As cloud services continue to build in popularity, has your company dove head first into the glistening waters of the cloud yet? If you are still hesitating, does it have anything to do with you being worried about how expensive it could potentially be to transfer your huge amount of data onto servers managed by third parties?

 Don’t worry, you are not alone. In fact, according to a recent article featured on the Bloomberg (News - Alert) Businessweek website, many organizations out there haven’t prepared themselves fully for the expenses implementing cloud services can sometimes yield.

Enter Cloudability, a startup company that has been created with the goal of assisting customers in gaining increased visibility into exactly where they can save some much needed capital within a variety of cloud services they are utilizing. After teaming with this firm, Pegasystems (News - Alert), a business software company headquartered in Massachusetts, quickly realized that e-mail alerts were vital in continuously updating managers on spending related to cloud services.

Fuller stated, “When you see it every day in your e-mail—today you spent $800, tomorrow $1,800—you say to yourself: ‘I didn’t know I was spending that much,’” Fuller says. “You tell yourself that you really need to cut spending.”

Let’s be honest, if you are actually prompted to take the time out of your busy day to analyze exactly what capital is being used to power what cloud-based solution, chances are you will be able to see what can be cut back on. While a majority of businesses out there are leveraging cloud services that are then managed and maintained by another company like NaviSite (News - Alert), it is essential that individuals can gain access to spending details.

Some other cloud service bill tracking systems currently on the market include: uptimeCloud, Cloudyn, and RightScale’s PlanForCloud.

One thing to highlight here is that not all cloud service providers bill customers in the same way. Some will bill users according to a monthly fee per employee, while others will require payment based on how often these cloud services are being utilized. So, be sure to find out how exactly the billing cycle works according to the cloud service provider you select.

NaviSite, a Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable Company, powers the NaviCloud that acts as a production-ready environment that can meet multiple enterprise cloud computing demands in addition to seamlessly integrating with legacy systems. The cloud service provider also gives IT department’s full control over all of the applications running on the NaviCloud Platform through NaviSite’s secure Web-based self-service cloud management console, AppCenter—ultimately helping to drive down costs while increasing efficiency.

Want to learn more about cloud communications? Then be sure to attend the Cloud Communications Expo, collocated with ITEXPO West 2012 taking place Oct 2-5, in Austin, TX. The Cloud Communications Expo will address the growing need of businesses to integrate and leverage cloud based communications applications, process enhancement techniques, and network based communications interfaces and architectures. For more information on registering for the Cloud Communications Expo click here.

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