First impressions can eventually get in the way of fully understanding a subject as important and complex as cloud computing. When the cloud first entered the consciousness of IT organizations around the world, cost-cutting through commoditization was foremost on people’s minds. Maybe that worked for a while, but it no longer does. Today, we see real problems arise when organizations try to drive a cloud migration leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) as just a commodity data center: “bill shock,” “operational complexity,” “reduced availability,” “under-performance,” “security creep,” “cloud sprawl,” “redundant software licenses” and “procurement perplexity.” One thing is for sure: Cloud is not about driving toward the lowest common denominator.