Budgeting is an key aspect for many traditional IT projects. You often need to ballpark the budget estimation from previous experiences. The tricky part comes when you are doing Digital Transformation project for Cloud. How do you make dollars and sense out of something that have not been done before?
Metering
If you are moving to Cloud, it makes sense to starting metering your transactions. Think of it like your electrical bills, where your are being charged at kilowatts per hours. Metering makes it easier to convert to Cloud credits when you are planning your budgeting. The good part with Cloud is that you can adjust or stretch your credits with different Cloud features.
Running Cost
Running cost for Cloud will deviate quite a bit from your existing on premise application. This is because Cloud have factor running cost into its metrics as compared to your on premise cost. If you want to compare the running cost of on premise application, you will need to include support cost, upgrades, manpower or downtime.
Preparation for Cloud move will have to start as soon as possible. If you are still pondering over the move and trying to make sense of the dollars. You can consider to meter your existing on premise applications and sum up your running costs. This will help greatly in your comparison to Cloud costing.
Danny Kwok 