This is the second in our series on maximizing the value of your Microsoft Azure investment.
Companies migrate to the cloud or a hybrid environment to make remote work easier and save money on IT infrastructure, systems and staff. For some companies, a cloud first solution is a great option. For others, a hybrid solution provides the benefits of the cloud for many systems while keeping specific workloads on-premises to address latency issues, adhere to regulatory requirements and/or get the most out of existing IT infrastructure investments.
As with any IT investment, there may be some initial buyer’s remorse when you get your first bill. This is especially true when you haven’t optimized your subscription to reduce costs while maximizing value.
Microsoft Azure lets you can take control of your cloud costs and eliminate unnecessary expenses with the Cost Management + Billing feature on your Azure subscription. You can:
- Monitor and analyze your Azure bill
- Manage all of your Azure costs
- Use analysis tools to allocate costs to your teams and projects
- Set budgets, spending thresholds and spending alerts
- See monthly forecasting
- Download usage data
Having visibility into you spending makes saving money easy. With Azure’s analytical tools, you can:
Monitor cloud spending. With a single, unified view, you can track resource usage and manage costs across all your clouds. You also get operational and financial insights to make better decisions.
Increase accountability. Identify and assign accountability with budgets, cost allocation and charge backs. You can also implement governance policies for effective cloud cost management.
Optimize cloud efficiency. Use continuous cost optimization and industry best practices to improve the ROI on your cloud spending.
Another way to reduce costs is by using Azure Advisor, which helps companies optimize cloud resource usage with customized recommendations. For example, you may be able to reduce virtual machine (VM) spend by resizing or shutting down underused instances. Azure Advisor is broken down into 5 categories:
- Reliability
- Security
- Performance
- Cost
- Operational Excellence
But you don’t need to do this yourself. K3 has expertise with Azure cost management and is ready to find cost savings for you.
