CIO OPINION
But as you migrate interdependent workloads to the cloud – public , private or hybrid – keep tabs on costs ,
along with workload placement and prioritization .
Applications can struggle or fail in a new cloud environment . This happens when how the application and its complex interdependencies fit in a cloud aren ’ t understood well . It can also happen when relationships with other applications in your portfolio aren ’ t tracked and accommodated .
By having a well-defined strategy for migrating data and workloads to the clouds , supported by accurate dependency mapping , you can ensure that your migration is efficient and that you understand costs before embarking on the effort . This helps not only the initial move , but on-going cloud plans .
Optimize your cloud costs
Significant expenses come with cloud migration and use . That ’ s why a focused effort on cloud cost optimization is vital . To optimize your cloud costs , track cloud spend across all resource types and across all cloud providers . This will help you negotiate provider discounts ( such as reserved instances , spot instances and savings plans ) and allocate discounts appropriately to the accounts that use them .
When they ’ re tracked accurately , you ’ ll have the ability to subdivide your cloud bill ( s ) across multiple dimensions , including provider account , cost center , application or individual user .
Maximize your ITSM and ITFM investments
When you invest in IT Service Management ( ITSM ) and IT Financial Management ( ITFM ) solutions , it ’ s with the goal of streamlining the effectiveness of your organization . On their own , though , these tools don ’ t provide comprehensive visibility into your IT services or finances , respectively .
These solutions can inform you of overall spend and annual spend per vendor , for example , but can ’ t deliver important information needed to protect and support your business such as : the number of available licenses ; your compliance stance after an IT request is fulfilled ; how you may be able to reallocate or rationalize ( and save money on ) licenses ; whether your applications are at the End of Life ( EOL ) or End of Support ( EOS ) – and the implications , including security vulnerabilities .
These functionalities can all be improved by feeding current , enriched IT asset data into your ITSM and ITFM solutions .
Be aware of the opportunity costs of stagnation
Perhaps above all , precision planning can help prevent your IT infrastructure – and associated costs – from spiraling out of control .
An enterprise-wide initiative requires a modest amount of effort , but can pay dividends by eliminating the waste that eats into profitability and into your ability to innovate .
On the flip side , doing nothing can be expensive and complicated . As SaaS adoption and cloud costs grow , as visibility into your IT estate gets murkier , and if Digital Transformation stalls , the costs of stagnation can exacerbate the underlying issues throughout not only your IT estate , but across the entire enterprise . p
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