I would go as far as to argue the ability to deploy new hardware almost instantly is the primary benefit of the cloud. And a very valuable one. It is "supply ch

I would go as far as to argue the ability to deploy new hardware almost instantly is the primary benefit of the cloud. And a very valuable one. It is "supply chain management as a service". You can automate operations but managing delivery dates, vendors, logistics, etc is the least pleasant part of operating a data center. Outsourcing the "where the hell is my container full of hard drives" phone calls, and subsequent scramble when you find out it was delayed for four weeks but they failed to notify you, is almost worth it. (In fairness, this mostly goes away if you select and manage your vendor relationships well.)