S 2.355 Selection of suppliers for a storage system
Initiation responsibility: IT Security Officer, Head of IT, Top Management
Implementation responsibility: Head of IT, Top Management, IT Security Officer
After the requirements for a storage system have been specified, a suitable supplier must be found. The selection of possible suppliers must take more criteria into consideration than just the hardware solution and its price.
It can be assumed that support will be needed from the suppliers when solving problems during operations, and certainly when hardware failures occur.
Accordingly, the support conditions must be evaluated in addition to evaluating the prices and conditions for the storage system and the cost of putting it into operation.
The aspects of maintenance and servicing are defined in writing in the contract within the framework of Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Correspondingly, the offer provided by a possible supplier must contain the prices for the possible SLAs as well as the hardware and software prices so that the customer can compare the overall packages when products from different manufacturers or suppliers are evaluated.
If a storage system is not purchased but leased instead, for example, then it must also be specified in the contract how and at what cost the data will be transferred to the successor systems at end of the contract, as well as answers to other technical and organisational questions.
In general, a solution from a single supplier can have advantages, especially when the systems are complex: problems arising during the installation, testing, and operation can usually be eliminated more quickly and more effectively when only one supplier is involved.
When using a solution with components from different suppliers, there be a price advantage, but it is important to examine if this benefit still exists after taking the costs of implementation (basic configuration, test operations, data migration) and operation (maintenance, support when problems arise) into account.
Review questions:
- Were the required support services such as maintenance and servicing also specified in the contract with the suppliers for storage systems?