By Troy Vetter, Senior Director – Software Defined Data Center Solutions for Logicalis US
In my typical presentation of a software-defined data center (SDDC), I talk about the many “on-ramps to the cloud” and how “the cloud” should not be the destination. Instead, the cloud should be a path to deliver a company’s IT solution quickly and cost effectively—while also ensuring the company uses the cloud as a tool and in a way that it is effective, cost reductive and reversible.
Things for Customers to Watch Out For
- If your process is broken or if your IT supply chain is a mess, going to the cloud will only make matters worse…and more expensive. Logicalis can help you fix what’s broken before you drive down a dead end.
- If you’re an SMB that was “born on the cloud,” you will grow out of being 100% cloud…everyone does. A private cloud solution that is “owned” is cheaper than a public cloud by 25%.
- Once your business is fully ensconced in a public cloud, it’s hard to get out. The entry is wide and easy, but the exit is covered in bars and obstacles—I call this “Cloud Locked.”
Below is a story about just such a company as reported by TechTarget:
Groupon is struggling to become and stay profitable in this new economy of bits and bytes. It was “born in the cloud” and it was once the darling of Wall Street. Now it has audit requirements, integrations to other companies that are probably SLA-driven, and a market that is saturated with competitors. So COST has now become a very important management pain point.
To manage that cost, Groupon quickly realized it needed to leave the cloud behind. But the company found that although MANY, MANY companies will help you get to the cloud and buy their products and services, there are almost no companies that can help you build a data center strategy from scratch.
This is what Logicalis has done from our first days and with our current Software Defined Data Center practice. And this is what we will continue to do for our customers into the future. We are not changing our DNA. We are just using our gifts to help the next generation in a slightly different model.
Keep selling, keep bragging, and keep doing the great work you are known for—we have the right stuff at the right time, and we are about to break loose!
To learn more about software-defined data centers and how they help businesses redefine their data center strategies, read the reasons why an SDDC makes sense, and then find out how SDDC can redefine your data center by attending a Logicalis workshop.
P.S. :
“People just assume that if you are a tech company, you know how to run a data center,” said Harmail Chatha, director of global data center operations for Groupon. “There isn’t enough knowledge available about it.”
For example, Chatha was at DatacenterDynamics Converged in London in November 2015, where there wasn’t a single session about moving out of the cloud. Once a company starts to spend $200,000 to $250,000 per year in the cloud, they should look at the other options, according to Chatha.
Groupon’s story of growth is not uncommon, Chatha said. Most small companies start out in the cloud just as Groupon did, because it allows them to quickly deploy and get to market. “There are economies of scale once you get bigger,” Chatha said of running a data center versus cloud computing.
Groupon began its move out of the cloud in 2011, three years after the online deal website was launched. “The biggest driver was cost,” Chatha said. “It was not economically feasible for us to stay in the cloud.”