A checklist for success.

Choosing your cloud vendor.

You’ve decided to move to the cloud.

(Fist bump!)

There’s no future in on-premise IT.

The cloud now provides the fundamental infrastructure on which organizations can operate and grow their businesses.

And the cloud comes with lots of benefits.

But buyer beware.

Your cloud vendor could be a cloud pretender!

Glad you asked...

So how do you differentiate real cloud providers and applications from the imposters?

To help you choose the right vendor, we created a checklist of key considerations.

Choosing the right cloud vendor.

A cloud vendor must demonstrate that it can support a business through seamless updates and innovations within the vendor’s own product.

Minimize risk to your business.

AVAILABILITY“An application isn’t worth much if it isn’t accessible by users.” -- David Clarke, Senior VP of Technology Development, Workday

Three characteristics define a successful cloud application strategy:

CONFIGURABILITY“A CIO wants balance between what the application’s functionality is and the business’s specific needs.”-- Stan Swete, Chief Technology Officer, Workday

SECURITY“Cloud providers must take a holistic approach to security…and building those safety guards into every product and process.“ -- Stan Swete, Chief Technology Officer, Workday

Provide real business value.

ACCESSIBILITY

Cloud applications must give organizations complete control of their data, even though the data is located offsite.

ANALYTICS

"When analytics are built into the application, it means that users across the business have an actual, real-time dashboard for how their business is performing.” -- David Clarke, Senior VP of Technology Development, Workday

COMMUNITY SUPPORTVendor that uses actual feedback from a community of users to improve the application will eventually deliver a more usable, relevant product.

Deliver continuous innovation.

SIMPLIFY BY USING A SINGLE PLATFORMThe best platform is one that has carefully considered all elements of both the IT and user lifecycle, and then built into the product so it can be used for the future.

OPTIMIZE FOR INTEGRATIONIntegration can be complex. You need a platform that has been created with widespread integrations in mind.

CONTINUOUS UPDATES“The update-versus-upgrade approach benefits both the vendor and the customer. The customer is relieved from IT-upgrade projects, while the vendor can focus on maintaining its own software.” -- Stan Swete, Chief Technology Officer, Workday

The Workday difference

Workday offers a single piece of software with embedded security, analytics, and integration

capabilities.

Read our whitepaper:“The Cloud and Your IT Infrastructure: 9 Considerations for

Your Cloud Application Strategy.”

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