In recent years, many organizations have moved to adopt cloud-first strategies. In short, a cloud-first approach uses cloud technology before traditional IT infrastructure. Today, however, many of those same organizations are now grappling with trade-offs in flexibility, choice and costs. In addition, some industry-specific requirements, such as stringent security regulations, can hinder the use of cloud-first approaches.
The advantages of the cloud are ease and agility, but public clouds often come with steep operating costs due to ingress and egress fees, which detract from the benefits of the cloud. At the same time, traditional on-premises IT often leads to under or overprovisioning, introducing other operational challenges. However, a hybrid approach that blends the best of both cloud and on-premises is the clear winner.
Dell Technologies and its partners call this cloud-right, enabled by Dell Technologies APEX Flex on Demand, a consumption-based, on-premises cloud infrastructure. And it’s helping businesses leverage state-of-the-art IT to generate improved outcomes.
Getting Cloud Right
Computacenter, a Dell Technologies business partner headquartered in the U.K., serves customers in more than 70 countries. Many of these customers initially adopted a cloud-first policy. Implementation, however, requires sacrifices in flexibility and choice alongside a sizeable investment of time and money. Instead, Computacenter recommends a cloud-right strategy, leveraging the Dell APEX Flex on Demand consumption-based solution and helping customers gain a competitive edge.
Specifically, Computacenter customers have embraced Dell APEX Flex on Demand because it provides the ease and agility of the cloud but with more cost control, simplicity and flexibility. Customers value paying only for the IT they use while having immediate access to additional capacity if needed. Dell APEX Flex on Demand provides customers with reserve buffer capacity to meet those spikes in demand. Spending is capped at 85%** of planned capacity – a feature unique to Dell APEX Flex on Demand – ensuring predictable payments even when IT usage is variable. Cloud-right is the integration of these benefits within an on-premises cloud infrastructure.
“In a technology-driven world, adopting the right strategy – a cloud-right strategy – is key to gaining a competitive advantage,” shares Scott Ward, senior vice president for the North American technology sourcing operations business at Computacenter.
Shortening Deployment Time
Traditionally, IT infrastructure design and deployment has been a lengthy, CapEx-driven process, requiring months of planning and time-intensive approval cycles followed by deployment. In the time between planning and implementation, customer IT needs often change. This creates gaps in the IT capabilities needed to support the business. As a result, many organizations attempt to compensate by overprovisioning, which increases spending to pay for idle IT.
Computacenter works with customers in retail, manufacturing and services industries, where the business landscape and supply chains are increasingly dynamic. This magnifies the “moving target” of IT requirements over both the short term and medium term. To be more effective, IT must flex with and mirror business needs in near real-time. Computacenter is equipping customers with Dell APEX Flex on Demand to do just that. It provides customizable infrastructure deployed quickly and simply to better align IT to customers’ dynamic business environments.
“Dell APEX Flex on Demand is ideal for our customers. It’s a hybrid cloud solution that’s cost-effective and flexible – exactly what our customers require,” says Ward. “Our collective expertise across Computacenter and Dell Technologies allows our customers to take advantage of the quick changes in their industry and respond faster to the market.”
Saving Time and Money
Dell APEX Flex on Demand helps customers save time and money in three primary ways. By pivoting from a CapEx to an OpEx model, organizations can save large upfront costs and reinvest that cash for other business priorities. There are also substantial savings in time based on inherently faster OpEx approval processes.
Predictable expenses also help to save time and cost. Dell APEX Flex on Demand limits spending to cover only the capacity used. Even the buffer capacity spend is predictable since it is capped at 85% of planned capacity. This predictability gives organizations greater financial control.
Computacenter customers using Dell APEX Flex on Demand, especially those transitioning from cloud-first to a more hybrid, cloud-right approach, save time and gain responsiveness based on low latency access to data. Collectively, these factors help drive better business results via more revenue, improved customer experiences and reduced costs. “Our customers get best-in-class service and solutions, from core, to cloud, to edge. A big reason is our Dell Technologies partnership and APEX Flex on Demand.”
Read the Computacenter customer case study here, and view the Computacenter customer video here. Learn more about Dell Technologies Solutions and contact Dell Technologies.
** Available with Flex on Demand for Storage, Data Protection, and VxRail. Dark sites, non-metered deployments, and customers non-compliant with their contract terms are not eligible.
