performance Managing cloud expenses while maintaining optimal performance

Hyve is a client of Business Reporter.

The main purpose of the cloud was to decrease the expenses of IT for companies. Transferring data, workloads, and applications to the cloud eliminates the necessity for outdated infrastructure and reduces the capital expenditures of data centers.

As companies started to acknowledge the advantages of abandoning outdated equipment and transitioning to a cloud-native approach, the public cloud (provided by major players like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform) became the preferred option. It offered to simplify computing for businesses, aid in their scalability, and foster agility during growth. Additionally, its pay-as-you-go pricing structure made it an appealing choice for both large enterprises and smaller businesses without dedicated IT departments, who sought an affordable and uncomplicated solution for outsourcing computing needs.

Unfortunately, there are additional expenses and complications involved in utilizing the public cloud that have recently come to light. This has resulted in a higher cost of management than initially predicted for many individuals. According to a survey conducted last year, 82 percent of enterprises listed cloud costs as their primary challenge when utilizing the cloud.

Many companies face challenges with obtaining resources when relying on the public cloud. Organizations often keep their servers running constantly under the impression that a “plug-and-play” cloud solution eliminates the need for maintenance. However, leaving servers idle results in businesses paying for unused resources, reducing the cost advantages of utilizing cloud services. Furthermore, if a company decides to actively manage their cloud resources and shut down servers when not in use, it adds complexity to a cloud strategy that was initially chosen for its simplicity.

As companies expand, the need to efficiently manage their cloud resources becomes increasingly urgent. Public cloud providers not only charge for storage, but also for the number of requests made to access that data. Without careful monitoring and optimization, organizations can quickly see their costs escalate, especially as they continue to add data to their public cloud environments.

In order to ensure maximum effectiveness and productivity, it is crucial for the company to continue using their selected cloud solution. However, the costs of support must also be taken into account, especially for organizations that require additional assistance in the public cloud.

Many companies who initially chose the public cloud are now realizing the need for greater control over their resources. This goes beyond cost and management concerns. In fact, some have discovered that the public cloud does not provide adequate security for storing sensitive data or critical applications.

Many businesses have chosen to bring their data back from the public cloud to a private cloud due to the hidden costs and challenges involved in achieving control, flexibility, security, and scalability. Private clouds, which are dedicated to a single organization, are considered more secure and offer the benefit of fixed monthly billing from hosting providers, eliminating the uncertainty of fluctuating costs associated with the public cloud.

Reworded: Cloud repatriation has been in existence for a while and is not a new concept. According to IDC, once public cloud adoption became widespread, repatriation also became a common practice. It is estimated that 70-80% of businesses repatriate some of their data from the public cloud annually.

Isn’t the process of bringing data back from the cloud a difficult challenge in its own right?

It may be, but it’s not necessary.

Honestly, moving away from the cloud is not a simple or impulsive choice. Public cloud companies typically require payment for transferring data between their services, which adds to the overall cost. Therefore, it should not be unexpected to discover that they also make it challenging to switch providers. In many cases, you become locked into services that are only available with that specific provider, making it very costly and complicated to transfer and duplicate data and applications.

Additionally, transferring large quantities of data and applications between environments and systems can be a complicated task. It is crucial to have a well-defined plan in place before starting in order to avoid any interruptions to daily operations or diversion from overarching business objectives when repatriating to the cloud.

The primary difficulties that businesses often encounter when transferring data from a public cloud to a private cloud setting are as follows:

If these problems are familiar to you, it might be beneficial to consider hiring a managed service provider who can determine the most effective strategy for your particular business. A one-size-fits-all approach should never be used for cloud services, and these providers are experts in assisting with selecting and transferring data to the private cloud, as well as overseeing its management. This makes the entire process easy and painless.

Although the public cloud is widely used for its flexibility and scalability, it lacks adaptability. This poses a challenge for modern businesses as their top priority, agility, becomes harder to achieve.

Using this knowledge about the public cloud, organizations should determine if it is truly the best choice for them initially. However, for those companies currently facing difficulties with the public cloud, it may be beneficial to consider transitioning back to on-premise solutions, despite the magnitude of the task. Upon examining the data, it is probable that this decision will ultimately save a significant amount of time, money, and resources.

Our clients frequently achieve great success when following this process. For instance, one customer faced challenges in effectively managing their cloud resources due to a lack of internal technical expertise and the high cost of using a hyperscaler’s support services. As a result, they had multiple MSPs managing their public cloud environments, which proved to be both expensive and difficult to monitor. We assisted in repatriating their workloads and data to a private cloud environment, which we now fully manage for them at a significantly reduced monthly cost.

All businesses have unique objectives and require their applications to function at varying speeds and levels in order to meet those objectives. Bringing data back from the public cloud should not be the main goal, but rather a means to accomplish desired outcomes. When using the cloud, the ultimate aim is to achieve a balance of efficiency, high performance, and cost-effectiveness.

Depending on your needs, a hybrid cloud approach – incorporating both the public and the private cloud into your overall cloud strategy and reaping the benefits of both – might be your best bet. But whatever the answer, the aim for all businesses now should be to work out their individual requirements when it comes to the cloud and then find a balance and management solution that truly works for them.

A great approach for this is to team up with a managed hosting company that can guide you through the steps and efficiently handle it for you. They can adjust resources as needed to ensure continuous operation and prevent you from paying for unused resources.

Jon Lucas, one of the co-founders and directors of Hyve Managed Hosting.

Source: independent.co.uk