Cloud Computing is Big Busine: Are you prepared for Contingencies? by Frank Bruno

$56.6 Billion.

That is the current estimated spending on public IT cloud services in 2014 according to IDC. And, it's expected to grow to more than $127 billion in 2018, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.8%.[i]

According to CIO.com, the competitive advantage of business agility is driving companies to adopt cloud computing, but are they conducting due diligence before the move in order to prepare for any contingencies?

I recently attended the annual Caucus IT Procurement Summit (ITPS) in Savannah, Georgia where 300 experts in technology procurement, strategic sourcing, and contract/vendor management got together to discuss this year's theme: Understanding the Changing Face of Technology Procurement .

Several of the sessions addressed the need for contingency planning solutions in relation to cloud contracting, some included: Intellectual Property: Strategies for Getting to Yes' by Scott Thomas and Robert Wright and SaaS Deals without Pain by Mark Grossman. Both sessions provided valuable insight on the issue of contingency planning for SaaS.

I also presented at the conference together with Rob Scott of Scott & Scott, LLP and Roy Schleiden of McGladrey LLP on Due Diligence and Contingency Planning before Trusting the Cloud. In our presentation we discussed that there are many reasons businesses are moving to the cloud, business agility, flexibility, scale, increased collaboration, and the ability to manage more data and have an advantage in this competitive landscape. There are also many reasons why many businesses are refraining from making the leap. Did you know:

46% of potential SaaS deals fail because the prospect is unwilling to entrust data to an untested provider.[ii]

Security issues, potential provider outages and service disruptions, data privacy and ownership concerns are just a few of the reasons why 46% of deals are falling through. With 8 out of 10 businesses failing in the first five years, and mergers and acquisition activity in the cloud space outpacing that of on-premises markets, subscribers have a right to be concerned about their applications and data when both are beyond their control.

Below is a chart that lists certain issues companies should consider when performing a risk assessment of doing business. Due diligence is essential to get good, reliable information early on in the process in order to be prepared for the unexpected.

It is important to conduct a risk assessment and have a plan of action in case something happens and the SaaS application provider can no longer support your applications and data.

Would you buy a brand new car and decide against insurance because you have a feeling that you won't be getting into a car accident anytime soon? Probably not. Similarly, you don't want to buy an application and not protect your data solely because you don't think anything will happen to the application provider.

Take a look through the resources we have available with Iron Mountain's SaaSProtect Suite of Services. Disaster recovery and risk management solutions make peace of mind attainable for both sides of the SaaS relationship.

Click here to view our Need to Know Facts for SaaS Subscribers and Providers infographic.

Sources:

[i] IDC Forecasts Public IT Cloud services Spending, November 3. 2014.

[ii] Softletter Research. 2013 Softletter SaaS Report. 2013.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/service-lines/technology-escrow/clo...
	See more stories from ironmountain

Most recent headlines