Question

Difficulty: EasyUnderstand concepts of cloud economics

A local dental clinic is migrating its patient scheduling system from an on-premises server room to the AWS Cloud. Instead of purchasing physical servers upfront, the clinic will now pay a variable monthly fee based on the resources they consume. Which of the following options describes this shift in financial expenditure?

  1. A
    A shift from Operating Expenses (OpEx) to Capital Expenses (CapEx)
  2. B
    A shift from variable utility costs to fixed infrastructure investments
  3. A shift from Capital Expenses (CapEx) to Operating Expenses (OpEx)Answer
  4. D
    A shift from dynamic elasticity to static capacity scaling

Answer

A shift from Capital Expenses (CapEx) to Operating Expenses (OpEx)
The correct answer describes a shift from Capital Expenses (CapEx) to Operating Expenses (OpEx). On-premises data centers require significant capital investment upfront to purchase physical servers and networking gear (CapEx). Moving to a cloud model like AWS allows organizations to pay only for what they use on a variable, recurring basis, which is classified as an operational expense (OpEx).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the financial model of the current state.
The clinic is purchasing physical servers upfront, which represents a capital expenditure (CapEx).
CapEx refers to money spent by a business to acquire, maintain, and upgrade physical assets such as property, buildings, or equipment.
2
Identify the financial model of the target cloud state.
The clinic will pay a variable monthly fee based on consumed resources, which represents an operating expenditure (OpEx).
OpEx represents the day-to-day expenses that a company incurs to keep its business running, such as utility bills or pay-as-you-go cloud services.
3
Determine the direction of the transition.
The transition moves from upfront capital costs to variable operating costs.
This is a shift from CapEx to OpEx.

Key Concept

Cloud economics: CapEx vs. OpEx shift
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