So, you know how for the past, oh, fifteen or so years, cloud marketing hype has been making noise about the benefits of cloud (especially cloud providers, bad um tiss – Ed)? How it’s the solution to all of the infrastructure problems that ail businesses, that it can do everything an on-premises datacentre can, but faster and cheaper? That there’s no need to own or operate your own hardware anymore, and that technicians on your payroll are expensive and it’s just easier to pay someone else to manage and operate everything remotely on your behalf?

Sound familiar? Well, hold on to your hats: there’s a new trend in town, and it’s a major pushback against all of the cloud marketing hype and the start of a trend reversal back towards owning and operating your own IT infrastructure.

Yes, really. Humans truly are the ficklest creatures.

It’s about money

But in this instance, the attitude shift is actually quite understandable, because it’s about money – that scarce resource that has become even more scarce in these trying economic times. In a nutshell, in some instances, businesses are discovering that using the cloud can be more expensive in the long run than paying for and using their own on-premises resources.

This is from the mouth of David Linthicum, host of the YouTube channel Cloud Computing Insider, and a multi-decade veteran of the US IT industry. He was responding to a recent spate of articles, in particular, David Heinemeier Hansson’s The Big Cloud Exit FAQ, that detailed how some companies are deciding to ditch the cloud and move back to owning and operating their own IT infrastructure because the cloud was proving to be too expensive for their needs.

Debunking cloud marketing

Interestingly, Heinemeier Hansson’s article ended up debunking much of the hype surrounding the cloud, including these 11 cloud marketing myths. They were uncovered by Heinemeier Hensson’s company’s move away from it, and the counterpoints that debunked them were inspired by their real-world experiences.

Reduced operational team and payroll: The move away from the cloud did not result in an increased payroll or team changes. The same team that managed applications in the cloud now operates them on-premise, showing that cloud services do not necessarily reduce the need for operational staff.
Cost advantages of cloud services: Despite efforts to optimise the cloud bill, it remained significantly high, challenging the notion that cloud services always offer cost savings. Even after optimising cloud expenses, the costs were still substantial, indicating that savings are not as guaranteed as the cloud hype might want people to believe.
Cloud-native applications ensure lower costs: The belief that Cloud Native applications or serverless functions automatically lead to cost savings is misleading. The costs associated with these technologies do not always result in savings, similar to how buying single-wrapped sugar cubes doesn’t save money compared to bulk purchases.
Superior cloud security with less effort: Security challenges stem primarily from the application and its direct dependencies, whether hosted on the cloud or on-premise. Effective security practices are required in both scenarios, debunking the myth that cloud services inherently provide a higher level of security with less effort.
Need for super engineers to operate hardware: The expertise required to run on-premise hardware is largely the same as that needed for cloud operations. Knowledge of operating internet-facing servers is widely available and not exclusive to a select group of super engineers.
Owning hardware requires building datacentres: Renting space in professional datacentres negates the need to build and manage your own datacentres. This approach is common and practical, showing that owning hardware does not entail the complexities and costs of creating datacentres from scratch.
Unmatched cloud reliability and redundancy: Achieving high reliability and redundancy is possible with on-premise hardware through geographical dispersion and replication strategies, similar to cloud setups. This challenges the perception that only cloud services can provide such levels of reliability.
Faster international performance with cloud: Using international CDNs for content delivery speeds up global performance, whether you’re using cloud services or hosting your own hardware. This demonstrates that cloud services do not have a monopoly on fast international performance.
Cloud as the sole solution for demand spikes: Overprovisioning your own hardware can also handle demand spikes, showing that the cloud is not the only efficient solution for autoscaling. The notion that only cloud services can manage sudden increases in demand is therefore not accurate.
Advantages in service contracts and licensing fees with cloud: Running applications on open-source software can eliminate the need for expensive service contracts and licensing fees associated with cloud services. This indicates that cloud services do not always offer clear advantages when it comes to operational costs.
Cloud computing is cheaper, easier, and faster: The initial attraction to cloud services was based on promises of cost savings and ease of use. However, the experience showed that managed services still required management, and advances in technology did not translate into savings, challenging the perception that cloud computing is always the best option.

For even more detail, read The Big Cloud Exit FAQ that was linked earlier.

The question for SA businesses

These discrepancies, learned from the practical experience of moving away from the cloud, raise some interesting questions for South African businesses that are either already using the cloud or considering it. The most important one is “Is this cloud move really necessary and can we still do what we need to without lifting and shifting our current infrastructure (or part thereof) into a cloud ecosystem?”.

Of course, it’s a complicated question and one that only careful consideration and consultation with IT service providers can answer. But only if they do not have an agenda to push you into whichever cloud ecosystem benefits them most.

One size doesn’t fit all

Ultimately, what this new trend reinforces is that the choice between using cloud services and/or on-premise solutions is not one-size-fits-all or the answer to every infrastructure-related question businesses have, and should instead be guided by careful consideration and analysis of costs, operational needs, and long-term business objectives.

It’s just interesting to see that some companies have found out that the cloud isn’t always the best answer to their technical or operational (or financial) challenges, and that moving away from the cloud is not just a practical and workable option, but it can end up saving money as well… all with no major downsides.

Who’d have thunk it, given how loudly the global IT industry has trumpeted the benefits of the cloud all these years?