Cloud Digital Leader Why Cloud Technology Can Transform Business Practice Question
A company currently runs its applications in a co-location data centre with a 5-year contract for hardware. They are considering migrating to Google Cloud to avoid the upcoming hardware refresh cycle. Which business driver is most directly addressed by this migration?
⚠ Common exam trap
GCDL often tests business drivers by presenting multiple plausible cloud benefits — candidates must identify the one that matches the specific scenario (hardware refresh = CAPEX avoidance), not the most general cloud advantage.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Cost optimisation (avoiding CAPEX)
The company faces an upcoming hardware refresh cycle mandated by their 5-year co-location contract, which would require significant capital expenditure (CAPEX) on new servers, storage, and networking. Migrating to Google Cloud converts that CAPEX into operational expenditure (OPEX) on a pay-as-you-go basis, directly addressing the cost optimization driver of avoiding a large upfront hardware investment.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Scalability
Why it's wrong here
Cloud scalability technically lets you add or remove compute/storage capacity in minutes to match current load, but it has no bearing on the fact that you own physical servers in a colocation facility that must be replaced at end-of-life. The question describes avoiding a hardware refresh cycle, and elasticity only helps with variable demand, not with aging, deprecated infrastructure that needs capital spending.
- ✓
Cost optimisation (avoiding CAPEX)
Why this is correct
Migrating these workloads to the cloud converts the need to buy new servers, switches, and storage arrays for your colocation (a capital expenditure) into a predictable operating expense for cloud services. Since the colocation gear has reached the point where it would need to be refreshed, moving now avoids that upfront CAPEX and instead pays for only the compute you actually consume, which is a direct cost-optimization benefit.
- ✗
Agility
Why it's wrong here
Agility in the cloud (faster provisioning, CI/CD pipelines, and the ability to stand up environments in minutes) is a real benefit, but it does not address the specific pain point of the colocation hardware refresh. Your question is about cost avoidance for replacing physical equipment, while agility is about time-to-market and operational speed, so it is not the primary driver in this scenario.
- ✗
Innovation (AI/ML access)
Why it's wrong here
Cloud access to AI/ML services, serverless data analytics, and fully managed databases is a strategic advantage that could certainly accompany migration, but it is not why this company is moving given the stated context. The driver here is the financial burden of refreshing colocation hardware, and while innovation features are attractive, they are secondary to the CAPEX-avoidance rationale that the question points to.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Key term
OpEx
Operational Expenditure (OpEx) is the ongoing cost for running a business, like paying for cloud services monthly instead of buying hardware upfront.
Key term
Google Cloud
Google Cloud is a suite of cloud computing services offered by Google that provides infrastructure, platform, and software solutions over the internet.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the GCDL exam.