1. Making the Business Case for Cloud Storage

2. What’s Inside:  This PowerPoint template will walk you through putting together the numbers you need to make a business case for cloud storage in your organization  The accompanying Excel Calculator is designed for simplicity:  It befits a feasibility-level study; more complex analyses would require a more robust model  It is based on cash flow, not P&L  It has no macros  All data and assumptions are to be entered on one tab, the other tabs are for display only

3. Show Current State 1. Input current state data  Simply enter in values in the green boxes  The fields in yellow will be calculated by the model

4. Missing Data? 1A: What if I you don’t have all the data?  You probably don’t, so the model will calculate the data you do have and, if you know the figure is wrong, you can correct it by entering an “override” value

5. Show Project Costs 2. Enter the project costs and discount rate  Estimate costs based on prior experience, market scan, or vendors’ indicative pricing  Discount rate can be usually obtained from CFO group

6. Show Target State 3. Enter in target state benefits by year  Consider such precursors as moving DAS to SAN and re- tiering  Then consider how much capacity will actually be moving to cloud  Determine the pace of the change  Cloud migration should free up floor space; still, your management might not consider that “hard savings,” as it is modeled here

7. Show Target State Offset Costs 3A: Enter in target state offset costs by year  Re-tiering suggests that middle-level tiers are likely to grow as premium-tier workload is reduced  Consider the effect of labor; perhaps you can reduce headcount but, in this case, we assume the need to hire another storage admin

8. Show Target State Costs 3B: Review the impact in dollar terms  In this case, it’s easier to conceive of this in two phases: pre-cloud (DAS-to-SAN and re-tiering), then cloud migration

9. Customize the Presentation 4. Customize the PowerPoint to fit your needs  Review the numbers in your completed Excel spreadsheet then cut and paste the exhibits into this PowerPoint presentation  Follow the format of presenting the current state, project costs, target state and investment analysis

10. Make it Work 5. If you don’t like the answer, just change the assumptions  You can always go back and change:  The current state growth projections  Target state reduction projections and the forecast speed of attainment  The discount rate you’ll receive Created by William Freedman @ITCaseMaker & Tom’s IT Pro @TomsITPro