By Mac McClelland
It wasn’t that long ago when organizations still worried about the wisdom of moving workloads to the cloud. There were economic benefits to be sure, but were they worth the effort and expense of retooling on-premises business processes? Especially if moving to the cloud simply meant doing the same thing in a different place.
Nevertheless, the longevity and demonstrated reliability of cloud technology have eroded many perceived barriers to cloud adoption. So now, as many organizations are making a wholesale migration of data and operations to the cloud, it turns out doing business from the cloud can be quite expensive. If you don’t keep a constant eye on cost, have an effective cost optimization strategy — and the tools to execute it — cloud costs can soon rise out of control.
In this blog, we’ll explore some of the insights shared in “Cloud Costs Are Out Of Control: Integration And Modernization Can Help Rein Them In,” a Forrester Consulting thought leadership paper commissioned by Boomi, which examines how integration and modernization efforts can help cloud and real-time data decision makers control costs at every stage of the cloud development process.
To Control Costs, Shift Left. The Sooner the Better.
Cloud workloads and their associated costs are rising, with no end in sight. Most companies exceed their annual budgets despite widespread use of cloud cost management and optimization (CCMO) tools. The overarching theme of the study [i] is that IT leaders need to manage their cloud spend earlier in the development process. Ideally at the solution architecture level where choices about service adoption and integrations can control and reduce their spend before it becomes a problem.
Respondents to a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Boomi expect cloud workloads and costs to continue increasing more quickly over the next two years.
What Drives the Increase in Cloud Costs?
Four key factors drive the increase in cloud costs. Excessive storage tops the list, followed by lack of integration strategy, overconsumption of network bandwidth, and inefficient cloud architecture. The most proactive approach to controlling and reducing cloud spend is intervening at the solution architecture level.
Yet most companies can’t or don’t optimize cloud spend at the solution architecture level — only four in 10. Moreover, while many companies realize the value of optimizing cloud costs via architecture, fewer than half have the technology resources and strategy in place to achieve that goal. Instead, most focus cost optimization efforts at the development stage.
9 Ways Integration and Modernization Can Help Optimize Business Initiatives
Not only can architecture integration and modernization initiatives help optimize cloud spend, but they also deliver a host of additional benefits, including:
- More time for IT to focus on higher-impact tasks
- Improved cloud spend governance
- Elimination of redundant data flows via pre-built integrations
- The ability to use generative AI for app integrations
- Improved showback/chargeback capabilities
- The ability to implement generative AI language models that pull from data across cloud applications
- Lower data provisioning costs
- Increased data visibility/reporting capabilities across cloud stakeholders
- Increased business unit ownership of their cloud usage
When it comes to implementing cloud architecture integration and modernization, an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) solution like the Boomi platform is a game changer. A single platform that connects apps, people, and data is something 67% of decision-makers surveyed found to be essential.
To learn more about the study results, download “Cloud Costs Are Out Of Control: Integration And Modernization Can Help Rein Them In.”
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[i] A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Boomi, December 2023