Cloud computing has taken the world by storm, and every new establishment would rather set up their infrastructure on the cloud than invest in on-premises infrastructure. The major reason is the convenience with which you can access cloud resources. You do not need to activate a procurement or bidding process, wait for approval, wait for the delivery of the equipment, and start setting up the infrastructure and network, which could take weeks or months depending on the magnitude and the setup. Cloud computing service is a measured service, and every usage time counts. Therefore, you do not need to overprovision because you can scale vertically or horizontally at will, without the need to activate a whole process.

Cloud adoption has been on the rise. According to O’Reilly’s latest Cloud Adoption report, some interesting numbers were discovered. Consider this:

90% of organisations already used the cloud in one form or another.
About two-thirds of respondents currently operate in a public cloud, and 45% use a private cloud—versus 55% who still rely on traditionally managed on-premises systems.
48% plan to migrate at least half of their applications to the cloud in the next year; 20% intend to move all their applications to the cloud.
47% are pursuing a cloud-first strategy; 30% are already cloud-native; 37% intend to be cloud-native in about three years.
Only 5% plan on switching from the cloud to on-premises infrastructure (cloud repatriation).

While there are many benefits to moving to the cloud for new and existing businesses, there are several challenges that lead to cloud repatriation. Cloud repatriation refers to the process of moving back to traditional on-premises infrastructure after previously running on the cloud.

CloudZero’s (2024) report identified several challenges faced by cloud users, especially when the required planning is not done before migrating to the cloud. These include:

– 49% of cloud-based businesses struggle to control cloud costs, with 54% of cases stemming from a lack of visibility into cloud costs.

– 42% of CIOs and CTOs consider cloud waste the top challenge, with overprovisioning and inability to scale rapidly contributing to waste.

– 53% of enterprises were yet to see “substantial value” from their investment in the cloud.

The three major concerns are centred around cost. The increasing cost of a wrong setup can burn the fingers of the cloud users and make repatriation an option to consider. There are several things every present and potential cloud user must do to ensure that they have an optimal setup.

Best practices to control cloud cost

While the cloud has so much benefit, like elasticity and low upfront cost, replacing capital expenditure with operational expenditure, there are several guidelines in moving to the cloud.

A Shift in Mindset: Cloud is a measurement service. Therefore, you cannot afford to migrate to a cloud with an on-premises mindset. A typical traditional environment is plagued with waste. First and foremost, servers and services are overprovisioned to cater to unknown capacity, while on the cloud you can start small and easily scale, and, in most cases, this can be done automatically.Another example, for instance, project comes up, and before discussing the nitty-gritty, the infrastructure teams are told to provision virtual machines. These machines run for several months before development is ready.

Another example, A project comes up, and before discussing the nitty-gritty, the infrastructure teams are told to provision virtual machines. These machines run for several months before development is ready.

Go the Cloud way: most people follow the path of least resistance when migrating to the cloud. This is also called lift and shift and involves replicating your on-prem infrastructure to the cloud with minimal change. This does not take full advantage of the cloud and can lead to you incurring more cloud expenses. The best way is to go cloud native, adopt a cloud-first approach, and utilise managed services on the cloud.

Keep an eye on and record cloud expenses.

Put in place a cloud cost management system to keep an eye on and track spending in real time. Create notifications for anomalous expenditure trends or overspending.

Appropriate Resource Size

Evaluate and modify resource allocations on a regular basis to accommodate shifting workload requirements.
Utilise third-party solutions or technologies from cloud providers to find underutilised resources.

Committed Use Discounts and Reserved Instances

Utilise committed usage discounts (CUDs) or reserved instances (RIs) for workloads that are predictable.
Examine the commitment time and possible early termination penalties carefully.

Chargeback and Cloud Cost Allocation

Put in place a cloud cost allocation and chargeback system to assign costs to particular teams, projects, or departments.
To properly classify resources and distribute expenses, use tags, labels, or other metadata.

Optimisation of Cloud Storage

Examine storage utilisation trends and use the appropriate storage tiers, compression, and deduplication to optimise data storage.
For improved cost optimisation, think about utilising third-party storage solutions or cloud storage gateways.

Automation and Auto-Scaling

Use auto-scaling to modify resource allocations in real time in response to workload needs.
Simplify resource provisioning, de-provisioning, and rightsizing by utilising automation tools.

Policy Management and Cloud Cost Governance

To guarantee responsibility and openness, clearly define cloud cost governance policies and processes.
Employ third-party solutions or technologies from cloud providers to monitor compliance, enforce policies, and identify irregularities.

Consistent Cost Analysis and Improvement

Plan frequent evaluations of cloud costs to find areas for cost-cutting and optimisation.
To minimise expenses, keep an eye on new services, features, and pricing adjustments made by cloud providers.
Cloud provider selection and negotiation: Some providers have certain discounts that can be taken advantage of.
Cost education