Cloud Service Attributes

Cloud computing is the delivery of on-demand computing services -- from applications to storage and processing power -- typically over the internet and on a pay-as-you-go basis. In cloud computing, rather the owning their own computing infrastructure or data centers, organizations can rent access to anything from applications to storage from a cloud service provider.

There are certain attributes that service has to provide before it can accurately be calleda cloud service. Here are a few attributes.

Self Service
Here the user should be able to get service by making an online payment and then accessing it via online too. These services should be on an on-demand basis.
Pay Per User
User should be allowed to use some features of services without any cost; i.e. some features of the services should be free so that any user can use it to explore before actually buying it.
Elastic
User should be allowed to provision/de-provision their resources as and when needed. It’s not only about the resourcses but the billing model should also be elastic.
Scalable
User should be able to scale resources up or down as per Internet speed.
Fully Virtual and Automated
Services should be fully automated. User shouldn’t be allowed to access physical infra/layer of the services. Instead he should be given access to the simulated layer of that physical layer.
Multi-Tenant
Cloud service should support a multi tenant model; i.e., multiple users should be able to access the same application without compromising safety/security and privacy of the user.

If any of the above attributes are missing, organizations cannot say that the service they provide is a cloud service. And also, users should be aware of these attributes before buying any service.