6 days ago
What Do Companies Look For In Cloud Services? It's All About Cost
Even though cloud solutions promise to help companies innovate more quickly and adopt new strategies, executives ranked innovation and revenue growth as only their fourth most important goals (tie) when migrating to the cloud. Getty Creative
By Tom Barkley
When companies decide to take their data and apps to the cloud, one goal stands out among the others.
Optimizing cost is the No. 1 priority for executives looking to undertake a cloud migration, according to the inaugural Forbes Research Enterprise Technology Purchasing Survey , which was released earlier this year.
'Cost is not just a metric — it's a lens through which every cloud decision is viewed,' says Mayank Bhargava, vice president of consulting services at CGI, which helps companies with cloud transformations. 'Successful organizations treat cost as a continuous design principle, not a one-time negotiation.'
With cloud solutions promising to help companies innovate more quickly and adopt new strategies, it may come as a surprise that innovation and revenue growth were cited by only 9% of executives — appearing at the bottom of the same list. Forbes Research Enterprise Technology Purchasing Survey
Ahead, explore additional findings from the October-November survey, which polled 1,000 business leaders involved in technology decisions about their demands and opinions of cloud vendors. Looking For Value In The Cloud
When shopping for cloud solutions, companies want to ensure they can keep data and storage demand under control, especially with AI requiring heavy amounts of compute.
Eighty-six percent of executives said cost-effectiveness is an important factor when considering which cloud solution to acquire. Getting their money's worth was considered more important than other goal choices: getting post-sales support, contract flexibility, scalability and vendor trustworthiness, among them.
'Buyers want assurance that every dollar spent yields business value,' says Bhargava.
While executives put vendor reputation further down the list of priorities when shopping for cloud services, that doesn't mean sellers should be complacent.
When asked what they liked about their cloud service, executives ranked vendor support last, with just over half expressing satisfaction. This suggests an opportunity for cloud providers that can take steps to differentiate in this area. Forbes Research Enterprise Technology Purchasing Survey
Tom Barkley is an editor in the Content & Design Studio at Forbes. The studio is a multidisciplinary team that works on variety of content, event and marketing products.
