What’s in Your Cloud Contract?

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

Federal CIOs who decide to implement cloud computing must find  the right vendor to ensure the required level of service.  Cloud service level agreements (SLAs) provide this assurance - consistent, reliable access to IT resources, and solid contingency plans in the event of an outage.  What happens if an unscheduled service interruption occurs?  What is the backup plan?  Is my data easily transportable to a new environment?  These are all details vendors must address, which is why the September question on the MITRE Ahead in the Clouds Blog is so timely.  My answer appears below, but I encourage everyone to read the other responses for best practices when creating cloud SLAs.          

MITRE Question for September: Often service level agreements (SLAs), contracts, or memorandums of understanding (MOUs) are used between organizations to define the relationship between the service provider and consumer. For a Federal Government or DoD context, please describe or suggest important attributes of SLAs, contracts, MOUs, or other status information that are needed to enable successful operational cloud deployments.

The same terms always pop up when discussing cloud SLAs - uptime, availability, reliability.  These words speak to the really innovative quality of cloud computing – how computing resources are accessed.  You’re not buying a product with a set of agreed upon features, you’re buying a new way to house and tap into your IT assets.  Customers want assurance that they will have access to their data and applications, and it’s up to vendors to guarantee this access.  When reliability is combined with security, cloud computing becomes a no-brainer, and SLAs are absolutely necessary to outline agreed upon service expectations that meet customer needs.    

But as cloud infrastructures have improved, access seems like a pretty low bar.  If I’m a Public Sector CIO evaluating cloud computing options, I’m not willing to accept a significant decrease in access (uptime, availability, reliability) in order to gain the other benefits cloud offers (efficiency, scalability, cost reductions).  A large part of my decision will be based on a cloud solution’s ability to be there when I need it, and it shouldn’t be much different the reliability of traditional IT infrastructures. 

Federal agencies can’t afford regular, unexpected service interruptions.  The data and the mission is too important.  This is why data portability is essential.  It gives agencies the ultimate option - to immediately relocate to another cloud provider if their service needs aren’t being met.  Agencies need the freedom to move their data to an environment they trust, and SLAs that include data portability language protect customers more effectively than any other metric or clause.   

It’s common for SLAs to include financial compensation for service outages, and that’s an important start.  Customers should be compensated for lost access, but if there are repeated, unscheduled breaks in service, that policy is failing to provide value.  All enterprise organizations require consistent access to their computing resources, and when service needs aren’t being met, data portability adds another layer of assurance beyond financial return.  

It’s true that service interruptions often occur because of network outages rather than issues with the cloud solution itself.  Unfortunately, the result is the same for customers – lack of access.  To limit these breaks in service, vendors should address minimum network connectivity requirements in the SLA.  Network monitoring is a key component of a holistic cloud implementation, and vendors should continually and proactively work with network providers to ensure connectivity needs are being met.  SLAs can address these issues at the outset, and can even outline network backup options like leveraging satellite connectivity. 

Overall, SLAs are extremely important, but they are evolving as cloud offerings improve.   Customers are rightly expecting more, and vendors must step up their game to deliver.  Ensuring data portability in SLAs avoids vendor lock-in, promotes choice, increases competition and allows government enterprises to freely choose the best available solutions.