Even when your business wants to move to Workspace as a Service (WaaS) as soon as possible, you must spend some time finding the right Cloud Service Provider (CSP).

With more and more systems being shifted to the cloud, finding a suitable CSP is crucial. 

There’s a massive demand for cloud services, which means that the market is filled with various cloud giants.

However, weighing unique requirements and features for every business is the only way of identifying the correct CSP. There’s no shortcut to knowing whether one provider is suitable for all or not. This is why we have created a list of factors that you can utilize to select the right provider for your enterprise.

When To Start Thinking About WaaS?

Before you start discussing factors to choose a WaaS provider, understand your business requirements. Of course, this is an obvious move, and you may think that you already have it all figured out.

However, in reality, setting minimum expectations helps in knowing in advance which providers you should compare. Understanding your business needs from a far-off perspective will only confuse you, as you will have various vendors to choose from. A smart move would be to shortlist a few factors that you can’t compromise with.

These important things can be:

• Technical acumen of the provider
• Data security, privacy, and governance
• High-quality service
• Seamless managed service
• Advanced customer support

Now, you can add many other things to the list, like price or any other factor depending on your business requirements. (We have discussed some of these factors below.)

When you finally start comparing various cloud vendors, understand that hosting your workspace to the cloud will be achieved according to your SLA and package.

Factors To Consider When Choosing WaaS

Finally, while selecting your CSP, your requirements and evaluation markers can vary, as every organization is unique. However, we have discussed some common and essential factors that every business should assess before signing the agreement. Let’s see what these are:

Standards

Every business must find a CSP that follows standards, which also indicates that they are adhering to the industry’s best practices. Although you may not choose one provider based on only this factor, it can still help you shortlist your potential CSP.

So, look for CSPs with ISO certifications or other such standards. These certifications ensure that the organization has structured processes and high-quality data privacy and management abilities.

Technology

Technology is imperative when you are moving to WaaS. You don’t want to get stuck in a spiral of wanting better technology and processing power. The technologies employed by the provider should align with the IT environment needs of your organization.

Therefore, check the cloud architecture, migration support, customization possibilities, etc. With this, get an overview of how the cloud service provider plans to improve and innovate in the coming years. We already know that technology evolves with time, and so should your vendor.

Additionally, check the range of cloud services your provider can offer. For instance, along with WaaS, what else you can get. Do they provide more straightforward third-party integrations? Do they have the tech to scale and descale resources in a hassle-free manner?

Security

One of the most important considerations when choosing CSP is the security of your WaaS. In every organization, sensitive data is saved and processed almost daily. When your employees access this data from a remote server, cybersecurity is at risk.

Here are some risks that can dent your security architecture:

• Physical security of your CSP’s server
• How is data transmission achieved?
• Auditing schedule
• Regular monitoring of the stored workspace

Your CSP’s security parameters should be aligned according to your needs. For this reason, you should get the following:

• Transparency and security of the servers
• Transparency at the location of the servers
• The transmitting and resting data should be encrypted
• Consistent monitoring should be achieved through Intrusion Detection and Prevention

Performance

It is wise to check the performance and reliability of the service provider. Understand their SLA data for previous months for a glimpse into actual implementation. Also, evaluate the downtime. This can’t be perfect, but it should be satisfactory. Many providers offer 99.99% uptime, which accounts for only a few hours of downtime in one year.

You should also check their customer support service and how efficient they are in supporting the customer. Ensure that the data recovery time is apt as, during a disaster, you may want to recover your data sources, backups, and critical files quickly.

SLA

When you need better availability, capacity, response time, and support, you need to consider the Service Level Agreements (SLA) of the CSP. SLA creates a relationship (legally binding) between the WaaS provider and the customer.

In this agreement, check the legal requirements and regulations, such as the GDPR. With the help of SLAs, you can develop trust in the provider, as this agreement will back you up in case things go wrong.

Cost

For any organization, the cost is a crucial factor when deciding to opt for WaaS. There’s no denying the importance of budget for any business, but you can’t look at the cost only. It should be paired with other factors, such as:

•  Quality of Services offered
• Security structure
• Uptime
• Compliance
• Support

If you select a provider that takes $100 less every month and offers only 80% uptime in place of 99.99%, then your efficiency of using WaaS will ultimately reduce. With only 80% uptime, your team may have to go through multiple hours of downtime during one year. This will impact your productivity and reduce your efficiency considerably.  

Conclusion

Include unavoidable and imperative factors in your list; you can’t miss the unavoidable factors at any cost, and imperative factors are good to have. Once you have a short and quick list in hand, revisit the above-discussed pointers. Understand how every element of every WaaS provider works, eventually offering you improved operational efficiency and reduced workspace hassles.