Nine Ways To Manage Risk in Your Cloud Contracts
October 5, 2012
Grazed from Forbes. Author: Jacqueline Vanacek.
When purchasing cloud computing services, here are nine practical considerations to manage your business and legal risks to ensure successful adoption of this emerging compute model. These recommendations were presented at the San Francisco-based CloudCon Expo by Riaz Karamali, legal expert and partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
Mr. Karamali first suggested that if click-through terms do not fully meet your needs, writing the initial cloud contract to “factor in your business realities, compliance requirements and expectations” is the best way to ensure that your unique needs are met. While cloud services vendors usually offer one-size-fits-all terms, be sure to negotiate all ways to mitigate your risk.
The following checklist of nine practical tips can help you do that…
1. Performance
Service level agreements usually include uptime, service availability, and even quality or accuracy of deliverables. Exceptions are made for emergencies, routine maintenance and force majeure events like acts of God. Remedies often include service credits. But depending upon service or data loss and its impact on your business, actual damages might be a better option. Requesting root cause analysis can help determine and prevent future breaches. And termination rights need to be outlined as a final arbiter…
Read more from the source @ http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2012/10/05/nine-ways-to-manage-risk-in-your-cloud-contracts/