Choosing a cloud partner
Eight questions to ask any cloud partner, and our answers.
Most providers look alike on a capabilities slide. These questions separate them. Ask everyone on your list, including us.
Do you work only in healthcare?
Yes, since 2011. Healthcare data has its own standards, regulators, and failure modes, and we have worked in nothing else. Who we serve.
Who answers for the outcome, not only the uptime?
A Cloud Value Architect owns your plan, is measured on your outcomes, and reports what changed for your organization in regular value reviews. The Cloud Value Journey.
Can we choose our own architecture and services?
Yes. We build each environment for what your organization needs, on AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, and we take on systems we did not build. What we do.
Do we keep ownership of our environment?
Yes. Your accounts, subscriptions, and projects stay yours. They are connected to Oxygen so both teams see the same thing. Who is responsible for what.
How much of our compliance load do you carry?
Customers inherit controls from our own HITRUST r2 assessment: 33 fully and 214 partially inheritable under HITRUST Shared Responsibility Matrix 1.5.5. Trust and credentials.
What will our leaders be able to see?
Security events mapped to the controls they affect, compliance status by control, and cost trends during the month, in Cloudticity Oxygen™. See Oxygen.
How fast does someone respond when it matters?
Our target for a production outage or a suspected security incident is 15 minutes. Our actual response time averages under 2 minutes, around the clock. Support coverage.
Will you help us through our own customers' security reviews?
Yes. We help complete the questionnaires and meet with your customers when it helps you win the deal. For health technology companies.
The paths organizations usually weigh.
Running it in-house
You keep every decision close. Your team also carries hiring, on-call coverage, controls, and audit evidence.
A general cloud services firm
You get cloud skills that span industries. Healthcare depth varies from firm to firm, so ask how much of the healthcare standards, regulatory, and security-review work stays with your team.
Your cloud provider's professional services
You get deep knowledge of one provider, often for a defined project. Ask who runs the environment and carries compliance once the project ends.
Cloudticity
You get people who work only in healthcare, to build, run, secure, and keep the environment compliant, with a Cloud Value Architect who answers for the outcomes.
These are common considerations, not a description of any one provider. Scope differs, so check each proposal against the eight questions above.
For a longer checklist, read Choosing a Healthcare Cloud Partner: 10 Tips, or see what changed for our customers.