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BT Joins CIF

Cloud
The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has today announced that BT has become the latest company to join its growing membership roster.

BT delivers services in 180 countries globally. Its breadth of scope, reach and capability helps organisations solve their most complex business communications requirements on a global scale.

BT’s portfolio strategy, the Cloud of Clouds, is a powerful combination of cloud services, IT integration skills, global network and professional security expertise. It helps organisations transform into digital businesses by allowing them to connect easily and securely to the applications and data they need, regardless of where they’re hosted and where they are based.

CIF’s Professional Membership and eLearning schemes — which have been designed for all individuals involved in the assessment, selection, adoption, integration and management of cloud technologies and services — were key factors in BT’s decision to join CIF. The communications provider intends to leverage the schemes to ensure that its staff and partners possess the knowledge and skills necessary to support its customers as they move to the cloud.

CIF is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to improve standards and education in the cloud industry. It provides transparency through certification to a Code of Practice to endorse credible providers of cloud services and, through its Professional CIF Membership scheme, assists end users in determining the core information necessary to enable them to adopt such services with confidence.

Neil Lock, Vice President, Compute, at BT’s Global Services division commented: “Companies of all sizes and from all sectors have an appetite for the cloud and recognise the key role it’s playing in enabling the digital transformation of their business. As a cloud provider it is critical we make it as easy as possible for our customers to embrace cloud delivery models and we are focussed on removing complexity and increasing choice as part of our Cloud of Clouds strategy. CIF has made great strides in developing a best practice approach to cloud migrations with its Professional Membership and eLearning schemes, resources that we will find invaluable as we take our services and solutions to market. We are extremely excited to be working with CIF and its members and we look forward to driving greater transparency and better cloud confidence for all.”

Alex Hilton, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum, added: “Having a leading technology company like BT commit to the Cloud Industry Forum only goes to reinforce the central role cloud is playing in the technology industry today. We’re both in alignment that cloud adoption, right through to successful deployment, must be made easier for all organisations. BT has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the cloud industry and the company therefore comes as a very welcome addition to our membership roster. With BT’s experience and expertise, I am confident we will continue to create a more trusted and sustainable cloud for providers and end users alike.”