Migrating your company’s infrastructure to the public cloud presents a compelling case for growth and efficiency. The promise of shedding high hardware costs, enabling rapid scalability, and supporting a remote workforce is attractive. Seamless access to applications, robust monitoring, and simplified patch management are all significant benefits. For businesses with multiple locations, the cloud can unify complex operations.
Solutions from major providers like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offer a competitive edge through adaptability and innovation. However, before committing to one of these giants, it’s crucial to analyze the full scope of the migration and its potential impact on your business. A thorough evaluation can reveal complexities and costs that are not immediately obvious.
Deconstructing the Real Costs of Public Cloud
Getting a straightforward price from a major public cloud provider can be a challenge. The popular pay-as-you-go pricing model seems simple on the surface, but navigating the intricate details of each plan reveals a more complicated picture. Key cost factors often include usage, location, fee structures, and the need for outsourced management.
Usage and Data Optimization
The type and volume of data you store directly influence your monthly bill. Costs can fluctuate based on how much data you transfer in and out of the cloud. To keep these expenses in line with your budget, you will need to perform constant monitoring and optimization. This requires a dedicated effort to manage your data footprint effectively.
Geographic Location and Redundancy
Hosting costs are not uniform; they can vary significantly by geographic region. Where your data resides matters. Furthermore, your requirements for redundancy and failover capabilities add another layer to the cost structure. Building a resilient infrastructure across multiple availability zones is a best practice, but it comes at a premium.
Complex Fee Structures
While the pay-as-you-go model offers flexibility, it can be one of the most expensive ways to consume cloud services. Providers offer discounted rates for long-term commitments, but this reduces your ability to adapt if your needs change. You must also account for egress fees—the cost of moving your data out of the cloud—which can be substantial and lead to vendor lock-in.
Outsourced Management and Expertise
Few companies possess the in-house expertise to handle a complex cloud migration and the subsequent day-to-day management. This means you will likely need to hire a third-party managed service provider. This additional expense for migration, optimization, and ongoing support must be factored into your total cost of ownership, as it sits on top of your direct cloud services bill.
Preparing for the Migration Journey
Public cloud providers offer pricing calculators to help estimate costs, but these tools provide just that—an estimate. They often fail to account for the additional resources, both human and financial, required for a successful transition and long-term management.
Many businesses underestimate the preparation needed for a migration, especially established companies with legacy systems. The process of auditing, optimizing, and streamlining your data can easily take six to twelve months. This preparatory phase can demand internal restructuring and may even disrupt daily operations. Such a significant transformation requires considerable manpower, time, and capital. You must ask: Is this the best use of our team’s focus and our company’s budget? Will this project ultimately drive business growth?
Exploring Cloud Alternatives
The “big three” are not your only option. A vibrant market of private cloud providers offers customized solutions that may be a better fit for your business model and budget. These providers often deliver fixed-rate plans, eliminating the billing surprises common with public cloud services.
Instead of investing months in preparation, some private cloud providers can “forklift” your existing environment directly onto their platform with minimal disruption. They typically provide user-friendly administrative portals and integrated Disaster Recovery (DR) plans. If an outage occurs, a strong DR solution can get your entire team back online in under an hour, compared to the days or weeks it might take to recover in other scenarios. A significant advantage of working with these providers is access to 24/7/365 support from the engineers who designed and manage the platform.
A More Direct Path to the Right Decision
Imagine having all the information needed to make a sound cloud decision in a matter of weeks, not months. Before dedicating up to a year on internal research, consider partnering with a veteran technology brokerage firm like My Resource Partners. Our highly experienced technology advisors have an extensive network of both public and private cloud providers. We conduct a FREE Cloud Assessment to identify which vendors are the best fit for your specific needs. From there, we coordinate consultations, arrange demos, and negotiate the most aggressive pricing on your behalf.
My Resource Partners’ advisors understand the profound impact a cloud solution can make on your business and operations. To that effect, our streamlined approach positions your team to make an informed, confident decision that will positively shape the course of your business for years to come.
