Investing in cloud computing has become a way to optimize between spending, scaling and security for your data. While migrating to cloud is not just about savings, it plays a strong role in setting up a new data centre, fully migrating on-site data centres, or setting up a hybrid system.
Direct costs
Direct costs of running a data centre typically involve buying and setting up servers, software licensing, maintenance, and expanding storage. Hardware setup, staff hiring, on-premise support and any other cost attributed to the upkeep of your IT service come under this blanket.
Calculating your total cost of ownership
The first step is calculating your total cost of ownership: estimating provisional requirements for server size, software licensing, hosting capabilities and the rest. A rough figure helps develop a clearer understanding of your overall expectations, and of whether a total or hybrid shift would suit your goals.
The hidden direct costs
Often in a rush to migrate, hidden costs like large data transfer fees, application integration, online connectivity and final setup testing go unnoticed. These add up down the line and hamper a smooth migration. The overall transition more than makes up for them in the long run, given they are all accounted for.
Indirect costs
Indirect costs are the expenses that crop up in the wake of the initial shift: revenue loss from data centre downtime, hiring external resources to oversee the migration, the after-care and upkeep of physical data centres, and other IT expenses. These are significantly harder to calculate than direct costs since they vary with every operation and are often company-specific. Taking the time to pin them down in your TCO portfolio makes it easier to plan ahead.
Downtime
Since server downtime is rare in cloud systems, migration significantly brings down revenue loss from server malfunction, and gives peace of mind about data sensitivity during server upgrades.
Data centre upkeep
With data stored in a remote server away from company premises, cloud computing frees up the time and resource otherwise spent on the upkeep of on-premise data centres.
Is moving to the cloud the right decision
This is the doubt that arises at some point in many companies looking to migrate. Often there is no straight answer, and consulting firms specializing in the field is a sound first step. We weigh the facts and options and give an opinion on whether a hybrid or a full migration is better suited to your organization, rather than assume the answer is all of it.