Source URL: https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/cloud_buyers_regret/
Source: Hacker News
Title: Admins wonder if the cloud was such a good idea after all
Feedly Summary: Comments
AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The text highlights a growing concern among organizations regarding the cost-effectiveness of cloud services, as evidenced by a survey from Civo. Many organizations feel that the promised benefits of moving to the cloud have not materialized, with costs rising significantly. Although cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft, and Google attribute rising costs to external factors, analysts suggest that increases in public cloud prices are likely to persist, leading to a reassessment of cloud economics for organizations.
Detailed Description:
– A recent survey by Civo reports that over a third of organizations believe their transition to the cloud has not met expectations of cost-effectiveness.
– More than half of the respondents experienced an increase in their cloud bills.
– A comparison of costs for a standard cloud setup (three-node cluster with 200 GB persistent storage and 5 TB data transfer) reveals price increases across major providers:
– Microsoft Azure: $1,278.58 in 2022 to $1,458.68 in 2024.
– Google Cloud: $1,107.61 to $1,250.35.
– AWS: $1,142.46 to $1,234.59.
– The analysis indicates that costs are rising faster than inflation without additional features being offered, leading to dissatisfaction among customers.
– Analysts like John David-Lovelock from Gartner highlight that traditional expectations of cloud pricing stability have been challenged post-pandemic due to increased operating costs and inflation in essential resources such as electricity.
– While providers argue that customers utilizing reserved instances can achieve savings and criticize the survey’s figures as cherry-picked, Civo maintains that their selected configurations are representative of common customer needs.
– Despite critiques and potential cost pressures, industry experts predict that the overall trend of increasing cloud prices could persist, and organizations do not foresee a mass retreat from cloud services.
– The text concludes with a cautionary note for organizations to utilize ROI calculators and ensure they are not locked into unfavorable vendor agreements, given the ongoing changes in the cloud pricing landscape.
Key Insights:
– Organizations must closely evaluate their cloud expenses and ROI as costs are expected to rise due to market pressures.
– There is an opportunity for security and compliance professionals to refine cost-management strategies in cloud deployment and assess the potential risks of vendor lock-in.
– Understanding cloud pricing models and diligent financial planning can help mitigate the impact of rising costs on overall IT budgets.