Survey Points to Challenges Managing Cloud Consumption

Cloud Cruiser, a leading provider of a cloud analytics application, today announced the results of a Dimensional Research survey of nearly 200 professionals who attended the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Global Summit held April 18-19 in Chicago. The findings reveal that the top challenge with public cloud consumption is the ability to proactively manage usage and costs across the business.  The report reveals that nearly one third of organizations today are doing nothing to track, manage and allocate cloud consumption costs. 

Of those surveyed, 92% stated that they are currently using a public cloud and 95% indicated that public cloud usage will grow over the next twelve months. Additionally, the survey found that momentum is being driven by a number of factors including big data and business analytics, with development and testing services coming in a close second. The study also revealed:

• Cost allocation and reporting top actions needed for managing the public cloud
• Nearly one third of companies do not proactively manage cloud usage or spend
• 82% indicate reconciling cloud services bills with Finance as being difficult

“IT teams are under tremendous pressure to deliver cloud services as quickly as possible to the business,” stated Deirdre Mahon, Cloud Cruiser’s Chief Marketing Officer. “The reality is they can only move at the speed of finance. If business, IT, and finance stakeholders cannot view the same real-time dashboard showing exactly what cloud services are being consumed by whom, services will come to a screeching halt,” added Mahon. “That will have a seriously negative impact on business performance and competitiveness.” 

“The survey results show that, despite significant investment in public cloud, IT continues to struggle with technologies that will help them analyze public cloud usage,” states David Gehringer, Principal at Dimensional Research.  “IT requires a solution that can effectively manage and allocate public cloud use so they can have a fact-based conversation with the business that everyone can understand.” 

Detailed results of the survey can be found here.