Decision time… which cloud provider to go with?

Congratulations on making the decision to move to cloud. But don’t move yet. Before doing so, you still have some ground work to do starting regards selecting the cloud provider or providers who will be lucky enough to get your business.

The simple answer is go with the provider or providers who meet your needs. The reality is you will more than likely go with two or more providers i.e. a multi-cloud or possibly hybrid approach (more on these in another blog to come). You may use one for DevOps, one or more to deploy your application onto, and possibly a third or forth that offers multi-cloud management capabilities the others do not provide. You get the idea.

When deciding who to go with, there are multiple factors to keep in mind:

1. Cost: Some providers can seem to provide better value when you start with them but as you expand, hidden costs scan creep in such as bandwidth usage, having to pay for previously free services due to increased usage, etc. These can very quickly add to your overheads blowing away your initial business case for using this provider. The devil is in the detail, so make sure you know all the facts before deciding. Some times paying that bit more upfront can be worth it in the long run.

2. Lock-in: Will you be locked into the provider if you use their services? This may not matter to you initially but as you expand, costs may increase and you then have no means of moving as you’re locked in with the provider. The technical debt involved to move from them may not be economically worth it and you’re stuck.

3. Locations: Do they have data centers in the locations you want and do they have the services you need in all of them? This is especially important when it comes to data storage and access. Some countries and some industries require data to be stored in-country so you will have to make sure this is supported.

4. Expansion capabilities: Does the provider have a sufficient range of offerings and payment options to support you business as you expand? This can range from bare metal options to payment options to use other applications e.g. usage based products such as APIs or storage.

5. Support: Do they offer good support options at the right price point to suit your business? Check if they have active Development communities you can subscribe to. These can be a wealth of useful information for your Engineering teams and greatly improve their ability to do their day-to-day role.

6. OpenSource: OpenSource is king these days but it may not suit you business or the industry you are in. Some industries such as banking at the moment may require you to use non-opensource products. This will change but for now do keep it in mind.

Engineering teams may already have preferences regards which provider to go with because it is what they are used to but don’t let this sway your final decision. It’s your business and you need to do what is right for you.

Tune in for my next blog on which platform to use. Coming soon.