How the checklist helps organizations exercise due diligence

The checklist promotes a thoroughly vetted move to the cloud, provides structured guidance, and a consistent, repeatable approach for choosing a cloud service provider.

Cloud adoption is no longer simply a technology decision. Because checklist requirements touch on every aspect of an organization, they serve to convene all key internal decision-makers—the CIO and CISO as well as legal, risk management, procurement, and compliance professionals. This will increase the efficiency of the decision-making process and ground decisions in sound reasoning, thereby reducing the likelihood of unforeseen roadblocks to adoption. In the case of Convergent Computing, a San Francisco-based IT consulting firm, they used the checklist to bring consensus to an otherwise chaotic decision process and reduced the decision cycle from a six-month process down to six weeks.

Learn how the Cloud Services Due Diligence Checklist helps protect you.

Why Microsoft created the Cloud Services Due Diligence Checklist

Microsoft developed the Cloud Services Due Diligence Checklist to help organizations exercise due diligence as they consider a move to the cloud. It provides a structure for any size and type of organization—from private businesses to public sector organizations including all levels of government and nonprofits—to identify their own performance, service, data management, and governance objectives and requirements. This assessment allows them to better compare the offerings of different cloud service providers and ultimately form the basis for a cloud service agreement.

The checklist provides a framework that aligns clause by clause with a new international standard for cloud service agreements, ISO/IEC 19086. This standard offers a unified set of considerations for organizations to help them make decisions about cloud adoption, as well as create a common ground for comparing cloud service offerings.

Microsoft has been an active member of the panel of experts that developed this standard over a three-year period. The checklist distills the standard’s 37 pages into a simpler, two-page document that organizations can use to negotiate a cloud service agreement that meets their business objectives. Because the checklist is grounded in the new standard, it’s service- and provider-neutral, applying to any organization requiring cloud services and any cloud service provider.

Microsoft and ISO/IEC 19086-1:2016 cloud service level agreement framework

Microsoft was one of many organizations that participated in the multiyear development of the ISO/IEC 19086-1 standard. Based on our involvement, we created the Cloud Services Due Diligence Checklist. Organizations can use the checklist to systematically consider requirements for cloud projects and structure cloud-service agreements and SLAs that meet business objectives. Because the checklist is grounded in the new standard, it is service- and provider-neutral and applies to any organization requiring cloud services and any service provider offering them.