MSPAlliance will be hosting two dinners this week. One in Munich, Germany and the other in Amsterdam. One of the important issues on the minds of Germans and other Europeans is the state of data privacy and security with regards to public cloud computing vendors and their alleged data sharing practices with US government agencies. Putting aside the public policy questions, the undeniable truth is that most of the world is starting to look at cloud in a very defined manner.
This new perspective is not really new at all, but simply a country defined cloud architecture view that aims to define where data resides in the cloud, rather than have the data exist in an undefined location or anywhere the cloud provider allows. The problem comes down to transparency, and the entire world seems to be fixated on solving the issue of cloud data security and privacy.
While this notion of better privacy and security in the cloud, there are still a few issues that need to addressed before this concept can become a reality.
Define Roles of Public & Private Cloud
If European MSPs are to be successful in bringing more privacy and security to its customers, one of the first things they need to do is properly (and effectively) educate their customers on the differences between public and private cloud computing and the unique roles each one can play in IT management. While many people around the world understand and associate cloud with public cloud, the more customized, secure, and private benefits of private or hybrid cloud computing have not yet been fully explored by the majority of customers.
Solve Private Cloud Economics
MSPs in general, not just European MSPs, need to solve the problem of how to enable private & hybrid cloud infrastructure and how to get that hardware and software into the hands of even the smallest of MSPs. This is not an issue of technical proficiency (most MSPs are capable of delivering the services technically) but of making the infrastructure necessary to deliver private cloud in a cost effective manner to the MSPs.
Data Location Transparency
The heart of the public cloud debate today centers around where the data resides and who has access to that data. Public cloud vendors accused of sharing customer data with US government agencies cannot negatively impact the legitimate role of the tens of thousands of private and hybrid cloud providers who do not share customer data with any government. This message needs to be communicated to customers and the MSPs need to be more transparent in their service delivery controls.
Financial Health of Service Providers
As a number of hosting and managed service providers (many who offered cloud solutions) have gone out of business this year, customers need to be assured that their MSP is both technically competent as well as financially healthy. Cloud computing, like managed services, has no value to the customer if the provider is not financially solvent. Cloud & MSP standards like the UCS can help provide that much needed transparency to customers who just want a sound provider.