Cloud Service Agreements

Cloud computing has revolutionized the way businesses think about building and deploying software. Remotely located data storage and computational resources can radically reduce the cost of dedicated IT infrastructure for businesses, institutions, and individuals. The benefits of cloud computing are clear: rapid deployment, flexible scalability, and low initial start-up cost.

Although cloud computing represents a new way to manage both our systems and our data, it also presents new challenges. When the data is no longer on a local hard drive or server – where is it? Who owns the data? Which territory has jurisdiction, and do you understand the legal obligations and risks associated with that jurisdiction?

And, just as important, what level of service can you expect from a cloud service provider? What obligation does the service provider have to protect your data and services? A cloud service agreement between you and the provider often addresses these issues, but these often boilerplate agreements seldom target your organization's unique needs. For example, the cloud service agreement should include specific parameters and minimum levels for each element of the service being provided. It should also specifically lay out how the provider will resolve service issues with uptime, performance and response time, error correction time, and data security and data breaches.

I can help you effectively address the challenges of working with cloud service providers to manage service levels and expectations, data processing and storage issues, infrastructure and security. Importantly, because my technical background allows me to understand the underlying technologies involved in making your software services function, I can help you identify key concerns specific to your organization and address them both contractually and architecturally in your service infrastructure design.