COVID-19 has caused cloud adoption to accelerate. 82% of IT leaders have already ramped up their cloud use in direct response to the pandemic. But there’s a big difference between simply adopting cloud and squeezing every drop of value from it – especially at a global level.
Before adopting additional cloud services, you need full visibility of what you’re using and how efficiently you’re using it. Otherwise, you end up with overprovisioned and idle resources, which contribute significantly to wasted public cloud spend.
If you want to get the most out of the cloud as cost-effectively as possible, cloud optimization services can help.
What is Cloud Optimization?
Optimizing your cloud involves combining billing and usage data to identify and get rid of any waste caused by unused or under-used cloud resources. Your environment is right-sized based on what you actually use, while balancing performance, cost-efficiency, and compliance.
Essentially, it’s a way to ensure you’re not paying more than you need for cloud services, while still getting the performance your business demands.
Why are Cloud Optimization Services Crucial for Global Enterprises?
As your cloud estate grows, so does the importance of staying on top of your usage and costs. Optimizing your cloud assets keeps your operations lean. And in an economic climate where services have been disrupted and budgets are tight, having greater control over your spending is hugely beneficial.
Historic cloud workloads often waste money because they weren’t set up efficiently when migrated. By 2024, most legacy applications will need optimizing to become cost-effective. But keeping track of every workload across a global enterprise is quite an undertaking, particularly for internal teams. Many teams don’t have the time or tools to go back through cloud workloads that have already been migrated.
This is where working with a cloud management partner for optimization services can help.
3 Key Benefits of Cloud Optimization Services
With cloud optimization services, certified cloud professionals work with you as an extension of your team. They carry out an independent audit of your environment, highlighting key areas where you can get a better return on your cloud investments.
Here are the three most significant ways this benefits your enterprise.
1. Save Costs and Make Smarter Investments
Organizations sink up to 40% of their cloud spend into over-provisioned and unused infrastructure. Across a global enterprise, that adds up to a lot of wasted budget that could be better invested elsewhere.
Optimizing your cloud infrastructure can lead to savings of up to 60%. By doing this, it instantly gives you more budget to re-invest into other projects and IT upgrades.
2. Improve Visibility
Transparency is key to cost control. Cloud optimization services will provide accurate, meaningful reporting on how much each business unit is spending, how they use their resources, and where you can gain efficiencies. With improved visibility, you can better align your cloud spend to your business needs.
This goes beyond cost management. Cloud optimization services give you greater visibility over your whole cloud environment. So, you can strategize and scale your services with confidence.
To keep it performing at its best, your cloud management partner will also rightsize your cloud environment. They'll review usage files and create workload heat-maps to find idle periods where resources aren't needed and can be spun down. Any resources that can work on smaller instances without affecting performance will be migrated. This will reduce your wastage and ensure your cloud always operates at peak capacity.
3. Access Expertise and Skills
As more global enterprises move to the cloud, the demand for technical expertise has increased. But many don’t have those specialist skills in-house, creating cloud skills gaps – which have almost doubled for 90% of enterprises over the last three years.
Cloud optimization services help you close these gaps. You’ll get access to certified experienced cloud specialists who will complement your internal teams.
Regain Control of Your Cloud
The pandemic may have been the catalyst for increased cloud adoption, but this isn’t a temporary trend – it’s the future of business. By 2024, over 45% of IT spending on system infrastructure, infrastructure software, application software, and business process outsourcing will shift from traditional solutions to the cloud.
For global organizations, this means that the benefits of cloud optimization services will become increasingly important. Working with a cloud management services partner to optimize your environment provides better visibility into your cloud spend and access to cloud expertise, while driving down waste and creating major budget savings. These services are the key to making the cloud work harder for your business – and ensuring you’re getting as much value from it as possible.
Topics: Cloud Management Services
