Amazon Web Services (AWS) dominates the cloud infrastructure market. Its operations are 5 times bigger than the combined operations of its next 14 competitors (Source).
It is a solution that can help your business with efficient use of capital and resources while scaling it to its potential.
However, that’s just the initial rosy picture. As you go deeper into the AWS migration, you will get hit with many unexpected expenses.
Till you embrace the impact, it’s too late. So where do these costs even come from?
In this article, I’ll tell you exactly that, alongwith how you can avoid them. Reading this article will ensure that you complete your AWS migration without any hiccups.
Key Takeaways
- AWS helps with efficient capital and resource use, and also scaling.
- Though there are also many hidden costs associated with it.
- One of the major hidden costs is due to storage and data transfer.
- To avoid these costs, hire experts, plan early in gradual stages, and invest in training.
If you know anything about cloud, you do expect to pay for storage and transferring data. In fact, most businesses plan for it in advance. And then they get the surprise: there is a shocking difference between the sum they thought they’d pay and what they actually end up paying.
Why does it happen? AWS data transfer has many small charges that keep piling up as you transfer more data. Specifically:
How to avoid these issues? Just partner up with experts for your AWS cloud migration for responsible optimization and management of your infrastructure. Even getting a simple consultation can help a lot. Experts will explain how to keep all your data in one AWS region, what devices to use, and how to prevent unnecessary costs.
FUN FACT
More than one-third of internet users visit AWS-powered sites or applications (Source).
Many businesses completely forget about downtime and productivity loss during AWS migration. Data transfer leads to performance lag, especially if the volume is huge, as everything moves slowly.
You will also experience a shutdown during the switch to AWS. It might not last for long, but it still can lead to significant unexpected losses. Testing can also lead to unforeseen delays if some issues are identified.
Doing phased migration is the most optimal solution. Move in small stages and schedule each one to take place during low-traffic hours.
Another hidden cost might pop up immediately after your cloud transfer. During the first couple of months, your employees will still be getting used to AWS, and making mistakes is inevitable. This is what businesses encounter most often:
Using AWS Budgets for useful alerts, Compute Optimizer for recommendations of cheaper options, and auto-scaling might help you reduce these costs considerably. However, the issue itself leads us to the third common hidden cost of AWS migration: skill gap and training costs.
Businesses, being businesses, expect their employees to quickly grasp how to use AWS. Of course, they don’t foresee any complications. That’s a mistake, and a pretty costly one at that.
Even experienced employees will struggle to perform their work in a new environment without making a single mistake. Your developers might also need to learn new tools if they want to work efficiently.
Solve this problem by investing in early training. Once again, hire AWS cloud experts — they will manage everything, and they’ll explain what your employees need to know. In addition, consider using Infrastructure as Code tools, as they can reduce the number of manual mistakes.
This is another hidden cost that many people undergoing AWS migration face. Your cloud environment has to be secure — otherwise, you risk compromising your data. Before migrating, you’ll have to:
Sure, you might decide to skip some of these steps, but it might come back to bite you later, leading to even higher expenses. Cloud security is essential, even when you’re working with a system as safe as AWS generally is.
Moving to the cloud can help businesses save money; there is no doubt about it. AWS got the revenue of 107 billion dollars in 2024 — this shows just how popular it is. However, before generating long-term profit, you might face short-term financial complications.
Migration-related downtime, your employees’ inexperience with AWS, security, and post-migration issues — all these problems can drain your resources. The important thing is not to panic and to prepare to handle everything well in advance.
Plan your AWS migration to take place in gradual stages. Invest in early training, or even better, hire AWS experts who’ll provide you with all the guidance you need. By taking care of potential problems from the start, you’ll get to save your money by avoiding hidden costs.
AWS allows efficient use of your capital and resources while scaling to your potential.
The major hidden costs associated with AWS migration occur while transferring data and storage requirements.
Try to keep data within a single region and minimize cross-transfer. Also, use CloudFront and private IPs.
