My comment to 'Can You Retrieve Your Data After Terminating Your Contract?'

Commented the post Can You Retrieve Your Data After Terminating Your Contract? on CloudTweaks by Balaji Viswanathan.

Short break out:

"Put simply, can you easily retrieve your data stored in the cloud to enable you to move from one service to another? This is a question that is worrying CIOs around the world. Unlike typical outsourcing services, retrieving your data from the cloud is not a straightforward thing. CIO.com recently posted an excellent article on this which raises some important questions. In this post, I will try to offer some insight into the topic."

My comment:

"I think some of the scenarios are quite ”aggressive” and most probably quite rare. Even if cloud tempts “gold diggers” like the Wild Wild West (www? Ooops! ;)) most CSP’s won’t go bankrupt. And most companies won’t store data that violate laws. More common is the scenario you mention where you want to adopt another similar (?) service for some reason. Regardless; it’s very important you know how to walk away and to what conditions. You should ALWAYS read and understand terms and conditions carefully, also look for references. Before you even adopt a cloud service you should know why you do it, what need it fulfills and prepare your organization to use IT services. No such thing as negligence should exist – its business we’re talking about. 

The CIO-post is great, which I also commented. These posts are about devastating lock ins. If you want to discuss this more with me please do, either in this post or on my KnowYourCloud post The Devastating Cloud Lock in. In a couple of days my post The Successful Cloud Lock-in will be published on KnowYourCloud. 

Sorry for my “commercial” attitude. I think this is one of the most important things to discuss in Cloud and ITaaS. It’s not good for anyone if you quite easily can’t move between service providers. Cloud should more or less be like before the Wild Wild West… (Nomad-era). Note! This doesn’t mean we should go back to the Stone Age, even if it feels like that when customers get locked in – Stone Age thinking.

Thanks for a good read in an important matter."