The foundation of cloud computing is the ability for businesses to seamlessly scale their technology usage without a significant investment in hardware infrastructure. However, restrictive contract terms, including excessive fees for migrating data between cloud platforms, mean some businesses cannot get the most from cloud services or work with the provider that aligns best with their business goals.
Google Cloud recently made a significant change to its fee structure to benefit businesses like yours that might need to migrate to a different platform for any reason. By eliminating data transfer fees, Google Cloud Service is making switching to a more affordable service that meets your needs easier. Here’s what you need to know about the new policy.
Leveling the Playing Field in Cloud Computing
For businesses using legacy cloud platforms like Google Cloud, Microsoft, and AWS, switching to a different platform or adopting a multi-cloud network can be expensive.
In the announcement, Google alleges that major cloud service providers create monopolies with restrictive licensing practices. These practices force companies to use on-premise software and restrict the teamwork of other critical software, limiting options and making it expensive for businesses to choose alternatives.
Although cloud providers have no technical reason to impose these restrictions, they can increase costs by as much as 300%. Google Cloud’s decision to eliminate data transfer fees is a step toward leveling the playing field. In announcing the policy change, Google Cloud Services acknowledged that since there’s minimal cost associated with migrating data from one service provider to another, the company will no longer levy this fee.
What the Decision Means for Your Company
The immediate and global end of data transfer fees means it will cost less for your company to migrate to a different cloud services provider from Google. The change provides greater flexibility in cloud solutions to meet evolving needs.
Although this will result in some cost savings, changing to a different cloud infrastructure still requires navigating restrictive licensing practices, which are a more significant factor than transfer fees in restricting customer choice. In other words, even if it costs less to move to a different service, you may be unable to because your current platform has you locked into a license, and switching to a platform that better meets your needs is technically or financially prohibitive.
That said, Google Cloud’s decision to do away with transfer fees is a step toward giving businesses more choices. It removes a barrier to companies being able to make decisions based on what’s best for their companies. Suppose exit fees are stopping you from implementing a multi-cloud strategy, or you’re designing your cloud architecture to avoid exit fees when a different platform is a better solution. In that case, this policy announcement is good news.
