Cloud Industry Forum Membership

Phil Wainewright - President - Eurocloud

The CIF Code helps further EuroCloud's strategy to develop an industry-wide framework for customer confidence in the quality and integrity of cloud delivered services.

The traditional model of delivering software and it services has gone beyond the on-premise model. Our industry has changed as has the market. As we move towards a new business model end users need the confidence that only an authoritative code of practice can bring.

Phil Haylor - Compliance Manager - Rackspace

We firmly believe that the cloud industry forum will provide assurance for end users in a rapidly developing market, providing advice and guidance to consumers and service providers alike.

It is essential that all major stakeholders in the cloud industry ecosystem participate in the cloud industry forum to build trust in the industry as a whole.

Facilitating consistent management across compute resources in the data center and in private, public or hybrid clouds is critical to the industry's success. The Cloud Industry Forum will help build trust with customers looking for secure, stable, and effective cloud computing solutions so that they can monitor and manage service delivery with confidence. The Cloud Industry Forum's Code of Practice initiative is a fundamental step to encourage transparency and best practices in cloud computing.

Organisations seeking to use cloud services need a straightforward form of certification or 'code of practice' for potential suppliers that will accurately define the services offered, standards of operation and security

Matt Sanderson, UK Managing Director, Ingram

Whilst we will take the lead on this market activity we equally recognise that the Cloud Industry Forum has been leading the charge for better practice and transparency in the Cloud. Its Code of Practice is a ground breaking initiative offering end users the transparency and security they need in taking the decision to migrate to the cloud, and an initiative such is this is something we can support and reflects our values and commitment.

Bryan Jones, Executive Director, Public and Large Enterprise, Dell EMEA

We recognise CIF’s Code of Practice as an important part of industry self-regulation and are delighted to work with CIF to encourage and achieve best practice.

Cloud computing is the future of computing and is rapidly becoming fully mainstream. The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) and its code of practice will help ensure that the highest standards are maintained. As well as ensuring CIF members are appropriately skilled and regularly assessed, businesses will appreciate the peace of mind as well as a clearly defined industry standard with which they can assess their suppliers, and undertake Cloud implementations with the highest confidence and trust. Outsourcery fully endorses the principles of CIF and is proud to be a founding member.

Ed Vaizey - MP Minister for Culture, Communications, and Creative Inustries

Access to the networked resources provided by 'clouds' enables companies to enter markets without having to meet the capital costs of building their own computer infrastructure. What they get instead is a sort of 'pay as you go' service tailored to their specific requirements.

Greg McCulloch, UK Managing Director, Interxion

We very much look forward to working with CIF and helping them to succeed in delivering a credible and certifiable code of practice for the cloud industry as well as bringing business, consumers and suppliers of cloud services closer together in a trusted and sustainable marketplace.

Like with any traditional technology, customers expect the cloud to demonstrate transparency, capability and accountability, and we are confident that our robust and specialised solutions offer the stability needed to encourage businesses to work closely with cloud service providers to become more efficient.

Kate Craig-Wood, Managing Director, Memset

Cloud computing presents end users with the opportunity to do more with less, however there is still work to be done in driving trust in cloud based services. We fully support CIF’s messaging, which is to assist business users in identifying and investing in secure, reliable services, and our company values go hand-in-hand with this aim. CIF educates the end user on how to identify the most suitable and cost-effective services for them and we in turn endeavour to provide our customers with low-cost, high-quality services.

In my 20+ years working in the IT industry this is the first accreditation programme I've actively participated in, which can and will deliver real and quantifiable assurances to the end user around Cloud services. Such assurances have been inherent with other professional services bodies for many years now - so this is long overdue. Trust and Transparency are values which are at the core of ChannelCloud UK/Ireland and therefore becoming a member of the CIF has been a natural progression for us.

The cloud is high on the agenda for many CIOs and channel partners. Today Microsoft is witnessing a rapid adoption of Cloud Services, and over the next few years significant implementation is anticipated within the UK. Providing leadership for customers and partners in the development of agreed standards and sharing of best practices in this new era of technology is an important and valuable role in supporting the transition to the cloud

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CIF Membership

What is the Cloud Industry Forum?

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) is an industry body that champions and advocates the adoption and use of online (cloud based) services by businesses.

We use our resources to support a credible self certifying Code of Practice that provides transparency of Cloud service supplier operations and capability such that consumers can have clarity and confidence in their choice of provider.

The ongoing development of the Code of Practice is being led by those organisations willing to participate actively. This requires membership in the CIF itself.

There is no link between membership and whether an organisation will be able to be certified against the Code of Practice. It is possible that an organisation can become both a member and self certify, or an organisation can just self certify and not become a member.

Who Should Become a Member?

Any organisation directly or indirectly related to the provision of Cloud Services, or providing advice to consumers or the Cloud Industry will benefit from membership of CIF.

CIF members are directly responsible for the shape, format and governance of the CIF Code of Practice and as such are instrumental in shaping public confidence and industry best practice. By becoming a member, your organisation will benefit from the implicit association of leading best practice in the fastest emerging market of our generation.

Membership is open to any party who agrees to be bound by the terms of CIF membership and pays the annual fee for enrolment and participation. Members can either be passive and take on an advisory or voting role at member meetings, and/or, they can volunteer to lend their expertise by participation in the CIF Working Party that carry out critical tasks in the design, delivery and governance of the Code of Practice.

The Role of a Member

Members may fulfill several key roles in relation to the CIF and its Code of Practice:

Provide advice and guidance on how the Code of Practice and supporting Guidance and Standard Documented Processes should evolve.
Provide advice and guidance to the evolution of the Governance model for the Code of Practice and CIF.
Vote (one vote per member) on all actions and decisions requiring a Vote in order to achieve consensus, or majority rule on direction.
Evangelise the CIF Code of Practice to the wider community through their own activities and networks.
Educate the market directly or through the public activities of CIF.
Fund part of the operations of CIF by paying a membership fee.
Nominate themselves, or other members, to join the CIF Governance Board. They may also cast their vote in a ballot process.

Additional Member Benefits

In addition to the benefits of being able to participate in CIF as outlined above, members also have the following additional benefits:

Right to use the logo of CIF and declare publicly that they are part of the governing CIF body.
Right to attend all CIF public events and have their company publicly acknowledged as a member at these events.
Automatic acknowledgement as a member on the CIF website and in CIF collateral.
Acknowledgement as a member on all CIF White Papers issued to educate the wider market on key Cloud Industry topics (e.g. ROI in the Cloud, Establishing Trust in Cloud Services, Licensing between Premise and the Cloud etc.).
Right to joint support by CIF for their company-specific press releases and awareness campaigns in partnership with CIF.
Networking with industry peers through a professional association.

Register your interest

To find out more about Membership, please contact us by emailing breda@cloudindustryforum.org or calling 0844 583 2521

CIF Research Papers

Drawing information from 450 end user organisations across all verticals and scale, as well as 200 suppliers of IT solutions, CIF's research has been structured into a series of informative White Papers.

Download the Information Pack