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ARTICLE · 29 JULY 2011

Contracting In The Cloud

Werksmans Attorneys
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The use of cloud services is inevitable, especially as more and more organisations look for ways to cut costs and improve efficiencies.

South AfricaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Tammy Bortz
Tammy Bortz

Originally published May 2011

The use of cloud services is inevitable, especially as more and more organisations look for ways to cut costs and improve efficiencies. A careful and comprehensive technical and legal due diligence of cloud providers and their offerings is recommended to mitigate the risks inherent in the use of cloud services.

Cloud computing is not new, but businesses in South Africa have only recently started to consider cloud based services. As with any new method for providing of technology services, customers are wary to use this method until they fully understand its application and risks.

So, what is cloud computing?

In essence, cloud computing is not new technology, but rather a new way of delivering computing services "on demand" whereby users can turn the services on and off, and scale up or down, depending on need. Without knowing it, many people may already be using cloud services. For example, Gmail or Google Apps are virtual

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