With more and more companies moving their data and applications to the cloud, the task of choosing a reliable commercial hosting provider has become increasingly difficult. There are some essential factors that can help make the decision easier, but selecting a trustworthy QuickBooks enterprise cloud hosting provider is still not a straightforward task as it involves your financial accounting data.
Here are few things to consider before opting for a cloud service provider
Roadmap of the service
When you’re looking for a cloud service provider, it’s important to think about their roadmap for service development. You should ask what steps they’re taking to make sure they’re always improving and innovating their services, as well as any plans they have for future growth. You should also find out what technologies they’re using now and whether they plan to upgrade those in the future.
When you’re trying to figure out which service roadmap is the best fit for your company, you need to make sure that it lines up with the way that you work. Making a switch to a new vendor can be tough- it takes a lot of time and effort to plan and execute the switch, and your employees might not be as productive during the transition. Keep all of this in mind when you’re making your decision so that you can choose the right service provider for your business.
Review the technology
Review the technologies and cloud platform services offered by your service provider to verify that they fit your needs. Consider what standards, cloud services, and network architectures will work best for your workload preferences and management. You may also need to consider how much customization you want. For example, some companies in specific industries may need special customizations that not all service providers can manage.
Be upfront about the kind of customized plan your business is going to need to ensure that they can handle third-party integrations as well.
 Security
A risk-based approach to security is often ideal because it helps service providers determine exactly which areas to prioritize and protect. According to the Institute’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million. Small businesses are quickly becoming a favourite target for hackers because they often have little to no security safeguards in place. This makes them an easy target for attacks.
Preventing security breaches is critical for any company. You need to work with your service provider to develop a comprehensive preventative strategy that will safeguard your company’s assets. The security system should include physical controls at all hardware locations, environmental safeguards at data centers, backup powers to ensure business continuity, and customer data integrity protocols.
It’s important to know what security measures your cloud service provider intends to implement. You’ll need to take into account factors like:
- · The security of data and systems
- · Governance processes around security
- · The maturity of security protocolsÂ
Disaster Recovery
When it comes to an understanding a cloud service provider’s provisioning, one of the best places to start is by looking at their disaster recovery processes. Even with the best security mechanisms in place, having a strong disaster recovery plan is essential. A robust disaster recovery plan will typically include integrity checks, data backup and restoration, data scheduling, and a clear understanding of which data is critical.
Losing business information can cost your company dearly, and preventing such delays is critical. By having a vendor service agreement that outlines roles and responsibilities, as well as escalation processes, you can be sure that everyone is on the same page and knows what to do in case of an emergency.
Conclusion
Data security is always a concern for businesses, both big and small. Hackers attempt to infiltrate company databases to get unauthorized access to confidential information all the time. This is why physical security and cyber security solutions are important, but they can also be expensive. This is why it’s important for businesses to budget for these solutions. Cloud service providers who have a good reputation offer high levels of security, like multiple layers of encryption and a firewall, to make sure that your private and sensitive business data is protected from cybercriminals.