Cloud Economics 2.0
How to gain clarity and cost control when cloud comes to your business .
David Linthicum
Executive Summary
In the last issue of the Doppler Quarterly , we explored the bigger picture of cloud economics , taking into account the value of agility and other soft costs that are often not considered in traditional CapEx vs . OpEx discussions . In this paper , we uncover the best strategies for the financial monitoring of cloud services , which is becoming increasingly important in today ’ s enterprises .
After years of chaotically distributed IT services , control is now moving back into the hands of central IT . With the introduction of cloud-based services , establishing a business unit to monitor usage , control costs and focus on the needs of key stakeholders will become standard practice .
We are seeing enterprise IT regain control of existing public cloud-based resource usage within departments , and of managing the roll-out of new cloud projects . This means IT now faces a rising level of complexity and the need for cost controls . However , with greater control comes greater responsibility . Proven processes and technologies are emerging that will give IT more visibility into costs , including core analytics to determine the existing and future value of cloud and non-cloud systems .
With the agility provided by cloud , the pressure is on IT to stand up end-to-end environments in a matter of minutes – not weeks or months . But how does management avoid overextending capital budgets and know that they won ’ t be stretched thin down the road ?
IT is under constant pressure to drive costs out of systems , but without an automated application and clear insights , IT is simply driving blind .
Enter a built-for-purpose software solution that gives IT the ability to see exactly which services are being consumed and by whom . Visibility and control over critical IT assets results in better delivery of the right services at the
6 | THE DOPPLER | SUMMER 2016