The recent pandemic and the emergence of remote working including video-conferencing have accelerated companies’ move to the cloud. But how do you know if you’re choosing the right cloud service provider?
Guide to Choosing a Cloud Service Provider
- Why choose Cloud hosting?
- What is the difference between cloud hosting and traditional web hosting?
- Key points to consider when choosing cloud hosting
Cloud hosting is fast, reliable and secure, leading to improved business productivity and efficiency. Swapping a regular server for cloud-based hosting can help businesses become more flexible and adapt to changing market conditions. In turn, this agility provides a formidable foundation for business growth.
Why Choose Cloud Hosting?
Unlike traditional web hosting, cloud hosting providers draw resources from multiple servers. Doing so provides certain advantages. These advantages of cloud hosting include the ability to access resources from another server to ensure performance standards are maintained and the ability to scale resources up and down as required.
What is the difference between cloud hosting and traditional web hosting?
When you purchase a traditional hosting solution, you pay for fixed resources. In the case of cloud hosting, you only pay for consumed resources. Cloud hosting has more flexibility and scalability. It’s possible to change your access to resources at any time. There’s no tiresome server restart required and no need to wait.
Seven key points to consider when choosing cloud hosting
It’s essential to do your research before moving to the cloud. Here are five things to consider when selecting your cloud-hosting provider.
- Understand your business needs
Is your business subject to high-traffic periods that call for your provider to ramp up bandwidth fast? Or perhaps you’re planning to embark on significant projects that depend on increased scalability down the track? Before deciding on a cloud computing solution, it pays to outline your business goals carefully. Know why cloud hosting is better for your business. Ensure that you know the advantages and disadvantages of cloud hosting vs DIY IT infrastructure, or cloud hosting vs web hosting. Make sure your medium- and long-term business plans align with your decision. This way you’re less likely to make an impulsive decision, and you will invest in the right technology that can help your digital enterprise evolve.
- What is it going to cost
While it should never be the sole determining issue, the cost will play a big role in deciding which cloud service provider you select. And it’s more than the purchase price. Consider all associated costs you may incur, such as staff costs and volume and usage discounts.
- What support is provided
Ask questions upfront about what level and form of support you will have access to before choosing your cloud provider. You should know if the only support provided is through a chat service or call centre. This may not stack up against having access to a dedicated resource.
- Figure out your game plan
Walk, don’t run. Although it’s tempting to instantly move all your data to the cloud, it’s essential to follow a migration process that prevents risk. It’s often practical to move your e-commerce platform or customer-facing elements to the cloud before addressing sensitive, internal files that depend on external applications.
- Organise your service-level agreement
Service-level agreements (SLAs) are an essential component of your relationship with your cloud hosting provider. When looking at what are the key factors distinguishing between major cloud providers, the service level agreement is an excellent place to start. An SLA defines deliverables such as availability, response time, capacity, and support. Taking the time to negotiate an SLA can help you mitigate the impact of maintenance, server upgrades and downtime. However, it’s equally important to ensure your SLA covers the migration process – ensuring that your service provider meets your required response times and will guarantee that you go live on time and budget.
- Develop a response plan with your hosting partner
Service outages, website crashes – even the most well-oiled website can be vulnerable to crises. Working with your cloud provider to develop a response plan in case disaster strikes can save your customer relationships, protect your business and ensure peace of mind. The frequency and security of the backup process and how to restore it when needed are other questions that you should ask about.
- Anticipate your future needs
Embracing cloud hosting is a major decision that should be perceived as a way to future-proof your business. That’s why it’s critical to think strategically about whether your delivery model and fee structure will reflect your core business goals down the track. Moving into the cloud requires careful planning and careful research, but it can ultimately help you get ahead. We recommend that you do a cloud service provider comparison and read the most recent reviews to identify the best cloud hosting solution for your business.
Why choose us as your web hosting partner?
Webcentral are the experts in Cloud Hosting and have helped thousands of Australian businesses get online. If you need more information on how to evaluate the full range of web hosting solutions, read our guide to choosing the best cloud hosting for your business here. Speak to one of our experts today on 1300 638 734 or view the range of Cloud Hosting products now.
