One Cloud Vendor or Multiple for Meeting Data Needs?
One reason your agency should do a cloud assessment while choosing vendors is to make sure the vendor can meet your data needs. If it can’t, consider using multiple vendors.
To get a better sense of how a cloud vendor can best meet an agency’s needs, IT leaders must ask themselves several questions: Is the primary need to secure data and have it available 24/7? Does IT need to be able to quickly restore that data after a ransomware or other cyberattack? Does the agency need a robust Software as a Service solution for apps that staff members use? Having answers to these questions will go a long way toward figuring out which vendors to vet.
Be Open to a Hybrid Cloud Model
While you might want to move all your agency’s applications to the cloud, your cloud assessment could reveal that some apps need to remain onsite, for several reasons. You may need to keep backups in-house and have a second copy offsite. Knowing what you need to keep on-premises and what a cloud vendor can manage requires talking to your vendor about how they deal with hybrid setups.
Cloud Assessments Can Spot Security Vulnerabilities
Short-staffed IT departments often don’t have the time or resources to address ever-changing cybersecurity needs. An honest assessment of your agency’s security vulnerabilities will help you decide what cloud services you want to examine and which vendors will have the best tools to help you accomplish your security goals.
Know How Potential Partners Secure Data
It’s hard to ensure the security of your data if you don’t know your vendor partner’s security practices. Therefore, it’s crucial that you have a detailed discussion with the vendor and ask pointed questions about how it can ensure your data will be safe and accessible.
For instance, it’s important to know where backups will be located. This is critical for federal agencies, which must comply with regulations governing data privacy. Also, delays could occur if backups are stored in a location that your systems cannot access.
36%
The percentage of organizations that have moved one-quarter to one-half of their applications to the cloud
Source: CDW, 2024 CDW Cloud Computing Research Report, October 2024
Work with Vendors on Cloud Upgrades
Simply porting your current data set and applications from in-house servers to the cloud is one way to operate, but it may not address all of your security and data availability concerns. Doing so may close off access to tools and applications that make things easier for administrators and IT staff. As part of the cloud assessment process, being open to vendors’ ideas and collaborating on changes and upgrades will minimize the need for incremental changes down the road.
Click the banner below to read the 2024 CDW Cloud Computing Research Report.
