Many things drive you through the decision of moving database administration processes from in-house to remote. While choosing a remote service provider, they should be capable of protecting your data fully and managing cloud-based services, and ensuring optimum efficiency of data-based operations. It should work flawlessly and give you the best results.

Here, we will discuss a few important things you should keep an eye on while choosing managed database on-cloud services:- 

1. Information security

While approaching a cloud-based service, it is important to make sure that you thoroughly assess the data and system security capabilities of the provider. It should be assessed in light of the technology they use, the expertise and knowledge of the remote database administrators, and their maturity in terms of security policies and governance processes. The security control they put in place must be supporting your internal security policies and procedures. Also, make sure that the activity and user access policies are auditable through various routes.

There should be clarity on the security responsibilities taken by the provider in the contract and policy documentation. It is also essential to check if they are compliant with the security standards like ISO 27000 or other recognized standards certification. Ensure that these certifications and attestations are valid, and there is also assurance in terms of resource allocation like headcount and budget to maintain compliance with these frameworks. You may ask for the internal security reports, audit reports, incident reports, remedial actions, etc.

2. Vendors and subsidiaries

The remote services providers may be having a relationship with various vendors, which is an important thing the users need to understand. It is a worthwhile practice to assess the provider’s relationship with other vendors and their reliability, technical efficiency, staff certification, and expertise level. Also, consider if they support the multivendor environments and provide you some examples for the same.

Also, consider if the services offered by them can fit effectively into a larger ecosystem or services. For example, if you choose a SaaS system for database administration, three can be many integrations needed with finance, CRM, or marketing systems. In the case of PaaS, you need to consider if there is a marketplace from where you can get the allied services that can be instantly integrated into the given platform. RemoteDBA.com offers you a comprehensive platform for remote database administration, which is highly integral and performance-oriented.

3. Service dependencies

It is important to consider if your remote cloud vendor has any other service dependencies or partnerships involved. Many SaaS providers may have built their services on existing IaaS platforms, which they should make clear to the users and hos where and how the services are delivered. In many cases, there may be some connected components, complex networks, and subcontractors which play a crucial part in the cloud-based services.

So, it is the service takers’ responsibility to disclose all such relationships and guarantee SLAs stated on the service agreement. You must also check and understanding the limitations of liabilities and service disruption policies related to these dependencies. So, overall, before considering any cloud-based services, you need to think about the long chain of vendors and its impact on your mission-critical business projects. The provider needs to have a Code of Practice that consists of explicit clarification of all SLAs’ dependencies and implications, responsibilities, and accountability.

4. Contracts

At the first look, cloud agreements may seem to be much complex and also not properly backed up with any industry standards as to how they are defined. In the case of SLAs in particular, there may be jargons, which you are unheard of, and the contract makers may have put in many complicated and deliberately misleading information.

This is, however, addressed to a big extent through the revision of the service level agreements as per ISO standards of ISO/IEC 19086-1:2016. It provides a standard framework to use while assessing the provider agreements and SLAs. These standards agreements feature some out-of-the-box standard terms and conditions to be put across the individually negotiated SLAs and contracts. 

5. Service delivery

While entering into the contract, you have to look for a clear definition of services and deliverables. You must first clarify the roles and responsibilities related to the services like provisioning, delivery, monitoring, service management, support, etc. You need also to get assurance about how these responsibilities are distributed among the providers and the customers. Also, check out how the service availability and accessibility are managed and assured through maintenance, disaster recovery, incident remediation, etc. Also, consider how these policies may fit your requirements.

6. Data protection and policies

The service takers also need to thoroughly assess the provider’s security policies and data management practices. It is important to ensure that there are sufficient guarantees in data access, data location in light of local jurisdiction, usage rights, ownership rights, confidentiality, etc. Also, scrutinize the provider’s resilience and backup provisions and review the data conversion policies. Checking these will help you understand the current security level and how data transfer will be if you plan to leave the service.

7. Business terminology and terms

There are various terms covered in a typical contract and training modules. Some of these may be very important based on your circumstances. Some such important considerations are:

• Service and contractual governance will cover to what extent the cloud service provider will change the terms and conditions of the contract over time.

• Contract policies – Check the policies on contract renewals, exit policies, modification, notice periods involved in terms of exit, etc.

• Guarantees and penalties – Check for the terms related to guarantees, insurance policies, penalties, and other cautions are accompanying them.

• Check to what extent the service provider is compliant to auditing their operations and compliance to the policies.

You need to also check for the specific terms related to intellectual property rights, indemnification, warranties, liabilities, etc. All the parameters related to each of these terms needed to be further scrutinized to your clear understanding and acceptance.