Saas, PaaS and the Cloud? Part 2: Top 5 Considerations for Purchasing Hosted Services – Software/Platform-as-a-Service
April 8, 2014
Grazed from NationalLawReview. Author: Christine M. Wahr and Sarah T. Hogan.
You’ve read part 1 of our series, and you’re now armed with the knowledge about hosted services and cloud computing that you’ve been too embarrassed to ask. To help you bring it home – virtually – we offer our top 5 considerations when purchasing hosted services for your organization:
1. Implement processes for agreement to non-negotiable terms. Many lower priced hosted services providers will present terms of use in a “click-through” or “click-wrap” agreement. These “take it or leave it” terms are intended to avoid a costly negotiation over legal language where this is low profit margin for the services. While the vast majority of click-through terms will be acceptable for the services being purchased, your organization should make sure individuals with purchasing authority are trained to recognize provisions that raise your organization’s risk profile, and to escalate those provisions for legal review. For example, legal and IT security should review all terms relating to privacy and data security. Additionally, users should escalate for legal approval any provision requiring indemnification by your organization, as well as any provision purporting to claim ownership of any of your organization’s data or intellectual property…
2. Prepare appropriately for implementation. Hosted services often require some work to integrate with your existing systems and implement use of the hosted product in your organization’s environment. Implementation can be costly and complex, so be sure that fees for use of the product do not begin to accrue before the product has been implemented and you have provided acceptance sign-off. A separate services agreement or implementation exhibit that clearly defines each party’s respective roles and responsibilities with respect to implementation, and that defines specific acceptance criteria, can be key to a successful implementation…
Read more from the source @ http://www.natlawreview.com/article/saas-paas-and-cloud-part-2-top-5-considerations-purchasing-hosted-services-softwarep
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