If you’ve chatted with our team recently, you might’ve heard us use the phrase ‘VM-aware’, our way of opening up a bigger conversation about hosting strategies and what comes next.
With the pace of change ever increasing, from shifting pricing models to a push for flexibility and control, many organisations are re-evaluating where and how they host their systems. Doing nothing might feel comfortable, but it risks locking you into higher costs and fewer options down the line. Now’s the time to step back, look at the bigger picture, and take a fresh look at your options.
Become Unstuck and Stop Solutionising
(Spoiler: There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Answer)
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first — there’s no magic formula or cookie-cutter answer here. But here’s the good news: there is a right path for your organisation. It starts with asking the right questions:
- Situation: Are you looking to significantly reduce some business operating costs whilst simultaneously improving business efficiencies? Or, are IT costs high and potentially looking to increase?
- Direction: What do you need your platform to deliver? Performance? Cost efficiency? Compliance?
- Non-Negotiable: What are your non-negotiables? Security, regulatory requirements, or legacy dependencies?
Despite the endless blog posts telling you to go “cloud-first” or “cloud-only,” your decision shouldn’t be dictated by trends. It should be driven by your business goals, current ecosystem, and readiness to change — not someone else’s roadmap.
Why Now? The 2-Year Rule
One of the biggest mistakes we see in this space? Starting too late. We advise organisations to begin planning at least two years ahead of any major transition, whether it’s VM licensing renewals, data centre moves, hybrid deployments, or full cloud migrations.
Why two years?
- Time to make strategic decisions, rather than reacting under pressure.
- Keeps all options open, before incentives change or vendors tighten restrictions.
- Risk mitigation, avoiding rushed implementations that could disrupt operations.
- Cost efficiency. The later you leave it, the fewer competitive options remain.
If you wait until renewal is imminent, you’ll likely have less negotiating power, fewer migration incentives, and fewer viable alternatives, often leading to higher costs and greater risks. In a rush, mistakes are made, and let’s not forget the impact that the additional time constraints and pressure will have on your team and culture.
Right Now: Incentives Are Peaking
But it’s not just about what’s being publicly advertised or even spoken about at industry events. By staying closely connected to our technology partners, we’ve seen first-hand that the further down the path you go, the more doors open.
Fully funded assessments are available to help you uncover the full picture of your IT estate — what you have, how it performs, where the risks and opportunities lie.
Imagine it:
Knowing exactly what your infrastructure consists of.
Seeing how every piece performs and contributes.
Turning all that complexity and uncertainty into data-driven clarity.
Cloud providers and solution partners aren’t acting alone, their distributor and vendor alliances are fully aligned, bringing a wider ecosystem of support to help businesses navigate their transformation. That means:
- Plug-and-see infrastructure assessments: Giving you real-world data to inform evidence-based decisions about the best provider for your needs.
- Automation and migration tooling: Reducing manual effort by handling much of the heavy lifting for you, whether you’re shifting between virtualisation platforms or moving workloads to a new cloud environment.
- Technical and financial support: Additional resources that ease the transition, making the journey smoother, more cost-effective, and less disruptive.
For organisations that embrace this timely opportunity, the benefits go beyond just cost savings; these tools and resources enable a frictionless transition, meaning you can focus on what really matters: delivering exceptional, uninterrupted service to your customers.
This has been especially true in the wake of Broadcom’s takeover of VMware. The market shift has created strategic opportunities for competitors to jostle for market share, with many offering compelling incentives and enhanced support to position themselves as viable alternatives.
So, quickly, become VM-aware because the best deals won’t be available indefinitely.
What Might This Mean for You?
We’ve helped businesses at every stage of their journey. Recently, we supported a leading UK Bank facing a challenge: how to move 3,500 workloads without disrupting business operations.
By assessing the infrastructure, understanding their priorities, and leveraging available provider incentives, they transition to a new environment that delivered:
- Improved performance: Reducing job runtimes by over 60%.
- Greater agility: Deploying new environments in hours instead of weeks.
- Scalability: Eliminating previous capacity constraints.
But that was the right solution for them. Your best move could look very different and that’s where an agnostic, experience-led approach makes all the difference.
Upcoming Webinar – Join the Conversation
Are You VM-Aware? It’s Time to Look VM-Elsewhere – Thursday, 8th May 2025 @ 16:00 GMT
If your VM licensing costs are spiralling and you need to save while still investing in growth — this is the event for you.
What You’ll Learn:
- Real-world success stories of organisations that migrated with impact
- How to access secure, non-intrusive, and funded assessments to spot quick-win savings
- Cloud funding incentives that offset migration and operational costs
- Risk and migration strategies for even the most complex environments
Who Should Attend?
IT and Finance leaders facing VMware cost challenges or exploring Cloud alternatives. If you want to future-proof your IT strategy and gain more for less, don’t miss this session.
Please note: Due to high demand, registrations are reviewed. Once we’ve completed this process, we’ll be in touch to confirm your seat. This ensures a safe, valuable space for open conversation.
Can’t make it but want the recording?
If your renewal is fast approaching or you need to move quickly, we can help. Book a 1:1 consultation to explore your options. And don’t forget to become a member of our Change Community to access previous event content, exclusive insights, and stay in the loop on future sessions.