Consumer trio's cloud commitment hailed as mark of maturity

Dixons Carphone, JustCloud and Livedrive commit to providing fairer terms to consumers

A trio of consumer cloud providers have committed to offering customers fairer terms in a move hailed as a signal that the cloud model has hit the mainstream and become mature.

Following a consumer law review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Dixons Carphone, JustCloud and Livedrive have committed to providing fairer terms for their cloud storage customers. The CMA claims to be working with a number of other firms on the issue too.

The organisation's review found that businesses have some contract terms which may breach consumer law, such as changing a service term without notice, suspending contracts, and enforcing automatic renewals.

The CMA also published an open letter to businesses, urging them to review their terms to ensure they are fair and making sure consumers get all the information they need before they buy.

Although the CMA ruling applies to the consumer market, the move has been hailed as significant for the cloud industry as a whole.

Andy Burton, who founded the Cloud Industry Forum and has since gone on to become a non-executive director at a number of firms, including Outsourcery, said it shows the cloud market is now mainstream.

"For these companies to agree at once demonstrates maturity in the market," he told CRN. "People are realising as-a-service business models are very sticky.

"What I've often seen in the market is people offering varying terms ranging from month-to-month to multi-year terms. Often, people tend to take lower terms but pay higher rates, and they're still on that three years later. The market is sticky so if you want to compete, offering something without the contractual ties to stay but the reasonable assertion that you provide a good service, you can monetise it as if it were a long-term deal."