In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape, cloud computing is a vital part of many companies’ processes. According to a study by the International Data Group, 69% of businesses are already using cloud technology, while 18% say they plan to implement cloud-computing solutions at some point in the near future. Indeed, Amazon Web Services [AWS], the world’s largest cloud platform provider, has approximately 1.45 billion users worldwide alone. Given its effectiveness in enabling firms to scale and adapt at speed, drive innovation, improve agility, streamline operations, and reduce costs, it is hardly surprising that so many organisations have taken up the technology, or intend to do so soon.
While cloud computing brings a range of benefits to organisations of all sizes, implementation is not without its challenges. Investing in the technology is one thing, but ensuring that it is providing as much value as possible is another altogether. Indeed, AI Multiple estimates that 30% of cloud spend is going to waste, while companies generally over budget nearly 24% for their cloud needs. It is clear, therefore, that a large number of organisations are causing themselves undue budgetary pressure through mismanagement of their cloud spend.
More businesses are now waking up to the advantages of cloud cost optimisation, but this in itself is creating a new challenge. With so many companies investing in the cloud, gaining a competitive edge through the technology is becoming increasingly difficult. This is prompting organisations to explore new ways of achieving cost optimisation and, in doing so, helping to shape the future of cloud computing – but what exactly might this look like?
Greater uptake of cost optimisation tools
As businesses seek to gain a competitive advantage through their investment in cloud computing, it is highly likely that we will see more businesses adopting cost optimisation tools to achieve this goal. With research showing that optimisation tools can help produce cloud savings of over 30%, using them can be something of a silver bullet for organisations eager to make their cloud services more cost effective.
Given that the International Monetary Fund [IMF] is forecasting that the UK will be the worst performing of all G7 nations this year, budgetary pressures on businesses are set to persist for the foreseeable future. As such, this will prompt a greater number of organisations than ever before to explore how they can save money while simultaneously getting the most out of their cloud budgets.
Next-gen tools will enable optimisation
With organisations increasingly incorporating multi-cloud and hybrid infrastructures, the threat of cost overrun and loss of control is growing exponentially. According to Gartner, 60% of infrastructure and operations leaders will encounter public cloud cost overruns that negatively impact their on-premises budgets through 2024. This is consistent with existing trends, given that the Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report found that 61% of respondents had significantly higher than planned costs during that year.
To respond to the challenges presented by cost overrun, optimisation tools will evolve to enable businesses to fully optimise not only the entirety of their cloud environments, but also their future edge deployments. This will prepare them for taking full advantage of every potential saving, as well as performance-enhancing solutions and other innovations.
Reliance on cloud will grow
Cloud adoption has grown at such an alarming rate, to the point where over half of all companies now run at least some of their workloads in the cloud. Platforms like AWS have grown exponentially, with the Bank of America anticipating that AWS will experience growth of 11% this year. With usage already so high, and with businesses continuously discovering the benefits, reliance on the technology as a means of remaining competitive will grow significantly. After all, Markets and Markets has predicted that the global cloud computing market will be worth $832.1 billion by 2025, while Gartner expects that enterprise cloud spending will make up 14% of IT revenue worldwide by 2024.
With cloud set to expand ever further in the coming years, businesses’ reliance on the technology will grow significantly as they aim to stay competitive. This will accentuate the need to optimise cloud cost ever further, increasing the demand for managed cloud service providers who have the knowledge and skill to help companies get the very most from their investment.
Cloud is here to stay
With the cloud having revolutionised the way that businesses carry out many of their key processes, and with it set to continue to do so for the foreseeable future, firms must seek new ways to optimise their spend if they aim to benefit from the technology, and gain an advantage over their competitors. While next-generation tools are in development to respond to the growth of the market and the challenges this presents, there is much that organisations can gain from working with managed cloud service providers who can guide them through the optimisation process, and help them to truly unlock the potential that the cloud holds.
