Migrating business functions to the Cloud is inherently beneficial. That being said, it’s important to understand how resources are stored and used in the Cloud to avoid unnecessary spending. Lack of visibility, governance, or training can lead to costly inefficiencies. “According to a 2019 survey by Deloitte, nearly half of responding companies say the cloud is more complex than they expected.”
With specific tools and an effective Cloud strategy, your business can simplify, and control costs related to your IT infrastructure.
1. Right Size the Cloud
When migration time comes, some companies fail to “right-size”, meaning they simply shift their current environment over to the Cloud. This strategy can cause problems because a good fit in the on-premises space may not be optimal in the virtual space. Instead of exactly replicating your resources, consider that the Cloud is designed to enhance efficiency and outdated processes waste money.
2. Decommission Unused Resources
Speaking of wasted money, you should also perform scheduled audits to eliminate unused resources. Assets spun up for temporary projects might still be running in the background and are often overlooked. One way to better manage data is to think about it as “hot” and “cold”. “Hot” data is accessed often and readily available while “cold” data storage is optimized for cost control. Don’t let “legacy clutter” rack up costs.
3. Enforce Strong Governance
Costs accumulate when too many people have permission to create Cloud resources. Without any oversight, employees can spin up shadow IT that isn’t approved or regulated by your team. This leads to security vulnerabilities and lack of transparency as well. Effective governance rules use role-based access to manage user privileges and access to data.
4. Automate!
“Sixty-four percent of organizations say that optimizing existing cloud use for cost savings is their top initiative, up from 58 percent the year before.” In addition to reducing manual Cloud management tasks, automation helps control costs by reporting workload changes. Your team will receive alerts about cost spikes and authorization failures to keep your resources within budget.
5. Set Up Performance Monitoring
Like automated processes, application performance monitoring allows your team to stay on top of day-to-day changes and ensure they are meeting your business needs. The centralized dashboard provides continuous visibility on the health of Cloud resources and gives you the ability to better manage and optimize your assets.
How Managed IT Providers Can Help
In a Managed Services model, a trusted external partner handles the management, monitoring, and technical support of your Cloud resources. This is often the most cost-effective option because of the predictable expenses, time saved, and level of IT expertise at your service. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is all that’s needed to find potential wasteful spending. The right MSP partner can help maximize your ROI and improve Cloud performance.
What You Can Do Now
To help you make the appropriate decision about your business IT needs, Iserv offers a Cloud Readiness Assessment. Consult with our team to analyze your current environment, identify areas of improvement, and break-down costs moving forward.
Cloud consumption can be complicated; let’s work together to simplify it.