Since we launched the CCTA almost a year ago we’ve been working hard to develop relationships with like minded organisations and groups that share our values. We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be working with CISPE; Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe to promote our shared values and objectives. CISPE are an organisation committed to the promotion of the cloud and have been steadfast campaigners on data protection, sustainability, and market fairness.

Underpinning our agreement to cooperate are key principles that we share and that we will work together to promote. These principles are:

• That public sector procurement of IT should adopt a cloud first approach
• That the cloud computing market should be defined by fair competition
• That our sector adopts and promotes the highest standards of security and data protection

As part of our partnership with CISPE we are also pledging our support for the fair software licensing principleswhich have been endorsed by trade associations across Europe. In the UK, Ofcom recently concluded a consultation on the supply of cloud services and we are pleased to have made a submission to that consultation. The freedom for customers to choose the solution that’s right for them is in the interests of all our members and we’ll always support a fair and transparent market.

Our push for competition isn’t about any one company or practice, there are challenges across the board with companies chopping and changing their licence models and pricing. The need for skilled consultants who can translate micro-costs into an annual cost and explain how to make the most of budgets is ever increasing and an area where CCTA members can provide real value to customers.

We look forward to seeing the outcome of Ofcom’s consultation and we’ll support them however we can to improve the way that the cloud market operates. For our members and our sector to grow, we need a market that enables and promotes innovation, provides opportunities for SMEs to work without limitations and gives businesses maximum choice over the services they utilise.

We’re really pleased to have agreed this partnership with CISPE and we look forward to working with them. We continue to develop links to other networks and groups in the UK and Europe that share our values and we look forward to announcing further partnerships in the near future.