Money Talks: The Economics of Cloud Computing and IT Support Functions (part 1 of 4)

Grazed from CloudCruiser. Author: Editorial Staff.

Over the past few years, the cloud has morphed from a relatively obscure entity into something that’s become pervasive as companies look to control costs and increase functionality. The technology’s popularity is evidenced by the fact that 75 percent of companies recently indicated that they’ve deployed at least one cloud computing platform. But before a business decides to move into the cloud, it’s important to perform thorough IT financial analytics to determine whether the move makes sense from a monetary perspective. With that in mind, one of the key areas that cannot be overlooked is support functions.

When IT functions are kept on-premises, businesses need to spend time hiring, training and certifying staff to manage and oversee the equipment that powers that infrastructure. That equipment also has to be purchased, maintained and stored, and staff members need to be compensated and offered benefits…

The total price tag varies from situation to situation, but the costs can be substantial. Sometimes staff-related costs can even exceed those associated with the equipment itself. Moving to the cloud presents different support considerations as a business frees itself from a lot—if not all—of that support responsibility. That’s because in the cloud, generally speaking, external support is incorporated into the service. But while that may be the case, your employees need to be trained on how to use a private cloud, for example. Additionally, if your company decides to employ a public cloud, your team may need new skills to effectively deal with the specific vendor…

Read more from the source @ http://www.cloudcruiser.com/blog/money-talks-economics-cloud-computing-support-functions-part-1-4/1/#sthash.G1fCYy92.dpuf

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