Marissa Tejada| Midsizeinsider
As cloud computing continues to rise in popularity, IT professionals are becoming more concerned with the costs associated with it. A cloud study revealed that while cloud may be a top investment for firms this year, almost 80 percent of CIOs are concerned about the hidden expenses.
The results of the study are particularly interesting for midsize firms where IT budgets and cost are important.
Hidden Fees
Research In Action from Compuware Corporation conducted the study to take a closer look at the information infrastructure projects that companies around the world are taking on. Cloud is a leader; however, IT professionals pointed out that costs such as subscription fees, system setup and staff training are often hidden by cloud providers. Additionally, the study pointed out that 35 percent of CIOs believe that costs could increase if there are any cloud implementation problems that require new solutions to be found. The Cloud Times article that featured these results also pointed out that power shortages, heavy traffic and security issues are other factors that could potentially cause costs to hike.
Meanwhile, 81 percent of respondents admitted to using e-commerce to help during cloud migrations. According to the survey, CIOs are concerned also with how end users will react to their services based on mediocre cloud implementations. For example, performance bottlenecks, reduced brand perception and loss of revenue from poor availability are some concerns highlighted.
Budgeting Well
Research In Action’s survey is a proof point that vendor expertise is critical for cloud computing implementations to be effective. When it comes to midsize firms, cost is a definite issue, but so is availability, performance and security. All of these factors must blend together smoothly for a growing firm to truly benefit from the technology. Various cloud vendors specialize in helping midsize firms migrate to the cloud, offering solutions that take industry needs, budget and goals into serious consideration.
The survey also found that 73 percent of companies who haven’t implemented the cloud have it on their to-do list of action items for the current year. That impressive number is a call to midsize IT to be ahead of the game and seek experienced vendors to help them migrate to the cloud effectively. Midsize firms that continue to use legacy methods to control and manage application performance will quickly lose their competitiveness.
The Right Vendors Necessary
IT professionals across the board are concerned about the hidden costs associated with the top IT technology being considered today: the cloud. Every midsize IT manager seeks an effective solution that will help his firm grow and become even more competitive. Finding experienced cloud vendors that can explain the initial and potential costs associated with the best midsize solutions is becoming extremely important in today’s market.
