In the early years of the cloud, the prevailing notion was straightforward: Store everything in the public cloud and stay there indefinitely. This approach made sense as businesses sought to enhance elasticity, developer agility, service availability, and flexibility. However, as these businesses have grown, the landscape has changed. While there are still numerous reasons to run workloads on the public cloud, an equal number of reasons have emerged to run them on the private cloud.
The cloud operating model, emphasizing philosophy rather than location, can be likened to a wheel with a cycle. It involves leveraging the public cloud, the private cloud, and even the colocation model at different times. The cloud should not be viewed as a one-way street leading exclusively to the public cloud, leaving no data behind. The prevailing notion propagated by the cloud industrial complex, which aims to serve its own interests rather than those of enterprises, should be questioned. This post presents a contrarian view of the cloud – one that prioritizes the needs of enterprises above all else.
A Ubiquitous Discussion in Every Boardroom
The discussion surrounding this topic is taking place in every boardroom. Early cloud adopters were attracted to the benefits of flexibility, elasticity, and developer agility. The public cloud promised and largely delivered on these fronts, with Amazon S3 leading the way. As a result, enterprises enthusiastically embraced the cloud, encouraged by analysts and investors who promised improved efficiency and increased productivity. However, they soon faced skyrocketing bills.
These organizations discovered that flexibility, agility, and elasticity came at a significant cost. As their workloads grew, so did their expenses – not linearly, but exponentially, driven by egress and access charges. As workloads matured and their characteristics became more predictable, the utility of flexibility and agility diminished while the utility of predictable costs increased. Given that the data stack can represent 20 to 40% of a company’s costs, optimizing the cloud operating model is no longer confined to the CIO and CTO suite; it has become a discussion at the CFO, CEO, and board levels, permeating the entire organization.
Demystifying the Core Principles of the Cloud Operating Model
In light of the escalating cost of capital and the prevalence of the cloud operating model, boardrooms are now deliberating optimization strategies, which determine the cloud(s) the organization chooses to run on. It is essential to understand the principles of the cloud operating model. The cloud is no longer merely a physical location; it has evolved from being the training ground for developer-centric models to a broader range of possibilities. The tools and skill sets once exclusive to AWS, GCP, and Azure are now accessible everywhere. Kubernetes, for instance, is not limited to public cloud distributions like EKS, GKE, and AKS; numerous distributions are available, and they are virtually indistinguishable. Grafana works seamlessly on public clouds, private clouds, and the edge.
Gain Insight Into the Principles of the Cloud Operating Model
Contrary to what the cloud industrial complex would have you believe, the cloud is not confined to a specific place, particularly the public cloud. Developers, in particular, understand that the cloud is about engineering principles such as containerization, orchestration, microservices, software-defined everything, RESTful APIs, and automation. Understanding these principles and realizing they are just as effective outside the public cloud grants true optionality and freedom. It is important to note that there is no singular answer; however, the cloud operating model serves as a guide, offering optionality, which is advantageous.
Unlocking the Cloud Lifecycle: Insights and Perspectives Unveiled
The lifecycle of the cloud follows a certain pattern. Early adopters of cloud-native applications acquired knowledge and principles of the cloud gradually. As time went on, their workloads expanded, and so did their costs. The workloads and principles were no longer new or groundbreaking, but the cost of supporting these workloads at scale was. For enterprises, it has become evident that the value associated with agility, elasticity, and flexibility has been overshadowed by the costs of remaining on the cloud. Thus, the focus shifts towards economics and operational acuity, extracting value while maintaining cost control.
You Can’t Live in a Hotel Forever, Can You?
Consider the difference between the private cloud and the public cloud as akin to staying in a hotel vs. leasing or owning an apartment. Hotels are pleasant for temporary stays, offering room changes, maid service, and prompt maintenance. However, these benefits quickly diminish when the bill arrives. On the other hand, an apartment or a home comes with predictable costs. Although monthly energy or water usage may vary, the overall bill remains relatively consistent and significantly lower than a hotel bill.
Strike a Balance and Optimize Your Workloads
Finding a balance that fulfills all your needs is crucial. This article is not about advocating for repatriation, but rather optimization. Your optimization goals should guide your decision on where to run your workloads. We believe the best approach is to remain vendor-agnostic by adopting technologies available across cloud marketplaces like AWS, Azure, GCP, and IBM, providing access to various Kubernetes distributions such as EKS, GKS, AKS, OpenShift, Tanzu, and Rafay. This is the essence of a multi-cloud strategy.
The key is to strike a balance and optimize workloads based on their specific requirements. Some workloads are inherently suited for the public cloud, while others eventually outgrow it. Some workloads are simply better suited for the private cloud. The choice will depend on your unique circumstances. What matters is that when your organization embraces the principles of the cloud operating model, you gain the flexibility to make decisions and leverage what comes with it. And who doesn’t appreciate a little leverage, especially in today’s economy?