stored properly on the cloud. They’ll also offer solutions that make it possible for your infrastructure to be more efficient.

As a result, this aspect of your business will run more smoothly than ever. This is a good thing for business continuity.

3. The Top Cloud Service Providers Will Use SLAs

When you use SLAs, also known as Service-Level Agreements of Cloud Computing, with a cloud service provider, you’re establishing a relationship. This is a relationship between you (the user) and your cloud service provider. There are different types of these agreements, including:

  • Multilevel service-level
  • Customer-level
  • Internal-level

Grounds these agreements include are efficiency, work quality, work volume, speed, and responsiveness. This makes the relationship you have with the cloud services provider based on trust. Additionally, if anything changes or goes wrong, you can communicate easily.

It will be easy to know what to expect and what to discuss because of the legal conditions of the agreement.

4. Cloud Services Providers Offer a Variety of Cloud Services

There are three different cloud services that cloud services providers have available. The first is Infrastructure-As-A-Service, or IaaS. The second is Platform-As-A-Service, or PaaS. The third is Software-As-A-Service, or SaaS. Which one you choose depends on your business requirements.

Would you rather have the cloud service provider manage everything for you? Or would you rather have your business’s software and hardware on the cloud but be managing it yourself in part?

If you aren’t sure, speak with the cloud storage services provider about your business requirements so they can help you decide which cloud service type is best for you.

5. Cloud Service Providers Must Provide You With Recommended Security Measures

When you have your data stored in the cloud, it’s important that the cloud service provider provide you with recommended security measures. This makes it possible for you to address all your business data concerns.

At the same time, this makes it possible for different users to have connections that are resourceful and shareable.

It needs to be the case that your data is both safe and can travel across different platforms. Additionally, there should be ease of availability and authentication.

For this reason, when you’re considering hiring a managed cloud service provider or another type of cloud service provider, you should review what security measures they provide their clients with.

It can also help to see whether they follow essential cloud procedures and policies related to security.

6. The Top Cloud Service Providers Should Provide Customer Support

When you’re choosing between cloud service providers, you should consider how impressive their customer support is. After all, they’re handling a large amount of your data. If something were to go wrong or you were confused about how to use your cloud service, would they be there to help you out?

If they aren’t able to help you immediately, this could end up having a negative impact on your business continuity. You might not have access to important data that you need to continue working.

For this reason, when you’re considering different cloud service providers, you should check that they have support around the clock. This includes holidays.

Additionally, make sure that you can communicate with them in a variety of ways, including over email, phone, live chat, and additional communication channels.

7. Cloud Service Providers Often Have Different Pricing Plans

Often, cloud service providers have a variety of pricing plans. Even if you come across one that only has one type of pricing plan available, it’s important to know what your options are. One of these is pay-per-use.

With this type of pricing plan, you’re paying specifically for what you’re using (excluding upfront costs).

Then there’s the subscription-based service. With this type of pricing plan, you’re subscribing to have the cloud services available to you for a specific period in the future.

There’s also the hybrid payment plan. With this one, you’re getting a combination of the two mentioned above.

8. Cloud Service Providers Offer Different Cloud Options

There are different cloud options available. One of these is the public cloud. When this happens, you’re storing everything on the cloud that belongs to the cloud provider. It will be stored within their facilities. The biggest benefit you get with this type is the lower cost.

The drawback is that your data will be slightly less secure. After all, your data will be in the same computing space as the cloud service provider’s other clients’ data is.

Another type of cloud offering is the private cloud option. In this case, your data is more secluded. For example, your network services and hardware will be specifically for your company.

The benefit of this type of product is that you’ll experience a high amount of security. On the other hand, it will cost more.

Then there are hybrid cloud services. With this type of model, you’re combining a cloud that’s private with a public cloud service or multiple ones. This way, you can more sensitive data on the private cloud.

Then, you can use the public cloud to store data that requires a little less security.

9. Cloud Service Providers Have Different Infrastructure Designs

There are different infrastructure designs that cloud service providers have. These include data center setup, high-performance computing, and multi-later security. We’ll review each of these in detail now so you can have a better idea of how these providers work.

Data Center Setup

Cloud service providers often have multiple data centers that are in multiple locations. In an ideal situation, you’d be able to use one of the data centers that are closest to you physically. This way, you’ll minimize the latency amount.

If an emergency were to occur, the cloud service provider should make it possible to use a different data center. This way, your business flow won’t be interrupted.

High-Performance Computing

High-performance computing, also referred to as HPC, is the capacity of processing data and performing complex calculations at speeds that are high. You want to be sure that the cloud provider you hire has this capacity.

You should also look for one that can scale up as your business grows. Even as you start using their service more heavily, the speeds should still be high.

Multi-Layer Security

The security the cloud service provider has should have several layers. The first is the perimeter or physical layer. This is security related to the physical location of the provider. Then there’s the infrastructure layer. This is related to the equipment and systems within the data center.

Then there’s the data layer. This is related to the security of the data itself. Finally, there’s the environmental layer.

The environmental layer can reassure you that the data center hasn’t been built within an area that often experiences environmental disasters.

Looking for Cloud Service Providers?

Now that you’ve learned the things you should know about cloud services providers, you might be interested in working with one. In this case, you should look no further than EMPIST. We’re experts when it comes to cloud services.

At EMPIST, we offer technology services to businesses in the Chicago area. These include IT services like cloud solutions as well as digital solutions like digital marketing.

To learn more about how we can help your business, contact us now.

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