This white paper discusses transforming IT costs from capital expenditures (CAPEX) to operating expenditures (OPEX) by moving to a virtual infrastructure hosted in the cloud. For startups and growing businesses, an OPEX model is preferable due to funding constraints and the need for fast, flexible access to resources. However, larger companies with tax benefits may prefer a CAPEX model. The decision depends on factors like forecasting needs, usage patterns, and cost per unit of consumption. Moving to OPEX shifts responsibility for delivery and results to cloud providers while reducing hardware and other costs. Companies should carefully evaluate providers based on pricing, service level agreements, support offerings, and other factors before making the switch.