A Rambling post about Cloud

Image: A cloud (which has nothing to do with Cloud Computing)

It’s rare that I have a rambling post about something, this is one of those rare occasions. Two topics:

1) Less Productive in the Cloud?
2) Multi-Cloud is the Future?

1) Less Productive in the Cloud?

Question: Is there are chance that you (your organization) could be less productive in the cloud?
Answer: Yes
Explanation:

The many advantages of the Cloud are written about in many places, and there’s no arguing most of those advantages. Something that’s not written about Cloud is that there is a chance that running your infrastructure in the Cloud could make you less productive in certain areas. Why?

The problem with Cloud is that everything is chargeable: CPU, Memory, Storage, network throughput... If there is a desire to not incur costs, this de-motivates from using the Cloud Infrastructure. For example, spinning up some database servers and doing some simple testing could cost $1000s, so you decide not to test out something new. Now, if you already have your own infrastructure, even though it did cost an initial outlay, now you’ve got it you can use it any time you want without worrying about incurring extra cost - the cost is already written off.

It’s a bit like owning a car and renting a car (just a bit).

2) Multi-Cloud is the Future?

Even though I’ve been studying AWS recently, I don’t believe the future is just AWS. And for a few good reasons:

Reason 1) The AWS (or other cloud vendor) sales person may tell you “Yes, you’ll save money if you put everything in the cloud”, but this is not true, since there are some things that are simply cheaper on premise. I’ve heard of customers go all-out with cloud and their operating costs have tripled. Yes, there are many many things that benefit by being in the cloud, but the cloud is not necessarily the best (cheapest) place for all your data and services. The answer is hybrid cloud!

Reason 2) No one wants a monopoly. Governments would step in to block someone like AWS having a monopoly. Also, as has happened many times before - in the storage world for instance - a new vendor comes along and does the proverbial drops-their-pants and offers a deal so good your organization can’t possibly say no, so you migrate data and services from one cloud to the other. This is where multi-cloud comes in, you want tools and software that allow you to manage your services and data across multiple hyperscalers. The answer is Multi-Cloud!

THE END (of short ramble)

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