Cloud Provider’s Security and Its Effects to the CIO of Today

It is expected for CIOs to exude greater leadership now more than ever.  The rate as to which a business expands as a result of competition and new technologies is unprecedented. This is the reason why tech companies are being required to put more focus on those investments which can ensure a more sustainable competitive advantage.

However, all this workload is designated to the CIO who is not just expected to have greater awareness of the business for they also need to have the ability to manage any incoming threats of cloud security because of the continuous increase of spyware and malware attacks. Among the problem areas they are expected to deal with is the range of security vulnerabilities of a cloud provider itself.

Although most cloud providers offer robust security systems for their services, there are some that are not too particular and often leave the issue of cloud security on the hands of their clients. While there are available cloud security solutions, there is a significant risk that sensitive corporate data will be subject to theft or corruption. The result is that CIOs get burdened with the responsibility of bringing more to the table or facing the increasing pressure of being fired from their jobs.

How Can a Cloud Provider Pose Security Issues?

Companies or specifically CIOs can gain lots of control over the security mechanism of the organization to keep cloud security risks at bay. With measures ranging from multifactor authentication systems to access privilege rights, CIOs can ensure that the company’s intra level IT corporate security remains effective and robust enough for countering if not minimizing the threats of malware attacks and resilient spyware.

But, if there are vulnerabilities in the cloud security of the cloud provider, the company will have less control of the counter measures for managing security risks, making it prone to attacks by cybercriminals or hackers. The provider’s offered cloud security can vary based on the number of clients in its network, its experience, as well as the extent to which it adheres to regulatory requirement.

What is Its Effect to the CIO’s Role?

When there are more cloud security threats, the CIO also has to come up with more governance mechanisms and policies for effective management of cloud security. Taking into consideration the cloud computing applications, CIOs are expected not just to be knowledgeable about IT infrastructure and architecture, and networks but also to have the ability of fusing IT experience and being familiar with other disciplines such as operations, HR, marketing, and finance.

It is because there is no doubt that cloud computing is now a de facto pillar to efficiently and cost-effectively operate businesses. This makes it the focal point through which the rest of the functions must be managed. It is expected that the CIO will say yes to all new opportunities which can be properly used for leveraging positive corporate results while being thorough and stringent enough for countering IT security threats.

The Bottom Line

It has become more and more important for today’s CIOs to be familiar with the latest security threats. They are assigned to oversee every aspect of cloud computing platform to guarantee that corporations have more chances of keeping these security threats at bay, especially those that come from a cloud provider. 

For more information please click this link Cloud Hosting Provider Services

What are the Top Considerations to Remember when Looking for a Cloud Provider?

If you are going to look around you will discover that there are actually many different kinds of Cloud services available on the market today. But even when these services vary from one another, rest assured that all of them come from one source which is widely known as a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) or simply Cloud provider. Like the services offered, CSPs also come in great abundance too. This makes it hard, difficult and tricky for you especially when you are in search for the one that you can hire for your Cloud-based business operations.

The following are some important characteristics or attributes that you must consider when looking for a CSP that can provide you with quality Cloud computing services:

•         The service company must have a good reputation. You have to take note that not all service providers or CSPs are created the same. While there are CSPs that you can count on, there are also those that you cannot. Included on the list that you should get rid of are those that have a poor or ad reputation. Evidently, the one with a good reputation should be in your priority list. In order to determine the reputation of a particular CSP you need consider the following: read through the profile or profile of the provider, read reviews and testimonials about the provider or simply ask people around who knew about the CSP you are eying on.

•          In order to be considered as a reliable service provider, the company should be willing enough to allow users to try and make use of the Cloud computing services free of charge. Yes, we are simply referring to a free trial offer. With this kind of offer you will be able to gauge the power and strength of the services. It’s also something that allows you to quickly and thoroughly decide whether or not the services you have tried are a feasible option for you and your business.

•          Look at the physical attributes of the Cloud provider. In most cases it is much easier to determine the reputation of the service provider and the quality of its services by simply looking at its physical aspects or attributes. Thus, you should consider visiting the website of the provider and browse through its pages. If everything seems to be fine then you can be certain that what you are actually visiting is a potential find that can provide you with quality Cloud computing services.

      For more information please see this Cloud Provider Network

The Key Advantages of Working with a Cloud Provider

If you are running an online business then you have to know the fact that you are actually running an organization on information. Without the use of comprehensive business solutions, your business can become susceptible to threats, costly downtime and data loss. Prior to such realities, it is important that you should be able to find and use the right kind of business solution that can help in combatting and controlling such potential problems. The use of Cloud services is deemed to be one of the best business solutions that help in the enhancement of business operations today devoid of security threats, costly downtime and data loss.

But before you can get in the way to make use of Cloud services, the first thing that you need to do is to find the source. When it comes to the entity that provides Cloud services, a Cloud provider is what you actually need to be looking out for. Finding one is easy nowadays because such providers are now scattered in great abundance on the current market. And once you have successfully found a good one, this will then give you the opportunity to have the following benefits that you can surely make use of for your advantage:

Allows You to Save

One of the good reasons why Cloud services are a great pick for a business is the fact that they allow you to make huge savings along the way. How? Your provider allows you to pick from its subscription package list so that you can choose the one that suits your budget best. By constantly saving, there is something that you can make use of to enhance all the other aspects or areas of your business.

Use Future-Proofed Technologies

The technologies used by your provider to handle and manage your business organization are not only of the best of breed type but future-proofed as well. This is something that gives you the assurance of playing quite well in your market even when things get tough and rough.

Customized and Integrated Services

Your Cloud provider can customize the services and integrate them with your existing business policies and practices. This is something that works effectively, making your business even more competent along with other competing businesses on the market today.

Enhanced Mobility

With Cloud services, you can have the power to enhance your mobility. In short, you can have the ability to from any place at any time of the day.

For more information please see this Cloud Provider Security

How to Find a Cloud Provider

Instead of developing their own cloud solutions, many smaller IT solution providers choose to work with cloud service vendors to provide customers with various services. There are a lot of cloud providers today, making it difficult to choose the best one among them. Choosing the wrong provider is a waste of time, money and effort. Here are some tips on how to find the right cloud provider.

Availability and Security

Ask the vendor how they monitor and manage security issues, conduct maintenance updates and install patches. Make sure that it matches your expected level of service or security. It is important that you ask them about where they host data. Do they use a dedicated or shared environment? How many servers are they using? What disaster recovery processes do they have? You should also ask if the infrastructure is 100% redundant and mirrored. 

Sales Process

If the company representative takes time to evaluate and understand your business needs, it is possible that everyone in the entire company has the same attitude. You have to make sure that the vendor really pays attention to your needs and doesn’t only intend to sell. After-sale support can tell a lot about the professionalism, quality and seriousness of the vendor’s processes.

Integration

Don’t forget to ask the vendor how their solution integrates with your existing IT environment.  You should also learn more about their game plan and track record of integrating their solution with other on-premise solutions you’ve previously installed. Ask about their contingency plan and the guarantees they provide.

Pricing

What is the vendor’s pricing and billing structure? The majority of cloud providers set up billing as a monthly item. Do you have to sign a contract and will it renew automatically? If the price is very cheap, you should be suspicious. Are you required to meet a minimum number of users in order to get a good price? Can you cancel anytime without paying any hidden fees? 

Uptime Metrics

You need to know how the cloud provider measures uptime and delivers reports. Determine how they communicate everything to customers like server reliability, delivery and hosting. How do they handle major outages? How do they usually communicate with clients? Is it through email, SMS, chat or phone? It is also important to determine if the cloud provider is proactively reactive or proactive when an issue occurs.

Cloud Compatible

Some applications are not cloud compatible. Internet bandwidth problems may also hinder the app’s performance. Having a high-performance hosted app server isn’t enough if the internet bandwidth limitations deliver a poor user experience. Application portability is another factor to consider. Moving an app server to the cloud might be easy, but the app might have other requirements that make the move harder. Older apps may not be cloud compatible as well. Check with the cloud provider about the cloud compatibility of the app.

You need to determine if moving to the cloud fits in your current IT roadmap. Whether you want to attract the best talents, use technology that boosts your business performance and productivity or grow your client base, you need to find the cloud provider that meets your exact needs. 

For more information please move here Managed Cloud Service Provider