Analysis: When expectations do not match the actual cost in cloud

In the relationship between customer and business, expectations are everything. In a lot of ways, the shift to cloud computing has evened the playing field for what is expected in terms of cost, responsibilities, and the services exchanged between IT customers and providers. With cloud services, customers can experience far more of a service before buying it, see a clear unit price from the outset and understand the constraints of the service-level agreements. However, uncertainty still lingers in the exact specifications for many solutions, as the complexity of the design and variability of the actual utilization continue to make accurately predicting real-world cost for cloud solutions difficult for many customers. — Allan Krans, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst