Cloud repatriation is something that has been gathering momentum in 2024, particularly with companies looking to take control of their tech and I.T. infrastructure costs. In addition, many companies are becoming more conscious of their cyber security and want to have greater control over their defenses.
In a recent article by CIO, they noted that up to 80 percent of those responding to a survey by IDC are considering repatriating at least some of their workloads. A number which is noted as being consistent over several survey periods.
In this article, we’ll look further at what cloud repatriation is, why it’s trending, and how it might benefit your business.
Cloud repatriation is the move of resources away from public cloud infrastructure and into private cloud, private data centres, and even back to on-premises deployments.
Commonly we see that workloads being considered for repatriation were moved as part of a response to the global COVID pandemic when businesses needed to adapt and transform their technology stack rapidly to stay operational.
Due to the COVID pandemic, we also saw a significant global reduction in the production of the chipboards and other technology required for server and storage hardware. This often meant that replacement hardware could have a lead time of 6 months or more. The cloud became the obvious choice as the compute and storage requirements could be met in minutes by comparison.
The other common thing we’ve seen is companies that moved to the cloud because it was the thing everyone was talking about and what some people saw as where they needed to be in order to stay relevant.
The two main factors that are seeing cloud repatriation trending in recent months are cost control and cyber security. With many countries around the world facing economic uncertainty the high and variable costs of running infrastructure in the cloud are not seen favorably by the CTO’s and CFO’s who have to justify them. This is even more true for those who have workloads that don’t need to be in the cloud.
In addition, cyber security at some of the large providers has come into question. With a number of high profile cases over the last year many businesses are starting to lose comfort in leaving their cyber security to someone else.
Perhaps the most high profile story of cloud repatriation is that of David Heinemeier Hansson and 37 Signals who estimated their cloud repatriation from AWS would save them upwards of ten million dollars over the next five years.
David’s story is now one of many however his may well have been the catalyst for people starting to consider cloud repatriation more openly.
If you have fairly static workloads with no bursts in activity and no seasonal workloads or if you took your applications to the cloud without re-architecting them to suit the cloud then you are more than likely a good fit for cloud repatriation.
One of the key features of going to the cloud was the speed of deployment and the flexibility to scale up and down and you pay a premium for these. If your workload is static then you won’t be using these features and may be paying more than you need to in order to run your workload.
Another key feature that moving to the cloud offered was the ease of resiliency with the ability to easily deploy, backup and recover to different geographical regions. There will be many workloads in the cloud that don’t have this functionality deployed and likely don’t need it.
Looking at the other aspect, cyber security, in repatriating your workload you know exactly how your infrastructure is configured and have full control of it. You can even still leverage cloud services for cyber security such as Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM.
When we’re looking at repatriation of workloads we’re not typically looking at a lift and shift of everything out of the cloud. It’s more about putting things where they run best and making the most of both. To many businesses, this may mean repatriation of their internal CRM or ERP but leaving their front-end API’s in the cloud for example.
Vinters have been around since long before the term ‘cloud’ was coined. We’ve seen cloud services and the industry surrounding it evolve over nearly 20 years. As such, we have the knowledge and the expertise to aid in the production of a cloud repatriation plan that considers which workloads belong in the cloud and which belong elsewhere.
Factoring in cost savings and cyber security into the mix, Vinters are able to offer a holistic view of whether cloud repatriation is right for your business and whether it meets the desired outcomes unique to you and your business.
If you are considering cloud repatriation, contact us using the button below and one of our solution architects will be happy to discuss your options.
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References:
https://world.hey.com/dhh/our-cloud-exit-has-already-yielded-1m-year-in-savings-db358dea
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