Keeping cloud costs under control

It's not just about making sure you turn off that unused storage, it's about planning too.

Is cloud cheaper than running infrastructure in-house? For most organisations this oft-asked question is impossible to answer, the only honest response being ‘it depends'. Another query is easier to answer though: is it easier to overspend on cloud than on-premises? Inadvertently breaking SAP's or Oracle's on-prem licensing terms aside, the answer is yes: the pay-as-you-go model makes it easy to forget to switch a service off.

Cloud pricing is a complicated matter. We asked three vendors whose customers operate in the cloud to provide some unbiased advice based on their experiences. Xtravirt is a cloud consulting service, Sumo Logic provides machine data analytics, and DataStax delivers a distributed database built on Apache Cassandra.

Sumo Logic's director of product marketing Ben Newton compared consuming cloud services to building with Lego. "It is easy to adapt and build, but the costs are typically consumption-based and can grow quickly. If you don't understand how the components work, you can be surprised by unexpectedly large bills - for example, out-of-control serverless."

For Evanna Kearins, vice president global field marketing at DataStax, understanding of cloud costs was a mixed bag, with some aspects such as storage well understood and others, such as databases likely to throw up surprises. Optimising databases for cost and efficiency is still "a real art" she said.

Managing costs is essential, but cost-cutting shouldn't be the primary reason for moving to the cloud, added James Kilby, senior consultant at Xtravirt. "Businesses that tend to have a better understanding of cloud often see IT as a differentiator, or partner to the business, rather than a cost base," he said.

There is wide variability in capabilities, prices and billing methods between providers, and single cloud providers can offer multiple billing models for the same function - James Kilby

It is quite a job to stay abreast of ever-shifting prices of cloud services, but it's definitely worth keeping a watching brief, Kilby went on.

"There is wide variability in capabilities, prices and billing methods between providers, and single cloud providers can offer multiple billing models for the same function. This is particularly the case when migrating legacy systems to the cloud, where leaving put or choosing a private cloud might deliver better performance and savings."

This also applies to new systems said Kearins, where hedging one's bets can provide opportunities for arbitrage:

"Looking at hybrid and multi-cloud options from the get-go can provide two benefits: one is that you can avoid rework or additional costs if you make a mistake and want to switch vendors, and two is that you can have much more control over costs."

There is only so much that you can do once an application has been deployed, said Newton. It pays to start thinking about the cloud model at the start of the development process.

"Budgeting starts with software developers and architects when they design their applications to understand the cost models and plan ahead," he said. "If the engineers understand the cost model early, they can make intelligent decisions about how to leverage cloud components."

Companies need to take a holistic view of their use of cloud services rather than the piecemeal way in which many deploy them today.

Without incentives, it's difficult to get people to care against their other goals - Evanna Kearins

"No more silos! The days of different teams with their own data silos doing their own separate analytics is coming to an end," Newton said, suggesting a "DevOps-style approach" to prevent developers and operations from duplicating each others' efforts. Kearins agreed, adding that developers can avoid some costs down the line by integrating security features into their code earlier in the process. However, they are unlikely to do this off their own back.

"They have to have an incentive to do this. Without incentives, it's difficult to get people to care against their other goals, like speed of delivering software."

Meanwhile, for Xtravirt, CEO Gavin Jolliffe's focus was on governance. "The process of operating and maintaining a cloud model is different from that of traditional architectures. The operating processes and governance must adapt as it's no longer a matter of working within the largely self-governing envelope of a sunk cost," he said.

New applications are one thing, but what about legacy systems? There may be no money to replace still-serviceable but aged enterprise applications, so a way needs to be found to make them part of the bigger picture.

"One of the biggest issues is still how much integration is needed with traditional IT applications, like ERP. If you have data from those applications coming into your new cloud service, you'll only ever be as nimble as that integration can make you," said Kearins, suggesting that data can be pulled out of such applications into a data layer and made available for analytics, or search, or for operational uses.

"This means taking a longer-term view around applications and data. However, it can help manage the move away from more traditional or legacy applications without needing a big bang migration. This can help avoid potential risks and costs."

It's all about getting ahead of costs early and often - Ben Newton

For Newton and Kilby, it was all about ensuring that cloud strategy encompasses C-level management, finance, IT departments and platform owners and providing all players with the correct metrics.

"Bottom line, it's all about getting ahead of costs early and often using common sources of data and analytics. You can't make good music if you aren't reading off the same sheet of music," Newton said.

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