Hybrid Cloud Automation Solutions: Flexibility, But at What Cost?

There are many vendors whose Cloud Automation solutions are "little more than a basic service catalog backed by a general purpose automation engine."  Deploying these solutions is both expensive and risky and results in implementations that are very specific to the needs of one type of business.  They aren't generally customizable for the needs of other types of businesses, or easily upgradable to newer versions without considerably more cost and effort.  

Below is another blog entry from Rich Bourdeau, Hybrid Cloud Automation expert, looking at the challenges of deploying these types of solutions. 

Selecting a Cloud Automation Solution:  
Flexibility, But at What Cost?

Many cloud automation solutions available in the market today are little more than a basic service catalog connected to a general purpose automation toolkit.

This is similar to the build it yourself model (discussed in our Build vs Buy post), but at least you are starting with some building blocks and a general purpose automation engine.  The advantage is, you get exactly what you want but at what risk and cost?  Before you start down this path, here are some things you should consider.

The Hidden Costs of Automation Toolkits

There are multiple hidden costs associated with deploying a custom cloud automation solution.  Here are some factors that should be considered when selecting a cloud automation solution:

1. Service costs typically far outweigh software costs.  Some vendors that have cloud automation solutions that are based on a run-book automation tool kit provide a very basic cloud management framework and then a set of process automation tools that allow a custom solution to be developed.  These solutions tend to require lengthy and expensive custom services projects where services typically cost three times as much as the software.

2.  Customized solutions are not easily adapted to other business.  In addition to the higher upfront costs, cloud automation solutions built with an automation toolkit tend to be built specific for the needs of a single business.  When companies try to expand the use of highly customized solutions, they either have further customization costs or suffer from limited adoption across the enterprise.

3.  Customized solutions make upgrades to newer releases difficult.  Many cloud automation customizations strand the implementation at a specific release making upgrades to newer versions difficult and costly.  This may be fine, as long as you are not planning on new features in your vendor’s roadmap. 

4.  Maintenance of this custom solution is FOREVER!  Getting custom cloud services running the first time is one thing.  However, plan on keeping that skill in-house as you will likely need to continue to make changes or maintain your custom cloud solution.  You will likely need someone with very specific skills in whatever tool you choose as well as your custom application.  How easy will it be able to find new people with the appropriate skills if you need to replace your resident expert?  

Hopefully you now have a better understanding of some of the hidden cost of deploying and maintaining custom cloud automation solutions.  In our next blog post we will explore how to identify the perfect mix of time to value and flexibility that will simplify and accelerate your cloud automation deployment.

Rich Bourdeau is Group Marketing Manager at VMware and has over 20 years of experience in developing, managing and marketing IT infrastructure management solutions for enterprises. Rich has spent the last five years helping companies deploy and manage their private and hybrid cloud infrastructures. He has authored papers on Must Have Cloud Management Capabilities as well as Building the Business Case for Private Cloud.