Cloud optimization : how to control your cloud expenses ?
Cloud optimization is THE central topic of today's business news. After gradually migrating most of their infrastructure to the cloud, organizations are now taking the measure of their new work environment. And this full awareness of the Cloud is often accompanied by a bad surprise: the invoice.
After implementing a new IT architecture, many companies are faced with difficult management of their Cloud expenses. Whose fault is it ? A bad optimization of the Cloud? A lack of team accountability? Strategic mistakes during migration? It's hard to point out a clear culprit.
While this awareness seems to be shaking many organizations, a Flexera study even presents cloud cost management as the priority challenge for large companies in 2019. Let's see why and how optimizing your cloud architecture will help you improve your overall performance.
Cloud optimization: a financial necessity
It could seems easy ton understand, but it is sometimes necessary to break down open doors to reconnect with the issues.
Why should optimizing your cloud architecture be necessary for your company's health? That's right: everything works pretty well, your teams appreciate the agility provided by the Cloud and you're happy to have taken the plunge. In many cases, migration to the Cloud brings a whole lot of satisfaction that could convince you of the success of your migration strategy.
But, as stated in this article on the importance of ROI in developing your Cloud strategy, most of the success indicators that give you this sense of satisfaction are difficult to quantify (flexibility, team productivity, overall satisfaction...). Although it is necessary to take these qualitative aspects into account, the return on investment of your migration is obviously an important issue.
And, as you have understood, it is on this subject that the optimization of your Cloud architecture will come into play. The ease of use of the Cloud often leads companies to opt for the Cloud without implementing a real upstream strategy. And that's when the bad surprises come.
Financially, optimizing and controlling your cloud infrastructure will allow your company to make significant savings on its monthly invoice. In order to be profitable, it is therefore important to take an interest in it.
Beyond the financial aspect, optimizing the management of your Cloud and training your teams to use their infrastructure more responsibly will make it easier to manage your new IT architecture on a daily basis.
In concrete terms: how to make Cloud optimization ?
Cloud optimization requires first and foremost the creation of a clear strategy and the implementation of a defined framework for your teams. The good practices that you will want to share with your employees must become natural reflexes.
Opt for the rightsizing of your Cloud instances
The rightsizing of your resources is one of the key steps in starting an architecture optimization strategy. Why go on holiday with your in-laws with 4 suitcases per person? To make sure you don't miss anything, yes, we can hear it. But the difficulty of taking all your house on a trip will be more exhausting than the satisfaction of bringing your barber's briefcase to show it to your father-in-law. The link with the Cloud? Oversizing is not always an obvious source of benefits.
Automation to optimize my Cloud
Automating the management of your Cloud is now becoming a necessary step in order to optimize the Cloud. In a previous article on Cloud Cost Management, we compared leaving your unused instances on with letting your empty oven run at 200° overnight. You understood the comparison, didn't you?
At this level, the automation of certain tasks can allow you to make real savings, while at the same time adopting a more environmentally responsible approach. Double shot.
Think about reserved instances
Another good reflex to adopt if you are able to anticipate your strategy upstream: buy reserved instances from your Cloud provider. The reservation of instances will allow you to benefit from significant discounts on your invoice. Anticipating your vision of the Cloud and projecting it onto your projects is perfectly in line with the spirit of responsible Cloud.
Multi-cloud dashboard: the solution to simplify your cloud optimization
Managing a multi-cloud environment is often difficult. Between lack of visibility on data, race between different suppliers and lack of transparency on invoices, it is difficult for you to find your way around.
To address these various issues related to the wide variety of products and offerings available in the cloud market, the use of a cloud cost optimization platform can be very effective. This is what Lota.cloud offers: an agnostic dashboard that allows you to centralize all your cloud billing data in a single space. In addition to increased visibility and a real simplification of your control processes, you will benefit from many additional features allowing you to optimize your Cloud in a simple and intuitive way. An essential tool for all organizations wishing to reduce their Cloud invoices easily.
