Ever since cloud computing became a thing, businesses have been able to store, manage and process their data in a whole new way. But let’s face it: with all the fancy cloud services and pricing models these days, it can be tough to keep expenses under control. The more complicated things get, the easier it is to overspend if you’re not careful.
If you’re wondering how your business can better manage cloud costs effectively, here are some good tips I have come across.
Keeping Costs Under Control
Understand Your Cloud Usage: The first step in managing cloud costs is to thoroughly understand your cloud usage. This involves knowing what services you are using, how often you use them, and the associated costs. It’s also important to understand the pricing models of your cloud service provider.
Some providers charge based on the amount of data stored, while others charge based on the number of transactions or requests. By understanding your usage patterns and the associated costs, you can identify areas where you can potentially reduce costs.
Implement a Cloud Cost Management Framework: Implementing a cloud cost management framework can help you keep track of your cloud spending and identify areas for cost optimisation. This framework should include policies and procedures for monitoring and controlling cloud costs and roles and responsibilities for cost management.
A good cloud cost management framework should also include a process for regularly reviewing and updating the framework to ensure it remains effective and relevant.
Use Cloud Cost Management Tools: There are several cloud cost management tools available that can help you monitor and control your cloud spending. These tools provide visibility into your cloud usage and costs and can provide recommendations for cost optimisation.
For instance, some tools can identify unused or underutilised resources that can be shut down to save costs. Others can provide insights into your usage patterns and suggest ways to optimise your usage to reduce costs.
Optimise Your Cloud Usage: Once you have a good understanding of your cloud usage and costs, you can start to optimise your usage to reduce costs. This can involve a variety of strategies, such as moving workloads to cheaper regions, downsizing underutilised resources, or using reserved instances for workloads with predictable usage patterns.
Implement a Cloud Governance Model: Implementing a cloud governance model can help ensure that your cloud usage and costs are in line with your business goals and objectives. This involves establishing policies and procedures for cloud usage, cost management, and roles and responsibilities for cloud governance.
A good cloud governance model should also include a process for regularly reviewing and updating the model to ensure it remains effective and relevant.
Regularly Review and Update Your Cloud Cost Management Strategy: Cloud services and pricing models are constantly evolving, so it’s important to regularly review and update your cloud cost management strategy to ensure it remains effective. This should involve reviewing your cloud usage and costs, evaluating the effectiveness of your cost management framework and tools, and updating your strategies for cost optimisation and governance.
Final Thoughts
Managing cloud costs can be a tricky job that requires a good understanding of how you’re using the cloud and what it’s costing you. You’ll also need some tools to help you manage those costs and optimise your usage. Hopefully, the tips outlined above provide helpful steps that can make it much easier to manage your cloud costs and get the most value out of your cloud investments. So, if you’re looking to get a handle on your cloud expenses, these steps are definitely worth checking out.