Over the past decade or so, IT gurus preached to their acolytes that the cloud offered a viable and secure source for businesses that wanted storage and computing capabilities at a lower cost. Buying expensive servers and other hardware became unnecessary, and the lower costs of cloud computing encouraged a rush of migration to the cloud.
Yet as new complexities presented themselves within the cloud environment, some CIOs and others in IT departments began to wonder if converting to cloud computing really was such a bargain. And CFOs too asked their tech departments for what they were really paying.
A Brief History of the Cloud
To understand a bit more about what’s happened to cloud pricing, let’s go back to where it began. While the cloud computing model is seen as something relatively new, like most IT developments the cloud has its roots in the 20th century. It stems back to time-sharing agreements organizations used during the mid-1950s when huge and prohibitively expensive mainframe computers processed all data. Being able to have a time slot to use a commercial mainframe computer allowed smaller companies to make use of this computing power.
In 1972, IBM made its VM operating system, a big step towards creating the cloud we know today. For the next quarter-century, both hardware and software advanced storage and operational capabilities, until during the 1990s several telecommunications companies began to offer their own virtualized private networks (VPNs). By 1996, although the term “cloud computing” had not yet been coined, many companies, universities, and others were already using it to backup systems and for data storage.
Conventional Wisdom
Today, after the massive migration to the cloud, many cloud users note that costs have steadily increased over the years. Pricing has become muddled too, and it’s no longer a straightforward task to compare costs between cloud providers. While there’s talk that consolidation will occur to simplify pricing and better predict costs, a 2018 survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan with IT leaders showed that over half of them cited managing costs as a substantial obstacle to cloud computing.
There’s considerable grumbling from smaller and medium-sized businesses without large IT departments that cloud providers aren’t meeting their needs. The bigger providers like Microsoft and Amazon focus instead on large listed companies with low transaction costs and high volume. The big players just aren’t accommodating the needs of smaller businesses.
According to Wavestone US – a top IT and business advisory firm – “optimizing cloud costs simply boils down to two things: ensuring optimal application placement and implementing control measures through governance.” In other words, it’s time for businesses to do a cost-benefit analysis and treat cloud computing as they would any other business expense.
Amazon and Microsoft don’t necessarily provide the best cloud computing services, either. It’s time to consider other options. And there’s a whole ecosystem full of players offering tailor-made packages for specific markets. All you have to do is look.
How to Cut Costs
SMEs need to look at what a cloud computing quote offers, not just the price. Often service providers with lower set monthly charges don’t include the cost of installing software, consulting, system backups and restoration, software management, or even adding users. Many providers charge for these on an as-needed basis, which can raise your cloud costs considerably.
Look at the support your cloud provider offers and what you need from them. Perhaps you just need the cloud to store data. Or maybe you require a product with much more support, including for disaster recovery, security, around-the-clock support, backups, and more. And when you take into account some of the software licensing costs, which can equal or even exceed hardware prices, the wisest move SMEs could make involves including all these items in your contract.
Data security in cloud computing
Using a hybrid cloud means that there might be a chance for a cloud security breach along the chain. This can happen during migration, or after the data is placed in the cloud. Data security is one of the major challenges faced by cloud service providers. Even though most cloud service providers nowadays are complied with standards like HIPAA, ISO, PCI, DSS, and SOC. However, that doesn’t give customers the right to neglect their responsibility to protect their data.
Options
Outside of Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and other big names in cloud storage are a number of other companies that provide solutions to real business problems, all without the need to make infrastructure development. To get you started, here’s a list of five lesser-known cloud providers and how they compare.
A2 Hosting
Pros:
- Full money-back guarantee during the first 30 days, and prorated refund after that.
- Highly rated and responsive “Guru Crew” customer service team.
- Extra precautions to digitally and physically secure servers.
Cons:
- Cumbersome sign-up process and slow to reveal pricing.
- Though acceptable, it’s not the best with uptime.
SiteGround
Pros:
- Has free daily automated backups.
- Provides automatic WordPress updates for all users
- Excellent knowledge-based pages.
Cons:
- It is a bit expensive when it comes to web hosting.
InMotion
Pros:
- Very well-trained support staff that offer expert advice and guidance.
- The basic plan allows unlimited disk space and free SSL.
Cons:
- It doesn’t offer monthly pricing under $5 per month.
- Only hosts using Linux, not Windows.
HostGator
Pros:
- 99.99% unbeatable uptime guarantee.
- It offers more features on its shared plans than other hosting providers, including free e-mail marketing software.
- Fast and reliable live chat function along with searchable customer support.
Cons:
- A bit more expensive than other competitors.
- The control panel and site design look outdated.
DreamHost
Pros:
- Unlimited data storage, bandwidth, databases, sub-domains, and hosting.
- 100% uptime and 97-day money-back guarantee.
- Optimized WordPress hosting.
Cons:
- Many dashboard features cost extra.
- Additional costs for premium WordPress hosting.
- Sometimes live chat support has long wait times.
Cloud computing isn’t a commodity business, it’s a service business. Smaller businesses need to look at software solutions, storage flexibility, security, performance, and the support cloud providers deliver. Cloud computing still offers tremendous value. You just need to make the right choices to get the best service at the best price.
Saif Abbas is a writer, part-time entrepreneur and digital marketing consultant that has worked with Fortune 500 brands and top startups across the globe. He is also a regular contributor to media outlets, including Huffington Post, Drift, Forbes, Ahref, Moz, Search Engine Land, and others.