While the federal fiscal year end buying season for government IT may be over, now is a great time to start your cloud search for 2022. According to recent Gartner findings, the leading analyst firm “forecasts end user spending on public cloud services to reach $396 billion in 2021 and grow 21.7% to reach $482 billion in 2022.”
A word to the wise. Before you go on a spending spree or renew your current cloud, assess your current cloud bill and think about how other (sometimes non-negotiable) requirements can make your cloud initiatives deliver greater returns, while potentially re-allocating those hard to find IT budget dollars into projects that you have been meaning to deploy for some time.
Get a cloud assessment.
Relying on a traditional public cloud can be costly, complex and frustrating (let’s go back to the word costly). Why not let a cloud assessment tool zoom in on your current AWS or Azure spend, analyze your usage patterns and identify substantial savings? This complimentary cloud assessment can reveal up to 60% less than what you’re currently spending, and depending on workloads, can boost your cloud performance by up to 50%. You have nothing to lose by filling out this easy and secure cloud assessment.
Security is non-negotiable.
Security is a top concern and growing by the day. Given the persistent cyberattacks aimed at businesses from every angle, you should consider a cloud provider that can answer all of your questions and concerns about regulatory requirements, your specific use cases, protecting mission-critical workloads, and have designed-in security from the hardware to firmware, BIOS and boot-driver layers of the stack. You can only win the cyber war if you have a cloud that has comprehensive security built-in across the entire solution.
Reduce critical lock-in.
Companies are looking to reduce vendor lock-in, so you should absolutely look for a vendor whose platform is based on an open-source architecture framework. That way, you’re not tethered to a proprietary cloud and can drive innovation by building and connecting your open cloud to multiple systems. In a sense, you’re future-proofing your hybrid environment for next-generation AI workloads and other cutting-edge technologies that you will need to pivot toward when the time comes.
Better performance.
Time to market, speed of deployment and the ability to adapt are all critical to maintaining an edge on the competition. Partner with a high-performing cloud provider for more agility with development and for a quicker deployment of your new offerings. The faster to market, the quicker the path to revenue.
Don’t forget regulatory compliance.
Improve your compliance by choosing a cloud vendor that follows a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for its cloud products and services. If a vendor is FedRAMP-authorized, you can trust its highly-secure cloud solution to mitigate risk and deliver the same levels of security that federal agencies receive. Go with a vendor that complies with strict regulatory standards, such as HIPAA, HITECH, PCI DSS, FedRAMP and StateRAMP.
Responsive engineering support when you need it.
How fast does a cloud architect from your current cloud vendor call you back? If you’re not getting a call back within the hour from a cloud expert, think about switching to a vendor that values your business. Choose a vendor that puts you first with 24/7/365 customer support.
If you’re already operating in the public cloud or are planning to transition your mission-critical workloads to a more secure cloud in 2022, complete this complimentary cloud assessment and see where you can optimize your cloud spend to get the biggest bang for your cloud buck.
Jordan Felts
VP Channels & Alliances, ORock Technologies
