Cloud Hosting Article

Selecting an IT vendor is like The Bachelor – you gather a group of promising candidates together to look for a range of compatibilities, differential qualities and to test their attributes to see which distinctly suits you best. When choosing an IT vendor, consider them your “other half,” or the one who will truly give you the boost you need to achieve long-term success. I was able to speak with Richard Dolan, Director of Marketing at Datapipe (News - Alert), where he exclusively detailed insights of this important process.

“While most of us know what we’re looking for in a romantic partner, determining what makes a good business partner can be a bit trickier – but it’s actually far less subjective,” says this recent related MSP mentor article. Consider the following a quick guideline for choosing the right IT vendor who will offer you the most self-complimentary solution:

Will Your Vendor Help You Grow?

This may seem a bit silly and self-explanatory, but you’d be surprised to know just how many people pair up with what turn out to be quite detrimental vendors. Just as you wouldn’t give a rose to the self-absorbed, pretentious guy or gal who thinks only of themselves, neither would you trust an IT vendor who is not as committed to helping you grow and secure business continuity as you are. “Remember that a valuable partner is committed to developing their own products and solutions and helping you expand your business,” advises MSP mentor.

Is Your Vendor Customizable Enough to Expand Your Unique Capabilities Rather than Stunt Them?

This may be the most crucial point to consider when finding the right vendor for you. Remember, it’s the best solution for you. Not only should they support your expansion of creativity, but your geographical expansion as well. The reason why so many people settle for solutions which are generalized and not custom-fit may forever go unanswered, but putting in the right amount of effort will undoubtedly leave you satisfied with a provider who will thrive along with you.

“An enterprise cloud computing platform should allow you to choose where you want to deploy your VMs (virtual machines,” says Dolan. “This was a key consideration when developing Datapipe’s Stratosphere platform. Our clients can choose to deploy cloud instances in multiple locations around the globe, including: Silicon Valley, New York Metro, London, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Vendors such as Datapipe, a major player in the cloud hosting and management space, truly hold a competitive advantage in its unique ability to provide such an extensive, powerful yet secure global reach in its platform. With datacenters located around the world, it’s no wonder the company is considered a top partner of choice for the enterprise.

This is definitely something to keep your eyes wide open for. Additionally, Datapipe uses Citrix’s CloudStack platform as the basis of its Stratosphere cloud computing platform, which has been named the most globally available Citrix cloud platform on the market. Needless to say, users can truly control and optimize the influence of their unique and custom capabilities with solutions such as this.

A Vendor with a Solid Reputation

This may seem simpler than it is. Don’t fall for newbies who boast big advertisements about their services and solutions. While it’s true that some of these vendors may become industry leaders in the future, they unfortunately are not now. Stick with a vendor who’s had years of experience. Datapipe, for example, has been a major player as a managed service provider for years, touting award-winning customer service combined with solutions and products for virtually any business need.

“Datapipe functions as an IT utility knife with managed and secure IT services. Our clients have the ability to use a single vendor for managed hosting and security solutions including PCI (News - Alert) compliance, database administration, storage needs, our Stratosphere cloud platform and simple collocation,” Dolan explains. “Through a formal partnership with Amazon, we can manage our clients’ AWS environments, as well as our AWS Direct Connect-enabled services. Datapipe is uniquely positioned to provide multi-cloud hybrid solutions.” 

This diverse range of managed and secure IT services has defined Datapipe’s growth and evolution in the market. Look for this kind of evolvement in the industry when choosing a vendor, as they will most likely have more experience to help you define just what it is you’re specifically looking for. More experience in the market means more dependable advice for you.

Speaking of what you are specifically looking for, Dolan elaborated on what makes Datapipe stand out among its competitors, saying, “Datapipe takes a consultative approach with each one of our clients. We understand that there are certain aspects of the cloud that are not appropriate for certain solutions.”

“Our team takes the time to understand the goals of our clients. We talk to them and ask, ‘What are you trying to do?’ and we can offer them a solution that is catered to their unique needs.” Now-a-days, this seems almost impossible to find.

To maintain a loving, long-term relationship, consider the following three points as high priority, and good luck!

Think Datapipe might be your Mr. Right? Click here to discover more on its award-winning products and solutions.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Austin 2012, happening now in Austin, TX.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.