Finding Money in the Cloud

By the DynaSis Team

In the past year, several reports have been published announcing that businesses are moving to the cloud for more than cost savings. The cloud is more secure than most on-premise systems, one report says. The cloud fosters greater workforce mobility and productivity, says another. A third touts the benefits of the cloud for increased system and data availability in the workplace.

All of these are valid, tangible benefits of cloud computing, and they also increase its financial benefit. Even so, it’s good to remember that no matter how many more benefits cloud computing offers; it remains an excellent cost-cutting strategy.

According to CDW’s 2013 State of the Cloud report (a survey of 1,242 IT professionals), companies are cutting costs in the cloud in numerous ways. According to the technology retailer’s survey, chief cost-related factors for moving to cloud computing include:

• Software management costs (65% of respondents)
• Software licensing costs (63% of respondents)
• IT labor costs (52% of respondents)
• Cost of capital outlays (41% of respondents)
• Electric bills for IT operations (21% of respondents)
• Real estate costs (12% of respondents)

Additionally, nearly 40% indicated senior company management was pushing for IT to shift expenses from capital (CapEx) to operating (OpEx), a strategy that correlates perfectly with cloud adoption.

Savings varies based on company size and level of cloud adoption, and migration project expenses can reduce cost savings for the first few months, or even a year. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that cloud adoption is a money-saving approach at the most basic level. When the value of increased efficiency/productivity gains (55% cited), employee mobility (49% cited), and ability to innovate (32% cited) are factored in, the savings is even greater.

As a leading IT solutions provider, DynaSis has been a believer in cloud services since the technology’s early days, and we remain committed to the future of this limitless technology. We also have a strategy for SMBs who wish to “dip their toes” into the cloud before embracing it fully, starting with hosted Microsoft Exchange or a professionally managed Office 365 deployment. No matter where you want the cloud to take you, we can assist. To learn more, please give us a call.