Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure | Info-Tech Research Group

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Traditional IT budgeting and procurement processes don't work for public cloud services.
The self-service nature of the cloud means that often the people provisioning cloud resources aren't accountable for the cost of those resources.
Without centralized control or oversight, organizations can quickly end up with massive Azure bills that exceed their IT salary cost.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Most engineers care more about speed of feature delivery and reliability of the system than they do about cost.
Often there are no consequences for overarchitecting or overspending on Azure.
Many organizations lack sufficient visibility into their Azure spend, making it impossible to establish accountability and controls.

Impact and Result

Define roles and responsibilities.
Establish visibility.
Develop processes, procedures, and policies.

Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should take control of cloud costs, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure – Executive Brief

1. Build a cost accountability framework

Assess your current state, define your cost allocation model, and define roles and responsibilities.

2. Establish visibility

Define dashboards and reports, and document account structure and tagging requirements.

3. Define processes and procedures

Establish governance for tagging and cost control, define process for right-sizing, and define process for purchasing commitment discounts.

4. Build an implementation plan

Document process interactions, establish program KPIs, and build implementation roadmap and communication plan.

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

9.3/10

Overall Impact

$85,899

Average $ Saved

19

Average Days Saved

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

Testimonial

Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority

Guided Implementation

8/10

$1,700

1

Very knowledgable and experienced advice...need more than one call to get the information on the strategy and practical side ( a good thing, I can ... Read More

The Legacy Companies

Guided Implementation

10/10

$129K

7

Best, Nabeel was a great resource and a friendly person. We had a lot of laughs and fun working through this blueprint and the final product was p... Read More

Peabody Investments Corp.

Workshop

10/10

$125K

50

The facilitators were fantastic, helping to keep the energy level up over 4 days of meetings. I really felt like they weren't just there to docume... Read More

Workshop: Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Build a Cost Accountability Framework

The Purpose

Establish clear lines of accountability and document roles & responsibilities to effectively manage cloud costs.

Key Benefits Achieved

Understanding of key areas to focus on to improve cloud cost management capabilities.

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Assess current state

Cloud cost management capability assessment

1.2

Determine cloud cost model

Cloud cost model

1.3

Define roles & responsibilities

Roles & responsibilities

Module 2: Establish Visibility

The Purpose

Establish visibility into cloud costs and drivers of those costs.

Key Benefits Achieved

Better understanding of what is driving costs and how to keep them in check.

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Develop architectural patterns

Architectural patterns; service cost cheat sheet

2.2

Define dashboards and reports

Dashboards and reports

2.3

Define account structure

Account structure

2.4

Document tagging requirements

Tagging scheme

Module 3: Define Processes & Procedures

The Purpose

Develop processes, procedures, and policies to control cloud costs.

Key Benefits Achieved

Improved capability of reducing costs.
Documented processes & procedures for continuous improvement.

Activities

Outputs

3.1

Establish governance for tagging

Tagging policy

3.2

Establish governance for costs

Cost control policy

3.3

Define right-sizing process

Right-sizing process

3.4

Define purchasing process

Commitment purchasing process

3.5

Define notification and alerts

Notifications and alerts

Module 4: Build an Implementation Plan

The Purpose

Document next steps to implement & improve cloud cost management program.

Key Benefits Achieved

Concrete roadmap to stand up and/or improve the cloud cost management program.

Activities

Outputs

4.1

Document process interaction changes

Changes to process interactions

4.2

Define cloud cost program KPIs

Cloud cost program KPIs

4.3

Build implementation roadmap

Implementation roadmap

4.4

Build communication plan

Communication plan

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 13 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Build a cost accountability framework

Call 1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.
Call 2: Review capability assessment, budget model, and reporting model.
Call 3: Review roles & responsibilities and glossary.

Guided Implementation 2: Establish visibility

Call 1: Review architectural patterns and service cost cheat sheet.
Call 2: Review dashboards and reports.
Call 3: Review account and tagging scheme.

Guided Implementation 3: Define processes and procedures

Call 1: Review tagging and cost governance policies.
Call 2: Review right-sizing process.
Call 3: Review commitment process.
Call 4: Review alerting/notifications and change procedures.

Guided Implementation 4: Build an implementation plan

Call 1: Review process interactions and changes.
Call 2: Review KPIs.
Call 3: Review implementation roadmap.

Author

Derek Shank

Contributors

Adam Silverman, Manager, Global Cloud Cost Management, Wolters Kluwer
Amanda Gingras, Product Manager, Moody’s Corporation
Chris Malonis, Account Executive, CloudHealth
Chris Weitz, Managing Director, Cloud Cost Management LLC
Daniel Lott, CloudOps Analyst
David Shepard, EVP Sales & Marketing, CloudAdmin
Joseph Matthew, Director of Technology, Software WORX
Pawal Gieniec, CEO & Founder, CloudAdmin
Stephen Worotynec, Technology Leader, SDLC & DevOps
Ted Kicey, Managing Director, Cloud Cost Management LLC

Search Code: 95674
Last Revised: December 8, 2020

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