It’s more crucial than ever for businesses to manage their expenditures as the economy teeters on the edge of another recession. Azure infrastructure is one of the primary line items on any organization’s budget. Estimating or planning cloud costs is crucial when your business moves toward an architecture, framework, or software-as-a-service ecosystem. Furthermore, you want to avoid experiencing “bill shock”—a sudden spike in your budget for Azure cost management —later. In other words, as you deal with additional staff or cloud resource vendors, budgetary control becomes more necessary and sophisticated in the “cloud age.”
Here are some prevalent reasons for efficiently working toward Azure cost management in 2023.
Inflation is Rising
One of the main drivers of increased Azure expenses is inflation. The cost of living is rising, and Azure service costs are following suit. If you’re not diligent, your Azure bill can spiral out of control very quickly. Reserving cloud resources while they’re affordable is one strategy to address this. When a price increase is imminent, reserving cloud space for the upcoming few years seems like the best course of action. This way, you’ll know exactly how much your Azure services will cost each month, and you won’t have to worry about inflation eating into your budget.
Bloat is Rampant
Another reason why controlling your Azure spending is so important is because bloat is rampant in most organizations. What do we mean by bloat? Bloat refers to unused or unnecessary resources that are taking up space and costing money. For example, you may have an unused VM that’s still consuming computing resources and costing you money every month. Or you may have an over-provisioned database that’s using more storage than it needs to. Whatever the case may be, it’s important to find and eliminate any sources of bloat in your Azure infrastructure as one of the Azure cost management best practices.
Savings Compound
Gaining knowledge of who in your organization is in charge of what expenses, also referred to as establishing transparency in your cloud costs, can be beneficial in many situations. Knowing your budget allows you to choose the right Azure cost management tools and set budgets for each business segment, commodity, service, or function.
If you’re able to reduce your Azure spending even by a small amount, those savings will compound over time and can eventually be reallocated to other projects. For example, if you’re able to save $5000 per month on your Azure cost management documentation/bill, that’s $60,000 per year that you can put towards other initiatives. And if you’re able to maintain those savings for multiple years, the impact on your bottom line can be significant.
Funds Can Be Appropriated to Other Projects
Finally, controlling your Azure spending can free up funds that can be appropriated to other projects. In many cases, IT departments are forced to choose between different initiatives because they lack the funding to support them all. But if you’re able to get your Azure spending under control, you may find that you have some extra cash in the budget that can be used to fund other initiatives.
You can also gain insights into expenditure patterns and constraints over time by generating transparency and interpreting data. It’s crucial to fundamentally manage the expenses against your spending plan and impress the finance department as well.
Conclusion
Businesses must exercise greater financial restraint as the economy hovers on the verge of another downturn. Azure infrastructure is typically one of the highest-spending products for any organization. We looked at various techniques to reduce costs and keep your Azure expenditure in check, including reserving cloud resources, removing instances of bloat, and distributing funds to other initiatives. You can ensure your company survives the next economic slump without going bankrupt by following these tips.
Azure cost management vs. Azure Advisor? Wondering which one would be ideal for assisting you in establishing your business’ Azure budget? Here at Metrix Data 360, our experts can assist you with all your Azure-related concerns. Request a demo or visit our website to find out more about what works best for your company.
