Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing, + Website

Summary

We have come full circle. The conventional wisdom is that cloud computing is less expensive on a unit-cost basis, and that’s why you should use it. If it is less expensive, and all other considerations—security, availability, etc.—are equal, then you should use it. Perhaps surprisingly, the argument we’ve explored here is that even if cloud computing is more expensive (on a unit-cost basis), you can still use it and save money.

If you take nothing else away from this book, it’s that cloud computing should be at least part of your overall enterprise IT strategy. And the logic becomes even more compelling when we add in the fact that we may not know what our resource requirements will be and when we consider additional benefits that the cloud can offer, such as enhanced user experience.

The other lesson of this chapter is that under many scenarios, a hybrid architecture is likely to be best. We explore a variety of hybrids next.

ONLINE

“The Value of Utility Resources in the Cloud,” at http://complexmodels.com/Utility.aspx, illustrates the cost implications of various capacity strategies relative to differing demand profiles.