As a technology leader, do you ever get the feeling you are paying too much for the cloud? Do you have a hard time allocating cloud expense to the appropriate business units? Do you get the feeling the same practices that made your data center costly and inefficient are also impacting your cloud solution?
If you have been following our blog posts, you know cloud waste is an area of great interest for UDig in 2016. If not managed correctly, your computing costs can sky rocket. As Tom Gillis reports in Forbes, the true cost of the cloud is 2x more expensive than your own data center on a server to server comparison1. The value the cloud can provide is in how you manage your infrastructure. If managed correctly, you could save 40 to 60% of your current data center costs.
Trying to determine your cloud costs?
We have outlined a few questions to ask your team to better understand your current cloud management process.
Spend Analysis
- What are you spending?
- Can you forecast future demand?
- Do you understand all the costs? Servers, Storage, I/O, Transfer, etc
Optimization
- Are you reporting on server optimization?
- Do you have methods to shut down unused services?
- Are your services sized correctly for the function?
Governance
- Who controls cloud spending?
- What’s the process of enabling or disabling new cloud services?
- Are there technology standards in place for products and services?
Chargeback Model
- How are you communicating your customers cloud footprint?
- Can you trace back services to particular business functions?
- Are you giving your business customers detailed records of their spend?
Competition
- Can you compare options across multiple vendors?
- Are you able to manage and move those services as pricing changes?
- Are you able to map pricing against all product needs? Permanent and temporary needs
These questions get the conversation started around cloud management. The cloud is an enabler and if used correctly can save your organization time and money. The key is having a strategy to manage and optimize the cloud as it grows.
If your cloud costs are rising and you need help assessing, developing or managing your cloud strategy, UDig can help. Connect with us and let us help you maximize your investment in the cloud.
*http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgillis/2015/09/02/cost-wars-data-center-vs-public-cloud/#2715e4857a0b4f949c5b3e39
