MGA Technical Research

What does my Company need to know when considering Cloud Service Providers?

To remain competitive in today’s global marketplace, companies must continuously improve in all areas of business; customer service, both internal and external, operationally, they must redu­ce overhead, while increasing ef­ficiency and productivity, with fewer resources. A seemingly impossi­ble feat. One specific area of focus could be in technology. With the maturing Cloud Provided Services, many companies have changed their view of IT departments, they are now viewed as partners in driving business instead of operational cost centers.

In a 2017 IT investment survey, Frost & Sullivan (https://ww2.frost.com/) concluded that cloud migration is well on its way. Out of 1,934 IT decision-makers and influencers, 80 to 95 percent of respondents in each vertical industry report that their organizations are using cloud communications solutions. Among cloud adopters, 54 percent have already moved all or part of their telephony services to the cloud, and another 31 percent plan to do so in the next two years. Top drivers for cloud communications adoption among respondents include greater flexibility at times of downsizing or rapid growth (38 percent) and access to advanced features/capabilities (37 percent).

Fast forward to 2019, and you have this statement from research by Frost: “The global UCC market continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Migration to cloud-based subscription services is accelerating as organizations gain confidence, existing CPE assets near the end of life, and current cloud services deployments expand to more sites, users, and applications.” 

Companies looking to take ad­vantage of cloud-based products will need to consider the move from a multitude of business perspecti­ves.

Foremost on an organization's mind will be serving specific needs to the company’s departments as well as to the organization as a whole. Whomever, the provider is the service model that will need to be addressed. Another area that will need focus and attention is tools that will be utilized to streamline the company’s processes. No doubt, it will require a highly integrated effort of collaboration to be successful, not only for the organization but for the Cloud Service Provider as well.

Before any CSP (cloud service provider) is selected, analytics capabilities should be explored. Analytics provide information in ways that allow organizations to baseline their activities and develop strategies that improve workforce processes. By leveraging data aggregated across the suite of servi­ces and third-party applications, it’s possible for users to gain previously unattainable conclusions and to act on the data. Once the discussion of analytic capabilities is completed, you should be able to move to the next phase(s) of evaluation. While many questions need to be addressed, there are mostly 4 or 5 initial questions you will ask of the provider.

First, any evaluation should ask the question, “What kind of Data Loss Prevention do you have?” In the traditional Data Center environment, disaster recovery is of paramount importance. Mirroring services at a predefined “hot site” typically is the starting point for DR in the traditional data center. In the carrier world, there are multiple hot-sites or “swing” sites for DR. A discussion on DR is essential; however, one of the most significant concerns will surround Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Again, in the traditional Data Center environment, Data loss prevention (DLP) technologies identify, monitor, and protect data in use or in motion on the network, as well as data at rest in storage or on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.

DLP can be provided as a service from several cloud-focused vendors. As with many cloud applications, this requires no investment for hardware. Web Cache Communication Protocol is used to direct corporate endpoint users to the DLP provider’s cloud network. Alternately, a PAC (Proxy Auto Configuration) file can be installed on each endpoint, so all traffic is automatically redirected. Cloud-based DLP can be the most accessible type of system to implement and scale.

Second, “What does your Customer Service model look like/include?” Customer service is perhaps the most important discussion you will have. This topic spans everything from on-site delivery, deployment, and support to service- level agreements. Look for a provider that offers an end-to-end solution that addresses everything from planning to security. Ensure that the company you choose is willing to commit to high availability and quality of service on a 24×7 basis. And don’t discount the experience. You must partner with someone who has been around long enough to understand what it takes to define your Cloud vision, align it with strategic business objectives, and deploy it intelligently.

Third, “How flexible are you?” Wide Area Networks (WANs) are required for any cloud service. However, mandating the deployment of a new MPLS network just to support cloud services is not always practical nor cost-effective. Your provider should give you the option to bring your own network or provide one for you. As an example, many companies already have an MPLS network in place for their data needs that are working well for them and would be sufficient. Granted, there may be upgrades necessary when moving to cloud services, but by no means should there be a “forklift” approach to the existing WAN.

More importantly, does the provider have a reliable “Quality of Service” (QOS) and “Class of Service” (COS) profile? This might be one of those discussions you have at the customer service level.

QOS should be a “five 9” availability, as this is the accepted minimum. Five-9 availability (99.999%) means the system is highly available, delivering its service to the user 99.999% of the time it is needed. In other words, you get a total downtime of approximately five minutes and fifteen seconds per year, with 99.999% up-time.

COS deals more with percent of bandwidth available for priority services such as Unified Communications (UC). In the cloud model, UC becomes Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). The class of service does not change, you still will require a strong profile for voice and media to work transparently to the end-user. All cloud-based providers should have carrier type services that provide multiple COS profiles. For instance, a strong profile for voice and multi-media might be represented like this: 90% RT – 10% BE. RT is real-time, and BE is the best effort. RT is 90% of bandwidth allocation, while BE is 10% of bandwidth allocation. You can see with the example profile voice takes precedence, as it should be.

Fourth, “How well does the provider integrate with third-party partners?” Cloud providers must be comfortable accessing third-party APIs (Application Programming Interface). As the name suggests, it’s a programming interface between otherwise separate applications that allows each application to connect, communicate, and share information with the other. The beauty of integration is that data isn’t merged or assembled into a single place. Instead, it becomes mobile across the connected applications, maintaining the intended purpose of each while adding value to both. It becomes of vital importance that any cloud-based provider supports your homegrown APIs.

The fifth question is a sub-part of the fourth, “Why even bring this up?” It’s all about connection. As a software developer, allowing other developers to connect their applications with yours is an appealing concept. Collaboration in this way presents an enormous potential for the rapid development of new products and services and the expansion of new markets. As an application user, connecting complementary applications is one of the most valuable steps you can take for your business.

Conclusion – Early adopters of Cloud Services have helped develop and build your “road-map” to success. Research is critical in determining the cloud-based providers you want to interview for moving to the Cloud Infrastructure. In the next tech writing, we will examine the top providers. The price will not be discussed. We will leave that to you during your due-diligence process.