Over the past two years, “Cloud Computing” has moved from being merely a buzzword, to describing a new IT infrastructure and new business models. More broadly, IT as a Service (ITaaS) is now recognized as a trend that will impact all aspects of producing, managing and using IT in the future. Companies should evaluate the role they will play with the emergence of the ITaaS industry, as infrastructure providers, service provider or ITaaS consumers.
The primary concern companies have, is an understanding of the service level they will receive from their ITaaS provider. Simply stated, the IT needs of consumers and business are significantly different. Businesses require strict levels of performance, availability and reliability. In addition, data privacy, security and other regulatory concerns are a factor in determining how IT services can be utilized.
In this paper, Evaluator Group outlines the key tenets for companies evaluating how to build business-grade clouds, or purchase cloud based IT services designed for business customers.
