IT Briefcase Exclusive Interview with SoftwareONE: Cutting Costs in the Cloud

Featured interview with Bali Kuchipudi, Global Marketing Lead, SoftwareONE

For most organizations, migrating to the cloud is a competitive necessity. The cloud allows IT to be agile and flexible– driving business goals forward. For some, migrating to the cloud brings the promise of slashed IT budgets, but that’s often not the case as first time migrators navigate the complex web of pay-as-you-go models. But with the right processes and systems in place, it is possible to cut costs in the cloud. SoftwareONE’s Bali Kuchipudi shares…

• What is the roadmap to cutting cloud costs?

A. Cutting cost in the cloud has four components– planning, tracking, optimizing and reducing. If it’s a business’ first time moving to the cloud, planning is especially vital. This involves identifying the business requirements and reviewing cloud resources needed, setting a budget and thinking big-picture about business objectives. Questions to ask in the planning stages include– Will the resources I’ve allocated meet my requirements? Are there security concerns I need to address? Is my budget realistic? Etc. Once businesses have moved their workloads to the cloud, they need to implement tracking mechanisms. As cloud offerings are often on a pay-as-you-go model, it’s important that IT teams are tracking their cloud usage accurately. This is imperative, as changing consumption levels can have a dramatic effect on a business’ monthly bill. The final two components– optimizing and reducing– go hand in hand. Once a business has a solid tracking system in place, teams need to optimize their resources. This means assessing what aspects of the environment are underutilized, and finding ways to combine them with other resources. Once the cloud environment is optimized, IT can reduce the assets they don’t need, to keep monthly bills within budget.

• How do these tips differ depending on which cloud platform your business is using?

A. At a high-level, the steps for effectively deploying a cloud platform are the same– no matter the vendor. When weighing AWS v. Azure v. Google Cloud, for example, the planning phase may look a little different, as licensing, instance purchasing, etc. differs platform-by-platform. However, the methodology is the same. Planning, tracking, optimizing and reducing is a vital cycle for every company working to manage cloud consumption and keep cloud costs in-check.

• What is the most important aspect to consider at the beginning of the cloud cost journey?

A. For IT leaders, the most important aspect is visibility. IT teams need to have an understanding of what cloud resources are being used and how they are being used. Planning and tracking hinge on visibility- being able gain insights into cloud resources requires a granular understanding of the environment. For example, blindly turning off resources is not the same as optimizing cloud spend. Proper visibility will give IT teams predictive views into where their spend is going, and allow them to set a budget that aligns with their internal needs and larger business goals.

• What tools and strategies are organizations using to prepare themselves for this cloud savings and management process?

A. Many organizations that are cloud first-timers are struggling with strategy, roadmapping and continuous tracking and optimization, and are turning to third party tools and service providers. This is especially true as more organizations look towards a multi-cloud approach. The concept of “lifting and shifting” between cloud platforms isn’t as easy as it sounds, and third party tools and providers can ensure that each platform is being optimized, is working in tandem across the environment and is providing the best value for an organization.

Internally, we’re also seeing a new role emerge– a cloud procurement officer. This concept exists for software procurement, but recently it’s moved into the cloud arena as well. Managing cloud spend is complicated, and a cloud procurement officer is becoming a more popular role for organizations looking to scale and optimize their environments internally, while keeping their budgets in-line.

• RightScale estimates 30% of cloud spending is wasted– what are the most common areas of the cloud companies are wasting their money on? I.e. where is that 30% going?

A. It’s different for every organization, but usually it comes down to upfront planning and monitoring that span throughout the year. I see this happen all the time– IT teams forget that cutting cloud costs isn’t just a four step process, it’s a continuous cycle. Planning, tracking, optimizing and reducing aren’t a yearly activity– this cycle should be happening on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis, depending on the complexity of the environment. Tracking should be an ongoing process, and optimization and reduction strategies should be an ongoing conversation. To avoid wasting 30 percent of the business’ cloud budget, teams need to be open to pivoting their strategy and creating an environment that works.

• There has been a lot of discussion around the “cloud price wars” between AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc. Are these pricing models truly the root of the cloud cost issue, or is it more related to poor deployment strategies?

A. When you look at the price difference between these platforms, what they’re really measuring is the price of admission. While it may be cheaper to set up shop in one platform over another, that isn’t the price tag that is causing cloud spend to skyrocket. Getting a low entry point is great, but cloud spend can easily get out of hand if mismanaged. Optimization and reduction processes still need to be put in place to keep costs down.

Author Bio:

Bali Kuchipudi is the global marketing lead for the PyraCloud Platform and SoftwareONE Services. In this role, he leads Go-to-Market strategy for SoftwareONE services and solutions. Previous to SoftwareONE, Bali held product marketing leadership roles at EMC (Acquired by Dell) and RSA (Security Division of EMC).