3 Signs You're Not Maximising Cloud Potential

How can you tell if you’re not getting your money’s worth out of your cloud setup? Here are three tell-tale signs that your cloud strategy might be underwhelming compared to the powerful impact you were expecting.

1. Your Cloud Costs Are Spiralling Without Corresponding Returns

One of the main benefits of cloud computing is flexibility—scaling resources up and down as needed. If your costs are increasing month on month, you may be over-provisioning without even knowing it. Effective cloud management means aligning your spending with your usage, ensuring that every penny spent is powering a necessary function. If your cloud resources are mostly idle, you're essentially leasing a fleet of luxury cars and leaving them parked in the garage.

2. You're Stuck in the Past with Lift-and-Shift

Lift-and-shift is a common starting point. But the cloud isn’t just a dumping ground for existing applications—it's a breeding ground for innovation. If you haven’t moved beyond merely hosting to transforming and optimising, you’re only scraping the surface. True cloud mastery involves leveraging cloud-native features—including auto-scaling, advanced analytics, and serverless computing.

3. Dev and Ops Are Still Two Different Teams

If your developers are still tossing applications over the wall for Ops to handle, you’re squandering the cloud’s potential. The ethos of cloud computing aligns with DevOps—breaking down barriers, prioritising communication, and enhancing cooperation across the board. Embrace a DevOps culture, where continuous integration and continuous delivery are the norms, not the exceptions.

If these points have struck a chord, it’s time to shift gears. Ask yourself: are you merely floating in the cloud, or are you soaring? Make sure you're flying high enough to see the horizon. Anything less, and you’re just not getting your money’s worth.