Cloud economics is a relatively new term, but it is growing in importance as businesses increasingly move their data to the cloud. As more organizations look for new ways to model their business in support of scalability and agility, it has become imperative that they better understand the short and long-term costs of cloud services.

There are many factors to consider when evaluating the economics of a move to the cloud, but one of the most important is Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

What Exactly is Cloud Economics?

Cloud economics is the study of the financial impact of moving data and workloads to the cloud. This includes both the short-term and long-term costs associated with such a move, as well as any potential benefits that may be realized.

Understanding TCO

TCO is a financial metric that attempts to quantify all of the direct and indirect costs associated with a given investment over its lifetime. In the context of cloud computing, TCO analysis can be used to compare the costs of running a workload on-premises versus in the cloud.

There are several factors to consider when conducting a TCO analysis for cloud migration. You’ll need to think about short-term costs, such as data egress fees and one-time migration expenses. However, it is also essential to consider long-term costs, such as running and maintaining on-premises infrastructure and the opportunity cost of not taking advantage of cloud-native features and services.

Other vital things to keep in mind when evaluating TCO include:

• Capex vs. Opex – While many believe that Opex is preferable, you may want to consider waiting for compelling reasons, such as data center decommissioning or hardware refreshes.
• Labor – While the cloud can often require less human capital to operate, the cost of highly skilled cloud professionals may be higher than traditional data center staff.
• Cost of Migration – This cost includes many facets, consultants, time, and risk. This is probably the biggest consideration and should be a big part of cloud planning.
• Architecture – Vendor lock-in, portability, ecosystem integrations, and security all play a part in determining how to architect a shift to the cloud.

While TCO analysis can vary depending on the complexity of your business and its move to the cloud, it is essential to remember that the goal is to get a holistic view of all costs associated with a cloud transition. By understanding TCO, you can make more informed decisions about when, where, and how to plan and invest your resources.

The Advantages of Moving to the Cloud

As businesses calculate their TCO when moving data to the cloud, it becomes evident to most that there are many advantages to be gained. These benefits can be broken down into four main categories.

1. Increased Agility and Scalability

The cloud is an ideal platform for businesses looking to scale their operations quickly and easily. By moving to the cloud, you can take advantage of the elasticity and flexibility that the cloud provides, allowing you to scale up or down as needed. This can help you save on both capital and operational expenditures.

Additionally, the cloud allows you to quickly provision new resources and services as your business needs change. This increased agility can give you a competitive edge in today’s ever-changing business landscape and improve your customer experience.

2. Better Business Efficiency

The cloud can help you optimize your IT infrastructure and increase your operational efficiencies. By moving to the cloud, you can take advantage of features like auto-scaling and self-healing, which can help you reduce downtime and improve your overall efficiency.

The cloud also provides businesses with access to a global network of data centers which can help you improve your latency and speed. This can be a significant advantage for businesses looking to improve customer experience. Additionally, all of the major cloud providers boast a robust set of ecosystem partners.

3. Enhanced Security

One of the common misconceptions about the cloud is that it is less secure than on-premises. However, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, the cloud can provide you with a number of security advantages.

When you move to the cloud, you gain access to a team of experts who are constantly working to keep your data safe. Additionally, the cloud provides you with robust security features like firewalls, intrusion detection, and encryption which can help you protect your data. Of course, it’s important to remember that it’s a shared security model. In the most basic terms, your cloud provider secures the infrastructure, but your teams will still need to understand how to secure databases and applications.

4. Improved Disaster Recovery

The cloud can provide you with a robust disaster recovery solution that is scalable and reliable. By leveraging the cloud, you can ensure that your data is always protected and available, even in the event of a significant outage.

The cloud can also help you save on disaster recovery costs. With the cloud, you only pay for the resources you use, which can help you keep your disaster recovery costs to a minimum.

Bottom Line

When comparing costs between on-premise and cloud solutions, it is important to think about the total cost of ownership by considering all of the costs associated with a move to the cloud while also weighing the benefits of better scalability, agility, and improved business efficiency. Even with all the pros, there will always be situations, especially in highly regulated environments, where some data and applications will need to remain on-premises. Thankfully, hybrid cloud is also a viable choice and certainly should be considered as you plan for the ever-expanding future of cloud technology.

About Actian Corporation

Actian empowers enterprises to confidently manage and govern data at scale. Actian data intelligence solutions help streamline complex data environments and accelerate the delivery of AI-ready data. Designed to be flexible, Actian solutions integrate seamlessly and perform reliably across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. Learn more about Actian, the data division of HCLSoftware, at actian.com.