The cost of doing business in the cloud

Those that are committed to using cloud computing, whether it be for data storage, CRMs, or email hosting, have to still beware of price-creeping. It’s easy to lose track of how much data your company is actually transferring through the cloud. You might expect to use a certain amount of bandwidth, but suddenly find yourself using far more, and paying far more, than you originally expected. Since one of the major ideas behind cloud computing is cost saving, price-creeping is something to beware of.

It’s easy to call them hidden, but rising cloud costs are not quite the same as an unexpected “service access fee” that you might see on a cell phone bill. Really all you’re doing is paying for what you use, but if you’ve not planned ahead or aren’t quite sure just how much data you’ll actually be transferring, you may have an end of month shock. That doesn't mean you can't plan ahead and avoid increasing data storage rates.

You might intend to only use cloud storage for certain, important documents, but as users discover the benefits, they may start uploading much more than, driving the cost up at the same time. Data limits can be set, or you could choose a service that charges per user, rather than by the gigabyte.

Here at Telax, firm-fixed pricing is one of our mandates. How can a company create an effective budget if costs aren’t known until a bill is received, and it’s a different number each month to boot? Really, it doesn’t matter what you’re buying, if it’s in the cloud or not, sudden price increases, justified or not, aren’t good for business.