How to Choose Best Cloud Hosting Provider for Your Business?
Published: 2020-10-02 04:04:20

Cloud [vps hosting](https://www.atlantic.net/vps-hosting/) is dominating the web hosting industry today!

Switching the business database and operations to cloud can efficiently streamline entire workflows, reduce downtime, reduce hardware costs and eliminate the need for in-house IT infrastructure.

Cloud hosting is one of the best choices for SMEs, as they can focus more on core business operations while the cloud hosting provider takes care of the IT concerns. 

But shifting the entire business procedures to cloud requires deep consideration and research. And, with myriads of cloud hosting providers pooling around the market, it gets overwhelming to select the best one.
To help you with the dilemma, here we have enlisted a few factors to help you choose best cloud hosting provider for your business:

## How to Choose Best Cloud Hosting Provider for your business?

### 1. Consider your business requirements
Businesses must have a clear understanding of what they want from the cloud hosting provider. 
Under the “cloud” designation, cloud hosting providers can offer a plethora of services to suit specific business needs. Right from dedicated cloud nodes to traditional VPS hosting- the services vary in their capabilities to support and scale business operations accordingly.

* Some cloud providers offer services in the form of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and even Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

* Private cloud and public cloud hosting both considerably differ in their cost implications, security and privacy features; they can be either unmanaged or managed.

* Plus, IaaS can be further categorized, based upon how the provider manages and shares the core physical infrastructure.
While choosing your cloud hosting provider, make sure you figure out the cloud computing needs of your business and what will be its implications.

### 2. Cloud Security
Topnotch security is one of the key factors to consider while selecting a cloud hosting provider.

In today’s date, hosting providers inculcate cutting-edge technologies to ensure best cloud security, but all cloud providers are not the same.

Some may just provide basic infrastructure without any security aspects, while others may simply not be experienced enough to provide a secure hosting environment.

So the bottom line is that, businesses need to pay specific attention to the standard security, server-level measures and network aspects of the provider.

* Encryption is one great means to provide security for data transfers over the Internet as well as within the cloud network.

* The web interface and API of the cloud hosting provider must be secure, especially for better access and key management.

* Physical security of data centers plays a vital role for any cloud hosting provider. Biometric access systems, CCTV, manned security and access records are the basic security measures that must be in place.

* The security measures must be updated regularly to avoid malicious attacks and threats to the cloud platform. Firewalls, anti-virus detection, multiple user verification, security audits, etc. must be in place to ensure smooth business operations.

### 3. Cloud Management
Best [vps hosting](https://www.atlantic.net/vps-hosting/) provider is the one that offers management services along with cloud hosting platforms. Otherwise, businesses might be thrown into an IT mess with no expertise and less support, further leading to complete failure of cloud infrastructure.

Cloud management services will allow businesses to focus on core business activities, such as building applications, deriving strategies and services, while the cloud hosting provider takes care of the cloud infrastructure.

This becomes especially essential when businesses do not have the right in-house expertise required to deploy, monitor and manage the cloud servers and their software systems smoothly. In this situation, it is better to opt for a managed cloud service that will manage and secure your cloud platform entirely.

### 4. Certifications, Security and Compliance
Cloud hosting providers ought to provide exceptional compliance and security for their cloud platforms. And, this can be further confirmed with third-party verification.

As evidence, look whether the auditing and data center/security certifications of the hosting provider complies with the industry-standards.

Many businesses go through routine audits where security issues can cause them trouble. In events of data breaches, a business might have to face criminal prosecutions, heavy fines along with loss of valued customers. Hence, businesses must thoroughly look through the compliance and security aspects of a cloud services provider. 

Look for providers that comply with HIPAA, SSAE 18 and other such top-level standards. 

### 5. Cloud SLA (Server Level Agreement)
For any business, privacy and security are of utmost importance when it comes to cloud infrastructure hosting. Therefore, a cloud service provider must impose all their efforts to deliver a highly-available, secure and reliable cloud platform to reduce service disruption risks.

Reliable and supreme cloud providers are those who utilize power infrastructure, multiple redundant networking hardware, 24*7 monitoring and top-class bandwidth providers. This is to make sure their cloud platform is up and running seamlessly.

SLA or Service Level Agreement is a documented list of terms, conditions and service standards. Businesses must thoroughly evaluate the SLA and see how the CSPs will compensate for any disruption or failure and how they will live up to the defined standards.

### 6. Scalability
Business websites are likely to have sudden traffic spikes every now and then. In this situation, businesses might need to scale up server capacity during peak times, and scale it down when the traffic returns to being normal.

Cloud providers need to offer flexible models to businesses that can be scaled up or down, according to the business requirements.

### 7. Technical Support
Not all cloud service providers are the same. Some offer excellent technical support, whilst some may lack in technical staffing.

Best [vps hosting](https://www.atlantic.net/vps-hosting/) providers have round-the-clock IT staff that is available to provide necessary assistance whenever needed.

### 8. Backup
Needless to say, your cloud hosting provider must offer data backup capabilities that are fast and reliable. While some cloud vendors offer backup for several days, some providers offer a custom option to request extension for this backup duration.

How to restore backup and security of backup procedures are also other factors to be considered while choosing your cloud vendor.

### 9. BCDR
BCDR is short for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. 

CSPs (Cloud service providers) must be capable enough to revive their cloud services after disruption due to natural disasters or other undesirable events. They need to identify risks that can hinder business operations and take necessary measures to mitigate them.

BCDR standards generally refer to use of multiple redundant infrastructures, replication of data at different points and so on.

### 10. Uptime
Uptime guarantee of a CSP refers to the guaranteed duration of cloud service that will be delivered. It is measured in % on the annual durations. An uptime of 99.99% would mean that the downtime is just for about 6 minutes in a year.

Now, a short-term disruption in services due to basic maintenance and upgrades of cloud platforms is acceptable. 

Choose a CSP that guarantees to provide maximum uptime to keep your business up and running at all times.

## Wrap Up
Moving to cloud hosting is ever so important for businesses, seeing its cost-effectiveness and efficiency in handling businesses’ IT operations.

Not only will enterprises reap benefits from state-of-the-art cloud technologies, but also considerably save hardware costs.
Hope all these factors provide you with deeper insights about the CSPs to help you choose your best cloud hosting provider as per the needs and nature of your business. Choose wisely!