Unlock Hidden Budget with Cloud Marketplaces
Understanding and leveraging cloud marketplaces can help education teams unlock additional budget, without having to dip into their direct departmental funds. This comes from using existing committed spend agreements businesses have with marketplaces like Google Cloud. As Brian Rahan shared, "You're basically able to tap into a secondary or tertiary budget to support your greater education needs."
Engage Procurement and IT as Allies, Not Obstacles
Skepticism often makes teams view procurement and IT as barriers, but alignment with these internal stakeholders can be highly strategic. As Rahan states, their work "ultimately comes down to enabling the business and looking to accelerate things," which can be vital to securing resources like cloud commitments for educational tools.
Define Your Education Program's Strategy
Deciding whether your education services serve as a loss leader or a revenue generator is essential. Knowing this strategy and gaining consensus aligns organizational focus and resources effectively. "Define your business strategy first and foremost," advises Rahan. This decision influences how you structure programs and what you aim for in terms of operational ROI and broader impact.
Measure Twice, Renew Once
Effectively right-sizing your educational program through detailed usage reports and forecasting is crucial. By doing so, programs avoid underutilization or over-extension, allowing optimal budget application toward subscriptions as Rahan suggests: "Work with Intel was exceptionally easy to get all of that data, forecast it, and make sure that we were right-sized here."
Cloud marketplace offerings evolve rapidly, providing new opportunities to manage software and service costs. "That landscape is changing daily," explains Rahan, highlighting the importance for teams to stay updated on what services can be procured through existing commitments. This vigilance can optimize budget use and enhance the ability to respond to emerging educational needs.
