Cloud Solutions: The Danger of ‘Floating’ Contracts
In most cloud engagements these days, it is not only the customer’s data that is in the cloud, but also many key parts of the vendor contract as well, explains Mike Overly of Foley & Lardner.
“That is, the average cloud vendor today generally places several key areas of the contract in the cloud (e.g., service level standards, security measures, support obligations, service descriptions, etc.). In some instances, the entire contract is in the cloud. What this means is that these key contract provisions or the entire contract ‘floats’ in the cloud and can be changed at any time by the vendor, frequently without notice to the customer. Even if the customer is given notice, in many cases, the customer has no right to object to the changes,” Overly writes.