Reconsidering how we design, deploy, and manage hybrid Cloud for the best possible ROI

But here's a sobering statistic:

Only one in four UK CIOs currently believe public Cloud is delivering a strong ROI.

So, how did we get to this point and, more importantly - how do we make sure our Cloud investments fulfil all those early promises?

For a start, Cloud has evolved in ways that would have been inconceivable at the technology's inception, and as a result, infrastructure has tended to evolve on a rather ad-hoc basis, with new innovations being integrated with existing solutions as they become available. In an ideal world, this would lead to flexible, tailored hybrid Cloud infrastructure, but in practice, it has led to many organisations Cloud platforms becoming highly siloed, with little control, visibility, or predictability when it comes to costing.

As a first step, consider which applications you plan on hosting in the Cloud. Are they off-the-shelf solutions, or ones you have developed in-house? There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Off-the-shelf applications mean you'll enjoy a proven, ready-to-deploy solution that will come with support from the developer but will offer limited customisation. On the other hand, developing applications in-house will require a greater initial investment, but will mean you can precisely tailor a solution to your requirements. Either way, the right hosting environment for each application is key to maximising their potential benefits.

When it comes to hosting environments, off-the-shelf applications are typically very expensive to run on public Cloud platforms due to limited opportunities for refactoring, but hosting in-house applications on serverless workloads can result in significant cost savings. Make sure your hosting environment is suitable for the applications you depend on, and don't hesitate to consider a 'best of both worlds' hybrid Cloud if you utilise a blend of solutions.

Although, of course, that's often easier said than done! As we touched on earlier, hybrid Cloud infrastructure is just as diverse as the workloads it supports, but if approached in the right way, the potential for cost rationalisation is enormous, without compromising the performance, availability, or security of your critical applications.

The Microsoft Azure Local platform is well worth considering in this regard, combining Azure Cloud with dedicated infrastructure (i.e. on-premises, in a data centre, or at the edge) in a single, hyper-converged virtualisation platform. When this platform is integrated with your existing Azure ecosystem, you are freed from the time-consuming process of managing multiple public and private Clouds, with everything visible through a single, centralised portal. And, of course, this level of consolidation will dramatically reduce both capital and operational expenditure, with licensing and spending strategies like Azure Hybrid Benefit and Azure Savings Plans offering an even higher degree of cost control.

If you're in any doubt as to whether your own Cloud is delivering its potential ROI or are keen to explore any other aspect of the Cloud transformation journey, just get in touch, and we'll arrange a time to discuss your requirements in depth and begin designing and deploying a solution that grows with your business.