Cloud can be expensive, an interesting Survey

When it comes to cloud computing, disillusionment is spreading. Now that cloud use has become socially acceptable in companies in Germany as well, this trend has already passed its zenith, according to market researchers from Gartner.

Cloud bills

"Many companies are horrified when they receive their first cloud bills, as they are far higher than estimated," Markus Biesinger, systems engineer at cloud integrator Nutanix, explained at the Gartner IT Infrastructure & Operations Management Summit 2018 in Frankfurt. He added that many of his customers are now using sharp pencils to calculate whether cloud computing is really worthwhile for all applications. "The results of these analyses are increasingly in favor of an on-premises solution," said Biesinger.

Gartner  and the cloud technology

Gartner analysts confirm this. "Only with good tools and rigorous cloud management can the costs and application benefits of cloud computing be realized," says Milind Govekar, vice president and reasearch director at Gartner. He predicts companies that don't actively manage their cloud implementations will spend at least 25 percent more compared to on-premises.

He sees the reasons for the cost explosion in the fact that the flexibility of cloud usage leads to overkill in usage - kind of like how you always eat more at a buffet than you would if you had to order everything separately. "Many users don't return instances when they no longer need them, and developers tend to always rent the most powerful instances," is his finding.

The future of the cloud technology

The disappointment of many IT and finance leaders about the move to the cloud is also reflected in Gartner's Hype Cycle, where cloud-related trends have fallen off in the Valley of Disillusionment. Nevertheless, Gartner experts see no end to cloud adoption: "By 2025, 80 percent of all global enterprises will have shut down their traditional data centers," says Gartner analyst Chirag Dekate. His colleague Philip Dawson sees it the same way: "The fact that costs are exploding at the moment is a temporary problem, in the medium term you will get a grip on that with modern tools, because cloud computing offers many advantages even if it is not necessarily cheaper," is the justification for his cloud optimism. (odi)