The Cloud: Let’s Talk Measurement, Not Adoption

It’s time to stop talking about how the cloud is “changing business.” The cloud has officially taken over the business sector already. In fact, odds are high that nearly every company uses a single or several cloud service providers to maintain high levels of efficiency within their business. Many businesses use the full spectrum of cloud services. This can include anything from cloud storage to backup services to full on cloud-based hosting. The trouble is that with all of these cloud-based services, tools and solutions, it’s often difficult for companies to measure the real value of their real estate in the cloud. Interestingly enough, there are now several cloud-based solutions designed with the intent to measure the cost and ROI of your vast library of cloud-based services.

Overcoming Cloud-based Cost Challenges

It’s important to wrap your mind around the fact that cost is a significant problem for many businesses moving their IT assets to the cloud. On one hand, the cloud makes top-level technology available to companies at virtually any price point. The problem is that with all these new services launching and improving themselves every day, it can be difficult to understand the ROI of specific cloud services within your company. This is where a cloud service monitoring solution really shines.

Four Tools for Measuring Cloud ROI

1. Apptio – Apptio recently developed a free cloud cost measuring tool called Cloud Express. In a nutshell, the app simply allows you to enter basic or advanced cost information into the tool, and based on your costs, the application can recommend ways to better manage your cloud resources. Think of it like a consultant in a box.

1. Cloudability – Cloudability is easily considered to be the cool new kid on the block. Their service allows businesses to measure several key performance indicators (KPIs) to see where the weak points are in your cloud implementation strategy. They’re integrated with the Rackspace cloud platform. From the app, you can make some key decisions as to how to trim the fat and expand out when and if necessary.

1. Newvem – The Newvem tool is seamlessly integrated with Amazon EC3 and Amazon Simple Storage (S3) platforms. It performs similar functions to Cloudability. However, the main advantage is their easy integration with Amazon cloud management tools.

1. Cloudyn – Last fall, Cloudyn developed a tool that allowed companies to basically calculate the number of reserved instances needed to be fully operational. The service is also fully integrated with the Amazon cloud management suite.

It’s important to understand the nature of cloud ROI monitoring solutions. Since they can monitor cost and make recommendations, it can be easy to view monitoring solutions as predictors. That is, that they can predict how your business will fare with a different approach to cloud vendor management.

In reality, these cloud service-monitoring solutions work in same way analytics tools do. They simply provide you with key data to help you make the best-informed decision possible. Data is the new international currency, and it’s no different cloud computing. Cloud service monitoring simply gives you sophisticated data insights into your cloud management strategy.