Cloud Sourcing

Capitalise on professional support when procuring cloud services

A significant advantage of cloud computing is the needs-based procurement of IT infrastructure. In practice, though, there are many pitfalls associated with cloud sourcing. Selecting service suppliers must be closely coordinated with technical and commercial requirements. Technological, legal, and financial aspects must be carefully analysed, assessed, and designed for negotiations and contracts.

Our independent experts assist you in acquiring the most suitable cloud service providers for your project at the most favorable conditions.

Challenges of cloud sourcing

Selecting suitable cloud service suppliers

The success of the cloud has led to the rapid growth of the cloud market and the continual differentiation of the services offered. Selecting the best service providers for extensive cloud projects is anything but trivial. In addition, the situation is highly dynamic at present due to political initiatives such as platform regulation and Europe's efforts to achieve digital sovereignty. For example, political projects such as GAIA-X are expected to have further implications for the cloud market. Prior to selecting a cloud service provider, it is always important to perform a thorough market analysis which also anticipates future trends.

Considering complexity when tendering

Making calls for tender for the procurement of cloud resources, services, or platforms is extremely complex. It requires a deep understanding of the market and the service provider landscape, as well as of the individual cloud requirements. In particular, an analysis of the technical levels of complexity is indispensable in order to prepare precise and appropriate performance specifications. Furthermore, statutory conditions and compliance-specific aspects must also be taken into account.

Evaluating internal charging models

In comparison with maintaining an in-house computer center, the IT costs incurred when purchasing cloud services are normally easy to localise. Nevertheless, a greater number of contracts with several cloud service providers and different invoicing models makes it much more difficult to show costs transparently. This aspect is often accompanied by new challenges for internal charging models which should be put to the test in the course of cloud implementation.

Deriving guidelines for the cloud strategy of strategic requirements

The cloud strategy which has been devised also lays the foundation for the procurement processes. It ensures that cloud sourcing stays within the guardrails of the business and IT strategy. In order to be consistent, the cloud strategy is therefore the starting point when deriving guidelines for cloud sourcing. This includes for example formulating criteria for selecting service providers, composing service level agreements, and drawing up comprehensive reporting.