What to Look for When Evaluating Cloud Providers for Your Organization

Every organization looking to adopt the cloud eventually arrives at a point where a choice needs to be made: Which cloud provider do we go with?

This decision is not always easy, since on the surface the big three providers AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) seem to offer similar tools and pricing. But, do a little scratching beneath the surface and you’ll find that each has their own particular strengths.

For example:

	AWS was the first to market in the public cloud space, which makes it a known commodity. It also excels at managing IaaS workloads
	Microsoft Azure offers seamless integration with Microsoft’s active directory, as well as discounts on its SQL software and OS
	GCP provides best-in-class Kubernetes integration, along with tools, like Anthos, that simplify the deployment of containers across platforms

So, how do you determine which cloud provider is best for your organization? The key is to pay less attention to what each platform has to offer and, instead, focus on your own particular needs.

Put another way, before you decide where you’re going, you need to figure out what you want to do once you get there.

Dive Deeper: The In-Depth Guide to Adopting and Migrating to the Cloud

What to focus on

The first step to determine which cloud provider is right for your organization is to understand your current workloads and what you’re trying to achieve by making the move to the cloud.

Consider the following:

1. Does your organization mainly operate on Windows-based apps and platforms? 
2. Do you have a global footprint and your biggest concern is stability and reliability?
3. Do you want greater flexibility in how you develop and deploy cloud-based apps and software? 

These are, of course, just some of the high-level questions you should ask yourself when shopping for a cloud platform. On a more granular level, your choice of provider will likely be dictated by both what you’re already doing and what you want to do in the future.

For example, if your goal is to eventually leverage the speed and flexibility of Kubernetes on premises and in the cloud, then GCP—and its innovative Anthos platform—may be the right choice.

Finding help with picking a provider

If your organization lacks the time and resources to thoroughly assess your capabilities and needs, then partnering with a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can do the heavy lifting for you.

Not only can an MSP help you find the right cloud provider based on your unique needs, they will help you build out a strategy for your eventual move to the cloud. This strategy should include everything from a review of your current applications and infrastructure, to the design of architecture, and the execution of your migration. 

As for what you should look for in an MSP, your best course of action is to find a partner that is well-versed in every cloud platform. That way they will be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each provider, as well as the various tools each has available—and that will go a long way toward making your cloud adoption successful.

For more information on choosing the right cloud provider, contact our experts. Otherwise, click here to read our in-depth guide to adopting and migrating to the cloud.