Cloud computing can be good for business – so long as you have got the legal issues right, reports Jemima Kiss
From Gmail and Flickr to Marks & Spencer and Mothercare, you would be hard-pushed to find a consumer or business in the UK that does not rely on at least one cloud-based service.
An umbrella term for outsourced technology services, such as email and web hosting, cloud computing allows businesses to outsource a crucial but highly specialised part of their operation to a specialist firm. But with cloud services now so ubiquitous and easy to use, could companies be overlooking the legal implications of such a major shift in their business?
"Small businesses in particular have access to all sorts of facilities through computing functionality they have never been able to afford before – data centres, support staff and maintenance – when delivered out of the cloud they are available to anybody" says John Manley, director of Hewlett-Packard's automated infrastructure lab in Bristol.
Manley says the industry is still nascent and that as competition increases, providers will take much more care over service-level agreements. "They will want to differentiate themselves – some will be cheaper, some faster, some more secure. You have to make that choice based on your requirements, but there will be a lot more detail and legal force in these agreements."
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Source: guardian.co.uk
By: Jemima Kiss
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