Thomas Trappler of CIO shares his opinion with us about how to best mitigate the risks of creating a cloud computing contract.
Worried about how to nail down the right cloud contract for your organization? Mr. Trappler suggests compiling a team of stakeholders who best contribute to a cloud services effort. Here are his thoughts on who should be on that team:
- The business process owner – may even be the person who first identified a need for cloud. This person definitely can see the benefits of the project.
- The IT vendor management team – is responsible for managing the overall relationship with the cloud vendor, including investigation and contract negotiation.
- Technical personnel – will be a good resource for comparing cloud to current practices and determining integration points.
- Security and policy professionals – will be the expertise to evaluate the vendor’s security practices.
- Representative from legal – the cloud is new so some legal precedents may not yet exist.
- Procurement staff –starting early with educating and engaging this group will help you in the purchasing process.
- Audit, compliance, governance and risk management gatekeepers – if engaged early they can help identify government or internal compliance issues.
Each stakeholder will bring a different perspective to the table – both potential benefits and potential risks.
