Which is the MOST representative cost that can typically be reduced or avoided by migrating from on-premises to AWS?
A question that asks for the cost typically reduced or avoided by cloud migration.
Software license fees for business applications
Software license fees depend on the licensing model of the product used, and like BYOL (Bring Your Own License) the payments commonly continue after migration.
What is typically reduced or avoided by cloud migration is the cost tied to physical facilities, and license fees do not fall into that category, so this is incorrect.
Capital expenditure on the data center and the cost of physical operations and maintenance
Correct. On-premises involves capital expenditure (CapEx) such as purchasing servers plus operating costs such as power, cooling, floor space, hardware maintenance, and periodic equipment refreshes. After migrating to AWS, AWS bears these, so the customer can significantly reduce or avoid these costs.
Personnel costs for the staff who handle system operations
After cloud migration, operational work such as monitoring, configuration management, and cost management remains, so personnel costs are not a cost that is directly eliminated by migration. In practice, the staff role shifts from physical equipment maintenance to cloud operations.
What is typically reduced or avoided by migration is the cost of data center facilities and physical operations, and personnel costs do not fall into that category, so this is incorrect.
The cost of network lines that connect sites to the cloud
Using the cloud still requires lines such as the internet or Direct Connect, and depending on the volume of data transfer communication costs can even increase.
Line costs are not a representative cost reduced or avoided by migration, so this is incorrect.
The main reason the cloud wins on TCO (total cost of ownership) is avoiding data center capital expenditure, power, cooling, maintenance, and equipment refresh. Meanwhile, license fees, personnel costs, and line costs are costs that can remain after migration, so distinguish them from costs tied to physical facilities.