Here at Softcat, we discuss cloud technologies with many of our customers and are seeing increasing evidence of a move to a 'cloud first' strategy for many.
With the vast array of functionality now available from cloud even the most complex tasks can be realised, delivering true digital transformation in ways previously thought unimaginable. But the most frequently raised question is, “What will the cost of using cloud be to my business”?
Cloud economics has been highlighted as one of the major areas of focus in 2017 by leading industry analysts, and from what we are seeing this is certainly true. Those same analysts also state that using cloud could cost your business money, or save your business money, further adding to the overall challenge of understanding what the true cost of cloud will be to an individual business!
We know that using cloud is easier than ever before, with millions of transactions per hour and new services being provided globally every single day at unprecedented levels.
In many cases, due to the simplicity of provisioning to cloud, many organisations have simply moved existing workloads 'as is', and although we are not saying this is wrong, we are certainly asking whether this is the right mode of transformation for each individual business (read more in our previous blog).
Others have seen shadow IT services emerge, inadvertently provisioning ungoverned workloads that create cost sprawl and security risks due in most part to a lack of understanding of how cloud architecture works, and how this should be managed moving forward.
Here at Softcat, we believe that cloud can save you money, provides scale, offers agility, gives extra security and delivers the 'speed to market' that is so necessary now for businesses and organisations to remain competitive. But we believe that it is essential to invest in the research at the very beginning of the process. This requires the right engagement model that will help drive the right decisions to support the right cloud economics.
Softcat believes that to achieve the right economic results there are 5 main areas to consider when making your decision. Here are our tips:
Work to define application workload placement but remember when planning, the transformation services will cost money. In some cases, it could end up being the largest investment due to the potential DevOps culture change that may ensue.
Softcat believes that with adequate planning and cost governance there is an easy way of learning to understand what the real cost of cloud is to your business and in turn help to define the return on that investment. It is less about making IT in the cloud cheaper and more about making the services efficient to gain the most value from using cloud.
Softcat has a great team that really 'get' cloud and can help make it work specifically for you, so get in touch using the form below or talk to your Softcat account manager for more details.
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