In today’s business world, many companies have made the move to cloud-based infrastructure and software solutions. One of the major benefits of this change is the reduced cost to acquire hardware and software and, sometimes, even the software itself can be free! However, most people are unaware that Cloud Spend Management is vital to ensuring that your company’s cloud investment continues to provide an adequate return on investment.
What Is Cloud Spend Management?
Cloud-based solutions have been projected to account for more than 50% of new IT projects by 2016. There is an enormous need and opportunity to provide businesses with a scalable, virtualized, secure cloud infrastructure that will help them to increase productivity, improve business agility and reduce operational costs. Cloud can be customized to every business’ unique needs. The trick is finding out how much it will cost and where your money is going. That’s where Cloud Spend Management comes in offering comprehensive transparency over your cloud consumption so you know exactly what you are spending in each area of IT: compute power, bandwidth, disk storage, and so on.
Having visibility into your cloud consumption means that you can optimize and better budget for cloud-based services. It’s been projected that many enterprises will realize a four-year return on investment when implementing cloud management strategies. With both cost savings and growth opportunities on offer, taking a Spend Analytics more proactive approach to managing your Cloud Spend Management consumption is essential. It’s an area where many organizations are falling behind, though, in one recent survey of 200 IT professionals, almost half reported they had no plan or strategy in place to manage their data center costs effectively using cloud technologies. The best way to avoid falling into that trap is by taking a close look at how much you are spending on each key aspect of IT bandwidth, storage, and compute power.
Benefits Of Cloud Management
[We talk about how Cloud Spend Management allows one to compare cloud costs with on-premises costs, and how you can optimize cost per use for IT infrastructure Here are a few key ways that cloud spend management helps organizations Better visibility into IT costs Through detailed analysis of your existing spending, you’ll be able to see exactly where your money is going. Increased control over budgets With budget planning tools, your organization will be able to see at a glance where your budget is trending and what needs adjusting. Easier planning for future projects. When looking at historical data from previous years, it’s easier to predict what kinds of changes in spending may occur in upcoming years. A more consistent service level By using a public cloud provider like Rackspace or Amazon Web Services, you can be sure that your service levels will remain consistent no matter which teams within your organization are responsible for handling it.
Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, Cloud Spend Management will help your organization lower its costs. It allows organizations to work within strict budgets by providing insight into their current spending and helps them make changes when they see that they’re going over budget. Budget allocation is easier because you can determine exactly where your money is going and which departments or projects need reallocating. Cloud cost monitoring offers increased control over IT infrastructure spending. As you begin using more cloud-based services, you’ll have even more flexibility in designing your custom systems without having to worry about compatibility issues with on-premises hardware.
Cloud Management Cost Analysis?
To improve your Cloud Spend Management, you’ll need to develop a comprehensive cloud cost management strategy. Because of how complicated most cloud costs are, determining a fair price per usage is extremely difficult. That’s why it’s important to always include your auditors or compliance officers in every decision about what type of plan you sign up for and which applications you choose to host on an as-needed basis. It’s also important that you always take advantage of any discounts offered by your provider and that you monitor third-party vendors to make sure they are using providers with good reputations.
For example, let’s say you work at an enterprise Cloud Spend Management and want to purchase business intelligence software. Instead of buying a new copy for each user, only one copy for everyone in your organization and Business Spend Management allow employees to access it remotely. This way, you can reduce spending while giving everyone access to all of their reports wherever they may be.