C L O U D E - B O O K

HOW YOUR BUSINESS CAN OPTIMIZE ITS INVESTMENT IN THE CLOUD

CLOUD COST OPTIMIZATION

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

2

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

IN THIS E-BOOK

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

3

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN THE CLOUD

C H A P T E R 1

This E-Book provides insights into the challenges, best practices

and implementation strategies companies are embracing to

ensure an ongoing return on their investment in the cloud.

Cloud spending is on the rise because companies in every sector

are modernizing their technology platforms to improve efficiency,

reduce costs and better harness their data to yield real-time

business insights. If cloud optimization isn’t already on your radar,

your company should be thinking about the best way to connect

the dots — from internal networks to the cloud to the edge.

Whether your company has

1 0 0

E M P L OY E E S O R

10,000it needs to run on a secure

and scalable IT foundation — one that prioritizes efficient,

state-of-the-art infrastructure, as well as cost-effectiveness.

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

4

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

THE CHALLENGE OF CLOUD OPTIMIZATION

C H A P T E R 2

A mil l ion dol lars is far from small change for a

company of any size, and cost optimization of this

necessary expense should be a top-tier priority.

THE QUESTION BECOMES: WHERE TO START?

If optimizing the use of cloud applications is at the top of your company’s to-do list, you’re not alone. According to RightScale’s 2019 State of the Cloud Report, the top cloud initiative for 64% of the nearly 1,000 IT leaders surveyed is optimizing cloud usage to reduce costs. These respondents have a good handle on the cloud, given that 84% of them are using multiple clouds.

Talking about cloud optimization is one thing, but doing it requires analysis, planning, and budgeting. An effective use of the cloud requires a financial investment. More than half of the companies surveyed by RightScale said they spend more than $1.2 million each year on cloud-related technology.

“The more public clouds being employed, the more complexity. The more complexity, the greater the costs across the board, but mostly in operations.”

— InfoWorld, What Multi-Cloud Really Costs

→ 1,000 IT LEADERS SURVEYED → 64% ARE OPTIMIZING THE CLOUD FOR COST REDUCTION → 84% ARE USING MULTIPLE CLOUDS → OVER HALF SPEND MORE THAN $1.2M ON CLOUD ANNUALLY

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

5

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

ASSESSING THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF THE CLOUD

C H A P T E R 3

If only it were as simple for your company as it was for Alice in Wonderland. Your starting point needs to include a detailed, strategic analysis of all the factors associated with your company’s cloud usage. But spoiler alert: There is no end. Cloud optimization is an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring and adjustment. These tweaks must account for everything from updated business objectives to changing market conditions.

One of the most significant pain points for companies in a multi-cloud environment is reconciling different partner platforms, each with its own specifications, terminology and pricing models. A lack of standardization is one of the biggest issues companies have to grapple with when trying to manage and optimize their cloud usage.

To get a better grip on multi-cloud management, you must first understand the state of cloud usage in your organization — and what types of clouds you’re trusting with your data. What’s more, working with a reliable cloud partner who has visibility into various private and public cloud environments can provide that “single pane of glass” most organizations are lacking when it comes to assessing multiple cloud deployments.

Optimizing a multi-cloud environment is no small task. But as the King of Hearts told Alice (in Wonderland):

“Begin at the beginning

and go on til l you come

to the end: Then stop.”

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

6

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

“Companies that don’t have governance in place will explode their cloud consumption. Frontier® offers multiple business models that allow customers to pay per consumption, pay per capacity, or a combination of both. This is how we guarantee our customers won’t experience sticker shock. Moreover, Frontier is one of the very few companies that can deliver cloud from connectivity all the way to the managed services, which helps control the costs of data traffic that can get out of control if not properly managed.”

— Marcelo Oliveira, VP of Commercial New Products, Frontier Communications

If you’re planning to deploy a multi-cloud environment, you need a holistic strategy for integration. While companies of all sizes migrate to the cloud in search of cost savings, it’s important to remember that cloud operating costs can offset savings from lower capital and in-house labor costs. Every company should develop a strategic roadmap to help guide its use of the cloud.

When it comes to optimization, you also must focus on “hidden” costs — some of which may be in plain sight. These costs relate to factors such as the amount of storage and bandwidth your company uses, as well as the number of instances being spawned by your development team.

A recent 451 Research report notes that the initial quest for cost savings sometimes leads companies to overlook the importance of managing their cloud usage. “Post-migration, cloud costs are the number one pain point,” the report notes. “People consume more, thereby spending more, and forget to control or limit their consumption.”

Incredibly, 451 Research found that a full 20% of cloud users “have little or no understanding of spiraling costs. The first step for businesses that fall in that unlucky one-fifth: It all comes down to data.

THERE ARE THREE PRIMARY FLAVORS OF CLOUD DEPLOYMENTS:

MULTI-CLOUD INTEGRATION

PUBLIC HYBRIDPRIVATE

C H A P T E R 3

According to RightScale, 84% of enterprises with at least 1,000 employees already have a multi-cloud strategy.

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

7

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

UNDERSTANDING YOUR DATA

C H A P T E R 4

According to the 451 Research report, reducing waste needs to be a priority for every company using the cloud. You have to develop mechanisms for constant reality checks to ensure your cloud instances are the right size and that unused cloud resources are terminated.

Developers can conjure up new cloud

instances in a matter of minutes. That

means you need real-time reporting and

analytics capabilities to determine how

your cloud resources are being used —

and what it’s costing you.

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for optimizing cloud usage, working with a proven managed services provider can help you integrate a multi-cloud strategy. It’s critical to find a solution that delivers a single management capability that spans from the data center to multi-cloud scenarios and enables holistic, integrated solutions for both operation and management. In addition to cost control, managed services help facilitate multi-cloud integration, compliance, security and governance.

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

8

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

“Every resource should be deriving value to the company, revenue increases or productivity gains.”

— 451 Research, The cloud transformation journey: Great expectations lead to a brave new world

“Enterprises that have deployed a multi-cloud management strategy are 67% more profitable than their peers.”

— IBM’s Multi-Cloud Services Platform

“67% of CIOs say managed services are an essential part of their company’s IT strategy.”

— IBM, Multi-Cloud Services Platform

BUT REMEMBER:

At the end of the day, you and your cloud-managed solutions partner

need to aggregate analyt ics from different vendors into a s ingle view.

Of course, all major cloud providers offer robust toolsets for cloud users. Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft each provide detailed cost and usage reports. The big three cloud companies also offer cloud-related analytics — essential for controlling costs.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR DATA

C H A P T E R 4

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

9

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

C H A P T E R 5

DON’T SET IT AND FORGET IT

If you fail to develop an optimization strategy, you run the risk of

paying a high price for resources you aren’t using or no longer need.

BOTTOM LINE

“Cloud computing has revolutionized

IT and software systems del ivery, with

many appl ications now running in the

c loud. This makes it incredibly easy for

users to s ign up and set up a solut ion

in the cloud, often only taking minutes.”

— TechRadar, Best Cloud Computing Services of 2019

While outsourcing to the cloud shifts many computing-related tasks to a third party, you still need trained in-house IT experts to interface with your cloud service providers.

Because getting started with cloud services is so easy, many companies often have different users setting up cloud instances for development, testing and beta sites. The problem is that if your team doesn’t regularly clean up these resources, the costs start adding up. Companies that “set and forget” cloud instances may be incurring costs for redundant instances, old instances, unnecessary back-ups, and other storage or bandwidth uses.

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

10

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

C H A P T E R 5

DON’T SET IT AND FORGET IT

Even more concerning for companies trying to control costs is data from the RightScale report that says cloud users are wasting 35% of their cloud spending budgets. “Despite an increased focus on cloud cost management, only a minority of companies have implemented automated policies to address this issue, such as shutting down unused workloads or rightsizing instances,” the report notes.

As you begin developing a strategic plan for optimizing your business’s cloud services, be sure to consider a governance strategy that will help protect you from wasted resources that add to your costs. According to a Solutions Review report, your cloud environment policies “should be standardized across every area of your business so that every worker operates under the same principles.”

Also, here’s a big red flag to keep in mind as you optimize the cloud to reduce costs: Don’t skimp on security, which remains one of the top concerns associated with cloud technologies. Your security plan needs to be part of your governance framework and should include policies designed to safeguard your company from security threats. Performance and security monitoring should go hand-in-hand.

Simple mistakes can be costly, and they are no laughing matter. In 2018, for example, Adobe discovered that its development team accidentally cost the company half a million dollars for cloud services it wasn’t using — in one week. Adobe is not alone. According to an estimate by Cloudability, nearly 60% of organizations overspend their budget on cloud resources.

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

11

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

C H A P T E R 6

USING INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE (IAAS) TO MANAGE CLOUD COSTS

“The fastest-growing market segment will be cloud system infrastructure services, or Infrastructure as a Service

(IaaS), which is forecast to grow 27.5 percent in 2019 to reach $38.9 bill ion, up from $30.5 bill ion in 2018.”

-Gartner1, Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to Grow 17.5 Percent in 2019

A common early step into the cloud ecosystem is for a company to access IT infrastructure — such as servers, storage and operating systems — from a third-party provider on a pay-as-they-go basis. This has led to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud computing becoming one of the most familiar virtualization options available.

IaaS is a popular option for cost containment because it quickly scales up and down, on demand. Your company only pays for the resources it uses, and reduces its costs related to physical servers and other data center infrastructure.

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

12

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

OPTIMIZING CLOUD UTILIZATION

C H A P T E R 6

IaaS helps companies reduce capital costs (and some in-house IT costs) by shifting from on-site management to the cloud. Using IaaS in a multi-cloud environment also provides business continuity and disaster recovery benefits. Having business-critical information on redundant servers with different providers means a service interruption or security issue on one server can be addressed by shifting to another provider’s network.

IaaS also enables you to rely on a

partner for infrastructure while you

control the installation, configuration

and management of your software,

including operating systems,

middleware and applications.

As the Microsoft report notes, IaaS environments give companies the ability to rapidly innovate. Instead of having to provision in-house networks, companies can test and scale new products rapidly using cloud-based resources. This agility also means a company can increase or decrease its resource utilization to align with market conditions.

As Microsoft’s What Is IaaS? report notes:

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

13

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

C H A P T E R 7

PUTTING AI TO WORK WITH MACHINE LEARNING

According to a report from Deloitte, the cloud is making AI implementations more accessible to companies of all sizes. Moreover, a BMC report of more than 1,000 IT professionals found that 78% of them are using AI to help optimize their multi-cloud platforms. The report, titled “Multi-Cloud Requires New Management Strategies and a Forward-Looking Approach,” underscores the promise of AI for helping companies manage life in the cloud.

Ultimately, AI and ML can automate the processing of massive amounts of data to identify, analyze and act on real-time cloud operations. For instance, AI might automatically identify an outage at one provider and seamlessly shift operations to another cloud environment. AI solutions also enable companies to continuously monitor and align cloud spending in order to adhere to budget targets.

A holistic cloud management solution may be on the horizon, as new applications of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) bring the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to the cloud.

“AI presents IT leaders with an intriguing tool to facil itate the strategic

management of increasingly complex multi-cloud environments by streamlining

the process, empowering automation and setting the stage for improved agility,”

a CIO report notes. Additionally, ML enables automation of cloud monitoring

and offers companies access to real-time intell igence related to usage.

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

14

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

Unnecessary cloud usage translates into wasted resources and higher costs. Organizations that properly manage, monitor, back up, secure and update their IT infrastructure will likely gain cost efficiencies when migrating to the cloud compared to those that do not have proper security, monitoring, support, backup and testing measures in place.

Once you go through the proverbial cloud looking glass, much like Alice does to reach Wonderland, remember that your cost-benefit analysis should be ongoing. You need to ensure that your cloud strategy is meeting your business objectives and providing the requisite ROI. For Alice, it was all a dream. But your challenge is to transform your multi-cloud vision into a reality.

Multi-cloud operations are, by nature, decentralized.

Businesses that use the cloud want to take

advantage of a multitude of cloud-native features.

Invariably, your company will be running cloud

environment services across its entire infrastructure.

So you should know exactly which workflows to

manage in the cloud — and which ones you shouldn’t.

C H A P T E R 8

EVERY BUSINESS NEEDS TO CONSIDER THE CLOUD — AND ITS COSTS

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

15

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

ABOUT FRONTIER® BUSINESS

Frontier’s suite of managed services is

purpose-built to support multiple cloud

connections that are flexible, secure, fast

and reliable. Frontier’s Cloud Managed

Solutions provide companies with

transparent and predictable pricing,

customized solutions and a single

provider to facilitate always-on

cloud connectivity. VISIT OUR CLOUD MANAGED SOLUTIONS RESOURCE CENTRAL

OR CALL 877.925.2420 TO TALK WITH AN EXPERT.

Learn more about Cloud Managed Solutions:

Your Cloud IT, Your Way

CL

OU

D E

-B

OO

K

16

FCCOM08681_CloudCO_eBk, 11”w x 8.5”h, RGB

S O U R C E S

googliers.net/static/media/uploads/download_files/2019_state_of_the_cloud_report.pdf

www.researchgate.net/publication/327756016_Cloud_Computing_Technology_A_viable_Option_for_Small_and_Medium-Sized_Businesses

www.infoworld.com/article/3434623/what-multicloud-really-costs.html

searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/Single-pane-of-glass-for-multi-cloud-management-still-elusive

go.451research.com/The-cloud-transformation-journey.html

www.ibm.com/services/cloud/managed

www.techradar.com/news/best-cloud-computing-service

www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-avoid-cio-and-cfo-clashes-over-cloud-spend

azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/what-is-iaas

www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/technology-media-and-telecom-predictions/cloud-based-artificial-intelligence.html

www.bmc.com/content/dam/bmc/collateral/bmc/bmc-multi-cloud-survey.pdf

www.cio.com/article/3298536/understanding-ai-s-impact-within-the-multi-cloud-environment.html

solutionsreview.com/cloud-platforms/cloud-governance-creating-a-framework-for-success-in-the-cloud

GARTNER FORMATTED CITATIONS:

1 Gartner Press Release, Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to Grow 17.5 Percent in 2019, April 2, 2019. Retrieved from www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-04-02-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-revenue-to-g