The CIF Code of Practice allows vendors involved to promote confidence and trust in their brand to the end user community by ensuring that they offer end users appropriate transparency about their business and services, commitment to operational capabilities and practices, and executive accountability for the declarations made to achieve Certification. By achieving Certification, the Cloud Service Provider commits to provide the end user access to relevant and meaningful information in a structured way endorsed by the Cloud Industry Forum to facilitate rational assessment.
The benefits for the end user are to have confidence of choice where they can evaluate the certified companies against the guidance and rationale set out in the Code of Practice. Thus allowing a more thorough and informed decision on choosing their supplier. The CIF Certified logo will be visible on a certified company’s website and hyperlinked to a set of public declarations that set out basic information that any potential customer may wish to know.
Andy Burton, Chairman for the Cloud Industry Forum said: ”I am delighted to announce the first re-certification to the Code of Practice of one of the first providers to be awarded when it was initially established, alongside two more cloud service providers to the fold. The first of many CSPs returning to the process a second time illustrates that the value of the certification has been demonstrable and provides an example for others to follow.”
“The CIF Code of Practice re-certification provides our existing and prospective customers with the confidence that our cloud solutions are founded upon the very highest standards. This gives UNIT4 another advantage over our competitors in a crowded market,” said Anwen Robinson, Managing Director of UNIT4 Business Software Ltd.
Tony Capewell, Director at Your IT Works, added: “We wanted to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace from the other Cloud Solution Providers out there with a recognised mark of distinction. The Cloud Industry Forum’s Code of Practice attracted us as it is a recognised independent industry body in the UK for the Cloud, and it has global reach. Therefore simply having the CIF certification mark on our site demonstrates the level of commitment and quality we are committed to provide our customer base.”
Peter Groucutt, Managing Director at Databarracks added: “CIF plays an incredibly valuable role in driving best practice and encouraging standards in the delivery of cloud services with its Code of Practice. A key difference of the Code of Practice is the transparency requirement. It isn’t about using a single particular technology or method but about being upfront and clear about the services we provide.”