The best cloud is the kind you never think about

Most businesses moved to the cloud over the last decade, but the shift was ad hoc rather than planned, so the setup is rarely right-sized, leaving many overpaying. Fitzroy IT’s Tim Jenkinson explains where to start and why it pays for itself.

AI is getting all the attention right now, but it only works as well as the data and systems running underneath it. A secure cloud foundation helps you run better today and makes it easier to take on whatever comes next.

With 29% of cloud infrastructure spend wasted,^* there are usually real savings to be found just by optimising what’s already in place. Without central control over who adds users, subscriptions and features, the bill climbs over time in the same way personal subscriptions stack up if you don’t check the statement.

Many also assume a big cloud platform keeps you safe. It handles security on its end, but the rest is up to you. Frameworks like the Essential Eight are rarely applied across the whole environment, leaving too many businesses and their data exposed.

The bigger barrier, though, is awareness rather than cost. When owners finally see the full picture of what’s exposed and what they’re spending, the reaction is usually “I had no idea all this was here.”

"Cloud only costs a fortune when it's set up wrong," says Tim Jenkinson, CEO and founder of Fitzroy IT. "Get the foundation right and it becomes predictable, even as you grow."

When the foundation just works

Set up and managed well, the cloud stops being something to worry about. Costs become predictable even as the business grows, and it only pays for what it uses. The environment is secure, with the redundancy to keep running when something breaks.

It also hands owners back their time. The right setup runs in the background, leaving them free to build the business rather than fight IT fires.

More importantly, it's the layer everything else sits on. When tools and data talk to each other, a business can scale, put AI to work properly and deliver the service that sets it apart.

Start with what you can't see

Cloud optimisation is the kind of unglamorous job that’s easy to put off, yet it can be one of the quickest to pay for itself.

The first move is to do an assessment to get a clear picture of the current setup, what it costs and where it's exposed, then a decision on where the business wants to get to. From there, start with a quick win. Fix one platform or process that’s bloated, broken or missing to prove the value before any big commitment, then build from there one win at a time. Choose a partner for the long game rather than a single project, one who stays involved with regular catch-ups, planning and support that dials up and down as the business grows.

Fitzroy IT helped Future Super put this into practice, re-architecting its AWS setup so a four-hour batch job now runs in an hour, 75% faster, on a carbon-neutral platform built to scale.

You don't have to do this alone

Tim is one of three trusty guides in NEXTGEN and AWS's Must-Know Tech Guide for SMBs: Cloud, AI & CX. Read the guide for real-world advice on where to start, explore the hub for tools and success stories, or book a 15-minute 1:1 with Tim.

About Fitzroy IT

Fitzroy IT is an Australian, founder-led AWS Advanced Partner and past Rising Star Partner of the Year for APAC, building and running cloud for small and medium businesses for 15 years. You work with their senior engineers from the start, the same people who run your environment. Security is built in, following the ACSC Essential Eight and the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

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* Flexera, 2026 State of the Cloud Report