Top 5 Strategies To Reduce Cloud Data Storage Costs

One of the primary reasons for Cloud Migration is flexibility and lower capital costs. As a result, the cost value becomes evident when compared to on-premise or legacy IT infrastructure. Initially, you will see substantial cost benefits of using the cloud. However, after the early days of adoption have passed, you might notice that your cost benefits are not adding up ' in most cases, the cost of keeping your data in the cloud will see a successive rise. So the obvious question here is ' why are you unable to enjoy a continued reduction in your cloud data storage costs? 

Factors that Impact Cloud Data Storage Costs

Some cost increases are unavoidable. Over time, cloud data storage costs will grow. Some of the reasons for rising cloud data storage costs include the following;

• The volume of data stored
• Frequency of accessing data
• The volume of data transfers
• Resiliency levels
• Location  
• Support subscriptions
• Limits/slabs across tiers

Each of these factors can and will impact your overall cloud data storage costs. If left unchecked, these rising costs can prove to be counterproductive to your decision to cloud adoption.  

The best way to keep your cloud data storage is to carry out routine in-depth workload analysis to gain insight into the kind of cloud data storage support you require to materialize your core business goals and objectives. 

Continue reading to know more about why your cloud data storage costs are rising and what steps you should take to lower your cloud data costs.

Rising Cloud Data Storage Costs             

First, if you are experiencing an increase in your cloud data storage costs, it likely has little to do with the changes in the pricing structure that vendors offer for their cloud service'instead, business needs and consumption might have increased.

When this happens, it will have an impact on the total costs. In a majority of cases, rising cloud data storage costs can be bucketed to the following two factors '

• Increased consumption levels to support necessary capacity growth
• Wastage of resources

Businesses that can't classify their cloud data storage usage will start experiencing rising costs over time. 

1. Capacity

Typically capacity is charged per gigabyte/month. But, again, a variety of factors will impact your capacity requirement, which will influence how storage is billed. If your business is retaining obsolete data, it will impact your overall costs. So you will need to plan the lifecycle of any data you are storing.  

2. Network Connectivity

Most businesses spread their multiple workloads across multiple environments. At some point, you will need to decide whether you want to use a cost-effect public connection for your cloud data or to go with one secure private connection that probably comes at a higher price. This decision will influence any potential ingress and egress charges. 

3. Monitor your Cloud Data Usage 

Ensure you utilize all the monitoring tools your vendor provides to keep track of and gain visibility into cloud data usage. Doing this can quickly identify areas that are burdening your budget and make the necessary tweaks in time. So make sure you have a clear understanding of any obsolete or excessive data. Once you know where you stand, make the necessary changes to your storage options to reign in your costs. 

This analysis is especially critical if your data is stored over multiple environments.

4. Transaction Costs

Your transaction costs are subject to the type of storage you have opted for with your vendor. It's important to know that your costs can rise even if your transactions are minimal. This is because of the lack of clarity of the transaction profile. 

5. Optimize how you Store Data

Cloud presents unlimited capacity, and the big mistake that businesses make is that they take this for granted. However, Businesses often overlook the fact that is retaining data costs money. For this reason, it is important to routinely track the kind of data you store and the kind of business value that data offers. You need to gain insight into your data generation and then effectively quantify it for how it can help your business advance. It is best to get rid of data that takes up space but offers little or no value. 

In Conclusion

Only when you optimize your cloud data storage will you be able to benefit from the true value of cloud data vis-à-vis reduction in costs and seamless business operations. Furthermore, when you optimize for cost, you can't overlook compliance. You must ensure all your data and systems are compliant with regulatory mandates and internal protocols regardless of where the data is stored.