2021 IT Spending Trends — It’s Time To Buy Into The Cloud
The cloud continues to command the lion’s share of most business’ IT budgets — is that the case for your organization? If you aren’t investing properly in the cloud, your business is almost certainly falling behind the competition.
In the first two articles in this series, we explored trends that show IT spending is increasing consistently, and how overall ROI for each IT dollar spent is rising as well.
Have you been struggling to invest properly in the cloud?
Whether you think it’s an unnecessary expense, or you’re spending too much already, IT budgeting can be difficult when it comes to the cloud. Industry-wide trends show that cloud spending continues to increase year over year, but at the same time, not all businesses are getting the same return on their investment.
3 Key Cloud-Based Spending Trends
- The Cloud Is Budget Item #1: A vast majority of respondents in a recent survey ranked cloud applications (83%) and infrastructure (74%) as the top two spending priorities for the coming year.
- Unanimous Cloud Adoption: Every single respondent in the survey reported using the cloud in some fashion for business purposes.
- Data Center Expenses Reach All Time Low: On average, businesses are spending more on PCs and printers than they are data centers because the cloud has effectively replaced them.
In summary, today’s businesses are outsourcing their infrastructure needs to the cloud at never-before-seen rates of adoption, resulting in more cloud spending than ever before. The question is: are you still hesitant to use the cloud?
3 Signs You Need The Cloud
There’s certainly something to be said for getting as much out of a computer as possible. Hardware is expensive, and so, it makes sense that you’d want to wait as long as possible to replace it.
However, eventually, it’ll cause more problems than it’s worth. At a certain point, it’s better for you and your business to get rid of hardware and infrastructure and outsource those needs to the cloud instead.
Do you know when that is? If you’re unsure as to whether your technology is too old, consider these red flags:
- It’s Multiple Generations Out Of Date: Sure, a single generation out of date doesn’t mean you need to upgrade. But three or four generations? Then you’re getting to the point when you’ll reach end of life. This leads to a degradation in usability, and greater security risks. When a newer version is released, it means the clock is running out on how long the providers will continue to support the version you’re using. Don’t push it too long, or you could put your data at risk.
- It’s Slowing You Down & Costing You Money: If your old tech is working so poorly that it stops you and your staff from working, then it’s time to replace it. The downtime caused by old hardware isn’t worth the money you’re saving by hanging on to it. Whether you agree or not, it’s a fact – Ponemon Institute estimates that every minute of even partial downtime can cost as much as $5,600. The main cost of downtime is not the fix itself, it’s the halt in your business’ productivity. If an IT-related or natural disaster occurs and takes critical systems offline, employees will be unable to complete their tasks, yet your normal business expenses will carry on.
- Repairs Don’t Last Very Long: The older your hardware gets, the more often you’ll need to call someone to fix it. The more you need someone to fix it, the less effective those fixes become. That means paying more and more for support to come in and get it running again, the returns on which will quickly diminish. If any of these problems ring a bell, then it’s time to consider upgrading. But don’t assume you just have to get newer versions of the same hardware…
Upgrading Is An Opportunity To Harness The Cloud
If you’re not using the cloud yet, you’re falling behind — and reaching end of life with your current servers and infrastructure is the perfect time to consider what the cloud has to offer.
Do you know what you stand to gain by embracing the cloud?
- OpEx > CapEx: Whereas Capital Expenditures (CapEx), on-premise IT solutions, are paid for upfront and see a gradual return over the following months and years, Operating Expenses (OpEx) are “pay-as-you-go”. You only pay for the cloud month by month, which vastly reduces the window between investment and return.
- High-Level Support: IT doesn’t just mean hardware and software — you need the right people too. With the cloud, you benefit from an expert team of technicians working Tier 2 support and above to ensure the cloud services you rely on are functioning properly around the clock.
- Safe And Inexpensive: Security can be difficult to manage because, as important as it is, it’s often just as expensive. However, with the right cloud solution, you only pay a small monthly fee to gain access to enterprise-level security solutions offered to all other clients on the platform.
Are Your Cloud Costs Going Up And Up?
Do you see the cloud as necessary but expensive?
The fact is that, as the cloud has become more of a necessity in recent years, the cost of using it has gone up too. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep increasing your cloud budget every year, or settle for a limited, but more cost-effective alternative.
While the cloud is undoubtedly a vital tool for operating productively and efficiently in the modern business world, that doesn’t mean it has to be inordinately expensive. It could be that you’re just not getting the best rate, or the best solution, available to you.
Advantage Industries Can Help You Drastically Cut Your Cloud Costs
On more than one occasion we’ve helped a client to greatly reduce their cloud expenses without limiting their cloud capabilities — we may be able to do the same for you.
For these small and growing businesses, we’ve found that their cloud expenses were much more than what they could be if they worked with us instead. By consolidating a range of cloud-based services, from backup to storage to support, we’ve helped them to drastically cut expenses based on their cloud usage.
Our team can deliver cloud computing options like private cloud hosting that will help increase your efficiency and productivity, without having to risk your data in a public cloud setting.
As your private cloud management team, we will:
- Work with you to assess, design, implement, and support cloud computing while reducing IT capital costs and increasing employee productivity.
- Define business and technology requirements before we recommend a cloud strategy. Our team will work with your business and IT leaders to help compare costs over time and determine what role cloud computing should play in your plans.
- Assess the business value and business impact before presenting you with a customized cloud strategy. As part of this assessment, we will make sound recommendations on public, private, or hybrid cloud environments that are the best fit for your business.
Advantage Industries Will Guide You To The Right Cloud Solution
Advantage Industries offers expert cloud consulting services and has extensive experience in helping clients harness the many benefits offered by the cloud. No matter where you are with the cloud, our team of IT specialists can provide troubleshooting assistance or strategic advice, helping you to leverage the power of these cloud technologies to their benefit.
If you are not sure which solution is right for you or how to migrate all your workstations, we’ll walk you through the entire migration process, handling each step along the way to make sure it goes smoothly. We also offer onsite and remote support to help you resolve any sort of configuration and/or troubleshooting issues right away. If we are not able to remotely resolve the issue, we will come onsite to help you out.
Schedule a consultation with the Advantage Industries team to determine what type of cloud solution is the right fit for you.
