‘The Cloud’ has re-shaped the way many of us do business, enabling a vast array of digital services to be accessed globally over the internet.

Cloud computing can be highly efficient and economical when done right as businesses don’t necessarily need to build and manage their own infrastructure, instead being able to rely on the services from Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). Not all CSP service offerings are equal though, and as your business’ needs change, it is important to re-evaluate what you are paying for. Here are some tips on determining if you are getting the most out of your investments in cloud technology.

Review your current cloud services

One of the biggest benefits to using Cloud Services is the typical pay-as-you go commercial models that are on offer. There is no need to make significant capital investments to establish (or refresh) an expensive digital infrastructure, nor do you have to keep services running longer than required.  Instead, cloud services are consumable on a utility basis with the ability to easily scale, both up and down.  By only paying for what you need, when appropriately designed and managed, cloud technologies deliver significant flexibility benefits and allow you to be agile in how you deliver IT.

In today’s world, businesses must be nimble and responsive to change.  As they grow, contract, and reshape, cloud service requirements often change.  It is therefore key to take the time to review the services that you consume to keep these needs met and your business running as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Are your Cloud Services still meeting the demands of your business? Have the services you’ve invested in been adopted by the organisation and are they delivering on the benefits you intended?  If the answer to either of these questions is “no”, or you’re not sure, talk to us.  We can work with you to assess the current position and collaborate on an approach that gets these answers to a resounding “yes”.

Your cloud environments should underpin your business operation seamlessly and efficiently, delivering value while supporting greater agility and innovation.  They do this when optimally placed within the context of your IT landscape, provided they are designed and implemented with your business objectives in mind.  Many CSPs continually expand the technical capability provided by their offerings, as part of your ongoing commitment to them.  It is therefore essential to keep abreast of developments in order to realise maximum value.

Companies are now frequently opting for a multi-cloud strategy to help meet certain needs. This can help in leveraging the strengths of the different CSPs for various workloads/use cases, though consideration must be given to the additional management overhead that this approach can create.  If you are evaluating this model, be sure to consider the total cost of operation, for your cloud platforms as a whole.

By nature, cloud services can be easily consumed with little or no upfront investment.  This is a benefit on one hand, but somewhat paradoxically can create other challenges, if not aligned with an appropriate strategy that supports your business.  Feature/capability overlap across cloud services is a common area where inefficiency can be encountered; for example, using DropBox for file storage and sharing while also paying for Office365 services.  Adopting an overarching vision as a guide, while being agile enough to respond to changes, is key to success in the increasingly “cloud dominated” world that we live.

Caught up in cloud confusion? 

There are a number of CSPs with offerings in the marketplace; from Microsoft with their popular Office365 and Azure services, to Google with G-Suite and Google Cloud Platform, as well as Amazon’s ever-popular AWS.  This is without mentioning the multitude of private service providers with their take on solutions to common business and IT challenges.

If the mention of so many options, vendors and capabilities has you confused…. We get it.  The cloud market continues to proliferate on a daily basis, with no sign of letting up.  As a fully vendor-neutral IT consultancy, we can support you in cutting through the noise and developing an approach to cloud that works for your business.  We don’t partner with IT vendors and CSPs so that we can offer genuine, unbiased and informed advice based solely on your needs.