Cloud services are easy to provision and provide a lot of flexibility to users. The cloud can also reduce costs in terms of hardware and management overhead. Well, that’s the assumption. This is why organizations often turn to the cloud when they have an urgent need for an application to support a project or initiative, or they’re under pressure to meet a certain business goal.

They get the cloud application they need and allocate the necessary resources – without much planning or cost analysis. The monthly costs right out of the gates are understood but, beyond that, it’s a rough estimate at best. If the cloud application doesn’t work, they decide to use a different application, or the project is complete and the application is no longer needed, what happens next? In the rush to provision the application, nobody took ownership of it. That means the application doesn’t get shut down, the subscription doesn’t get closed out, and money and network resources are wasted on an abandoned application.

The general lack of planning and understanding about cloud costs are the two biggest reasons why most organizations exceed their cloud budgets. In a recent survey from Softchoice, 57 percent of respondents said their organization dealt with cost overruns from their cloud deployments. Not surprisingly, 57 percent also said they’re not sure how to develop an effective cloud management strategy. These issues are only compounded in multi-cloud environments that involve the use of disparate services on platforms from different providers. As Cloud Services become more complex, cloud costs become that much more difficult to monitor and control.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many cloud gurus out there looking for jobs. In fact, there’s a serious cloud skills gap that costs organizations around the world more than $258 million per year, according to a study from Rackspace. In fact, 71 percent of organizations said they’ve lost revenue because of a lack of cloud expertise, and 65 percent believe additional cloud skills would bring more innovation to their company. Forty-two percent said cloud deployments take longer due to a lack of expertise, making it difficult to create or maintain a competitive edge.

For many organizations, the most effective solution, and sometimes the only way to keep from falling behind, is to partner with a managed service provider (MSP). An MSP has the skills and expertise that you otherwise would be forced to pay top dollar to find, acquire and retain. They know what to look for in cloud services and agreements, how to accurately predict short-term and long-term costs, and how to migrate workloads to the cloud without business disruption.

After deployment, a Cloud Service Provider can remotely monitor your cloud services to maximize performance and resource utilization, protect your data and applications, and respond to security incidents. They can also make sure the cloud platforms and providers you choose are capable of satisfying regulatory requirements and help you generate reports that demonstrate compliance to auditors.

Marmic Associates offers a wide range of cloud services and the flexibility to have us manage as much of your cloud environment as you would like. We’ll help you determine which services should be moved to the cloud, which services should remain on-premises, and how much everything will cost – now and five years from now. Contact us to create a responsible, cost-effective strategy for cloud adoption and management.