FEATURE


What are our security and compliance requirements and how will they be managed in the cloud?


Managing risk is a significant board responsibility that only increases as regulations tighten. Company data is one of the most high-risk assets the business possesses and its safety in the cloud has to be beyond reproach. Prospective CSPs should be able to provide assurances of the security offered by their cloud that meet or ideally exceed the organisation’s compliance requirements. Assurance at the start is one thing, but ongoing auditing and reporting is also critical. The GDPR, for example, requires that organisations demonstrate how they are taking steps to protect data on a continuous basis and you’ll need to work with your CSP to achieve this. Again, offerings differ. Some providers will expect you to


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sees companies wanting to fully overhaul their infrastructure and deliver a completely different model back to the business – more of a true digital transformation. It’s important to know which camp you’re in and be sure that


your prospective IAAS provider is aligned, because in either case, ending up with the alternative scenario will cause pain. What should be a straightforward process becomes overly complicated when the destination is not clear from the outset.


How much support do we require at onboarding and ongoing?


Support for the initial cloud migration varies between providers from do-it-yourself to a full concierge migration service. If you opt for a hyperscale provider, you’ll find the approach is


more on the DIY side – there are a wealth of options but it’s up to you to figure out what’s best for your business and mix and match accordingly. This works if you have in-house capability or are happy to employ consultancy expertise in order to manage the move. At the other end of the scale are providers offering an end-to-


end concierge service to get you up and running with onboarding, deployment and testing. Your IT team will be expected to bring their existing skillsets, but little additional learning is required. In both cases, you also need visibility of the ongoing costs associated with support for your cloud environment and the availability of that support.


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take responsibility yourself, bringing your own security and compliance team, software and processes with you. Others, including iland, have built a dedicated practice around compliance that is at the disposal of customers. This can be invaluable if your compliance team is small or you don’t have in-house support. Either way, it’s another important consideration when adopting IAAS.


Pricing – How flexible is flexible?


The lure of only paying for the resources you use is a powerful motive for moving to IAAS. Whichever provider you choose, it is likely to be more cost-effective than your legacy environment, but to really reap the full economic benefits, you need to ensure that there’s a good match between cloud workloads and cloud resource utilisation. Some providers will allow you to reserve cloud resources


based on exactly the amount of GB required, with billing based on actual compute usage, while other work on a “best fit” basis, offering a range of predetermined instance sizes. There is a risk here of paying for resources you don’t use, so it’s important to check that your requirements are close to the instance size selected. You also need to ensure that you understand the billing system and have visibility over any additional costs such as VPNs or burstable charges that might be incurred. You certainly don’t want any nasty surprises further down the line. Fundamentally, adopting infrastructure-as-a-service is a


sound decision, but it still needs careful scrutiny to make sure the business gains the maximum benefits possible. Even though boards are under pressure to sign off deals, they should ask the right questions to make sure their investment delivers the business outcomes they’re looking for.


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