Tech debt is the concept of taking shortcuts in the short term, leading to issues in the long term. In the same way as taking a loan to solve a present issue will lead to costs in the future when it comes to repayment, making short-term decisions for your infrastructure in the present will lead to long-term issues, both financially and in time needed for resolution.
There are many ways a business can accumulate tech debt in the realm of cloud hosting, but the most common is opting for a seemingly cheap cloud solution without consideration of the long-term impact of this choice. In this insight, we explore several ways in which this tech debt can manifest, the issues this can cause, and how to avoid taking on tech debt in the first place.
The hidden costs of cheap cloud solutions
Businesses are often initially drawn to cloud solutions which, at first glance, appear cheap. This could be a public cloud environment with a hyperscaler, or a platform with a budget cloud provider. Whether you are a startup, small business, or a larger organisation looking to set up your infrastructure on a budget, the low upfront costs of these options can be appealing. Many providers will also advertise their cloud solutions as ‘plug and play’ – ready to use without an initial configuration process – giving the impression of rapid deployment. The combination of these factors can make these solutions seem ideal for initially setting up your infrastructure, either with the aim of scaling the solution for the long-term, or as a starting point to be upgraded as the business grows.
However, there are a number of ways in which these seemingly cheap solutions can actually end up costing you more, further down the line.
Low performance
With many cheap, multi-tenant cloud solutions, there are insufficient resources available for the number of users. This occurs when the provider is looking to increase their profits by having as many users as possible on the shared hardware, but in practice, when all users are trying to run their platforms, resources are spread too thinly. You may also experience the ‘noisy neighbour’ problem with these solutions, where another user is heavily using the shared resources, meaning fewer are available for you. The effect of this on your sites or applications include slowed performance, bottlenecks, latency and downtime, all of which end up costing your business.
Security risks
Low-cost cloud solutions may not have fully-comprehensive security features, and the providers may not be as rigorous around compliance. While this may not be an initial consideration, you should bear in mind the potential costs of a data breach or cyberattack. A 2024 study from the UK government found the average cost of the most disruptive attack on businesses of any size to be £1,205, increasing to £10,830 for medium and large businesses. The cost of a breach will generally significantly outweigh any initial savings from an insufficiently protected cloud solution.
Scalability challenges
While your environment may meet your initial needs, it is likely that, as your organisation grows, your resource and performance needs will change. If this is not initially planned for, this could come with unexpectedly high costs, as well as taking up valuable time, to scale up your resources, or retro-fit more powerful hardware and software. In times of growth, you will want to adapt dynamically in order to best take advantage of new opportunities, and these budget cloud solutions can limit you in this respect.
Vendor lock-in
Once your infrastructure is fully reliant on a ‘cheap’ solution with a provider, they will often employ tactics to make you feel trapped into staying with them, a process known as vendor lock-in. This can include making their infrastructure incompatible with other systems and fees for moving data, making migration or diversification costly. If you feel like you have outgrown the initial cheap cloud solution, it can be difficult and expensive to migrate away, or integrate an environment from another provider in a hybrid or multi-cloud approach.
Lack of management
Cheap cloud solutions are usually unmanaged, meaning the day to day running, monitoring, and optimization of your infrastructure must be managed in-house. Our recent report showed that, with the current state of the job market, 84% of UK business leaders are facing an IT and tech skills shortage. Due to this skills gap, there is a higher demand for in-house expertise, leading to higher salaries and a slow search for candidates, another hidden cost of these cloud solutions. Furthermore, 53% of respondents reported that they often settle for less qualified IT professionals due to a lack of suitable candidates. If the staff managing your cloud solution are underqualified or inexperienced, it is likely you will experience issues and delays, costing you further time and money.
Making cost-effective cloud hosting decisions to avoid tech debt
Consider Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
An important concept to consider when analyzing cloud solutions is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This measure requires you to consider the costs across the lifetime of your infrastructure, including upfront costs, operation costs, scalability requirements and potential future upgrade needs. When you take this long-term approach, and make your decisions accordingly, it is easier to have an awareness of potential long-term hidden costs, and avoid tech debt.
Prioritize security and compliance
As explained, the costs of a data breach or cyber attack can far outweigh any initial cost savings from choosing a provider who does not prioritize security and compliance. To avoid this risk, carefully review the security strategy, compliance policies and accreditations of your provider.
Ensure sufficient resources
One option for avoiding low resource availability or the noisy neighbor effect is a single-tenant solution. This could be a private cloud platform or dedicated server depending on your requirements. With both of these solutions, your hardware itself is dedicated solely to your organisation, so there will be no resource demands from other users. If you opt for a multi-tenant solution, you should ensure that you will be allocated sufficient dedicated resources for your needs, and that other tenant’s usage will not affect your own. Rather than a public cloud solution with shared resources, you could consider an option such as our Enterprise Cloud, where the hardware is multi-tenant, but your virtual resources are never shared.
Management
Working with a managed cloud provider is an efficient way to avoid tech debt. A managed service provider (MSP) can support you to identify and resolve existing tech debt, streamline your resources and modernize practices, and forward plan to avoid future unexpected costs. With external management, there is no need to handle these aspects of your infrastructure in-house, giving you access to expertise, without having to navigate the IT and tech skills gap to hire your own specialist staff. Find out more details in our insight ‘Reducing tech debt with a managed cloud solution’.
Your next steps
It is clear that, while they may initially appear cost-effective, many seemingly cheap cloud solutions will cause you to incur tech debt, costing you more in the long run. Therefore, choosing the right cloud hosting solution from the start, or migrating to a more efficient solution once you identify issues with tech debt, is critical.
Our cloud experts will work with you to assess your specific needs, current concerns, and plans for the future. Based on this knowledge, they will design a bespoke solution for you, utilizing our Enterprise Cloud, Private Cloud, or Dedicated Server platforms as required. With our highly-secure, scalable infrastructure forming the foundation of your cloud hosting solution, you will be supported in the present and into the future.
Fill out our contact form today and a member of our experienced team will get in touch.
