One of the most exciting things about Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud (Cisco IAC) is its ability to deliver theself-service agility and flexibilitythat a business requires to drive its success.  Capacity is instantly available when needed, enabling creative innovation to bear fruit much faster (think research institutions executing millions of computations, software engineers developing new applications, or retailers launching holiday marketing campaigns.)

The benefits of cloud computing are obvious but what about the costs? For example, how do you know which resources a particular project is tied to and whether it makesgood business sense?  How do you make sure your users shut down services when they're no longer needed?  And how do you implement a cost model to charge back IT costs to the proper business unit or project?

These are questions that are bubbling to the surface of many enterprise cloud discussions, which is why I'm particularly excited to announce our new partner, Cloud Cruiser.  Cloud Cruiser has integrated their financial management system with Intelligent Automation for Cloud, enabling enterprises to take control of their IT spending and use the granular cost information it gathers to drive better business decisions.

By implementing a financial management solution designed for the cloud, enterprise IT becomes a partner to the lines of business, providing valuable insight into the IT costs associated with the projects and applications they deploy.  Chargeback gives business units the advantage of only paying for the resources that they use, resulting in both a reduction of waste (who wants to pay for those VMs that are no longer being used?) and more educated IT spending decisions, such as whether to use internal or external IT resources for a particular project. Self-service budgets and reports make users more fiscally responsible for the resources they deploy, driving costs down and productivity up.

In short, Cloud Cruiser and Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud work together to help enterprises make the most of their enterprise private cloud by delivering better service at lower cost.

To see how Cloud Cruiser for Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud works, view this short video:

http://youtu.be/xfDSryH-yOg

Read the joint solution brief and web page to learn more about Cloud Cruiser for Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud.