For most businesses, change is driven by the need to reduce risk and innovate while optimising cost and return on investment. In the case of cloud adoption, the powerful functionality offered by these platforms enables businesses to streamline, optimise, and make their workflows more efficient, which, in turn, helps reduce costs. Organisations are always looking for the best solutions for optimising efficiency and reducing costs, particularly in uncertain economic times.
Yet, in reality, migrating to the cloud does not always bring the cost optimisation and savings that an organisation is looking to benefit from. Depending on which cloud solution is being evaluated, along with how the solution is designed, built, and deployed, the result may not deliver on the project’s original goals.
Why is this?
The pricing models of certain cloud platforms can be difficult to understand due to their granular and complex pricing structures. Without a complete and informed understanding, along with a rigorous planning process, the result can be unexpected and unpredictable costs. How do businesses ensure that the right choices are made to achieve strategic objectives? It is critical for businesses to utilise skilled expertise, both business and technical, to navigate the variety of decisions that need to be made.
Cloudy Estimates Versus Real Costs
When exploring cloud pricing structures, the initial costs may seem quite attractive. However, after delving deeper to examine the details, certain aspects may become cloudy. The pricing tiers add a layer of complexity, which means there isn’t a single recurring cost to add to the balance sheet. Rather, cloud fees vary depending on the provider, features, and several usage factors. Factors can include on-demand use, data transfer volumes, technical support, bandwidth, disk performance, and other core metrics. These can all influence the overall solution’s price.
However, the good news is there are ways to gain control of and manage these costs. One option is to lean on a Managed Service Provider (MSP) such as Millgate or 11:11 Systems. MSPs understand the pricing structures used by cloud providers. An MSP can:
- Plan and identify potential overlapping services
- Eliminate inefficiencies from the organisation’s core applications and data
- Advise on decisions that optimise spend.
With this understanding, the result is a right-sized and optimised application and network architecture that can result in streamlined and predictable cloud costs. Research shows that organisations can cut costs by up to 30% through MSPs.
Reducing Risks and Increasing Complexity
Adopting a multi-cloud approach offers many benefits for organisations, including:
- Enhanced reliability as workloads are distributed across multiple clouds
- Being able to choose the platform that will deliver applications in the most efficient and cost effective way
- Minimising potential downtime and risks associated with outages that may occur with a single provider
However, it is important to consider the implications regarding management overhead, the required skill set, and the need to ensure optimised cost across multiple platforms with differing models.
To benefit from a multi-cloud approach, companies should weigh up the risks of opting for one vendor against the complexities of working with several providers. A multi-vendor approach might add additional requirements. These can include additional design and procurement, as well as managing the connectivity between different platform architectures. It will not only increase the complexity of the solution but also potentially add further costs to the balance sheet.
However, there are ways to manage these costs. One approach is to call on the expertise of an MSP to assist with the design, implementation, and real time monitoring. The MSP’s analytic tools can help to keep a firm handle on the usage and costs by optimising architectures and connectivity across providers.
Investing in Skills, Expertise and Security
An understanding of the costs associated with using a public cloud solution is critical. It is also important to emphasise that modern cloud platforms provide robust, comprehensive and cutting-edge technologies and solutions to help drive businesses forward. Cloud platforms provide a strong foundation of physical infrastructure, robust platform-level services, and a wide array of resilient connectivity and data solutions.
In addition, cloud providers continually invest in the security of their solutions. They will physically and logically secure the hardware and software layers with access control, monitoring tools, and stringent data security measures to keep the data safe.
These companies can invest much more into their security than individual businesses would invest in their private cloud and data centres. That investment results in cloud providers meeting the highest, industry-leading security and compliance standards. This serves to benefit the companies that use these solutions. Further, it delivers a high-quality, secure solution that companies can use as a strong foundation for their strategic and innovation focus.
Beyond the security benefits, companies also potentially save on operational costs as they do not need to manage data centres, infrastructure, and connectivity platforms. In an era where skilled expertise is in short supply and high demand, this is one less headache for the CIO. This can be a core area to assist in optimising cost whilst also enabling organisations to focus on strategic initiatives within their business.
Partnering for Added Value
The initial allure of cost savings is a major drawcard for companies when evaluating a move to cloud platforms. However, this should not be the only reason for considering a migration, particularly as a deeper examination reveals the complexities around cost models.
A strategic approach is required to determine the right platform for each organisation’s specific needs. Making this choice can be a challenge. However, with the right planning, expertise, and foresight, organisations can truly benefit from the latest technologies available today.
By partnering with an MSP, companies gain a team of experts who are experienced in navigating the most cost-effective and secure cloud platforms. These can deliver a variety of benefits at a price point that is predictable and cost-effective. These experts can help alleviate the frustration and provide clarity and focus to ensure projects are put on the right path for success.
11:11 Systems is a managed infrastructure solutions provider that holistically addresses the challenges of next-generation managed cloud, connectivity and security requirements. The 11:11 model empowers customers and partners to “Rethink Connected,” which includes integrated services that deliver increased performance, optimization and savings. Learn more at 1111Systems.com.
