Cloud computing brings numerous benefits such as faster scaling, better IT systems integration, easier access for a hybrid workforce, increased automation, and improved efficiency. However, costs can add up quickly without an effective cloud cost optimization strategy.
Cloud cost optimization can reduce overall cloud spend by configuring computing services, eliminating waste, and identifying poorly managed resources. Read on to learn some best cloud cost optimization practices to minimize costs while balancing performance and resources.
Up to 30% of cloud costs are wasted, according to a recent report by Statista. A cloud cost optimization strategy helps you avoid unnecessary expenses by finding optimal ways to run applications in the cloud at the lowest possible cost.
Cloud cost optimization best practices range substantially, depending on the size and complexity of your infrastructure. These can range from efficient business management practices - like identifying unused resources - to highly complex modeling and forecasting methods.
Spiraling costs are a dominant cloud migration challenge because they directly affect profitability. Therefore, minimizing overhead expenses is crucial for any organization to achieve its long-term financial goals.
Migrating to the cloud without significant planning and redesigning for cloud computing typically leads to higher costs due to overprovisioning. Every component and communication channel must be optimally sized to handle peak demand. Failure to do so can result in idle resources and unnecessary expenses. Moreover, routers, switches, leased-lines, load balancers, and firewalls in shared infrastructure are sized to handle the heaviest expected cloud user traffic. Unfortunately, this often leads to unnecessary latency and bandwidth costs.
The benefits of cloud cost optimization extend beyond reducing expenses. Secondary effects include improved operations, better resource utilization, and increased awareness across your teams.
By establishing a comprehensive cloud cost optimization plan, managers can:
It’s important to keep in mind that cloud cost optimization is a continuous process. Tracking metrics, analyzing data, and making data-driven decisions ensures that costs are kept to a minimum without performance losses.
Amazon Web Services outlines five cost optimization pillars that apply to nearly all environments, independent of workload or architecture:
Right-sizing your infrastructure ensures your services match your cloud computing requirements. Factors to consider include memory, storage, CPU, and network throughput.
Elasticity refers to the optimization of cloud resources according to usage. According to AWS, most IT costs and hardware requirements are optimized for peak usage, however costs add up when these resources are not turned off.
AWS suggests that non-production instances can be turned off by 70% or more on any given week. Doing so enables businesses to optimize costs according to the resources they actually need.
Most cloud vendors provide a range of pricing models that optimize costs based on the required workload. These can include reserved instances for predictable workloads and on-demand and spot Instances for variable workloads.
Most public cloud providers offer multiple storage tiers at prices aligned with performance. For example, most businesses can lower costs while balancing performance and availability by identifying the most appropriate storage destination for specific data types.
Maximizing the financial benefits of the cloud is an ongoing process of measuring, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
AWS suggests some tips that include:
There are numerous ways to optimize your cloud infrastructure to reduce costs. Some of the most common include:
Replace existing infrastructure with cloud-native systems that leverage capabilities specific to the cloud environment. While this requires extensive skills and experience, it’s the most effective way to optimize costs.
Replacing existing systems with cloud-native alternatives may be the most straightforward way to reduce costs, but it can sometimes be resource-intensive and unfeasible.
The next best approach is to maximize existing infrastructure by identifying unused resources and right-sizing your system. Focusing on resource usage, finding inefficiencies, and right-sizing your cloud architecture helps determine if you are overpaying for unneeded capabilities and/or unused capacity.
Paying for capacity that will definitely be used is critical to optimizing cloud service provisioning.
Estimating reserved instances and on-demand capacity reservation typically requires forecasting and budgeting. The objective here is to calculate your “baseline” utilization in order to pre-pay for capacity at a significant discount from your cloud service provider.
Further, most major cloud providers offer volume discounts to larger businesses, resulting in better cost optimization. Being aware of these incentives and incorporating them into your overall cost optimization strategy is vital to controlling expenses in the long term.
Establish a training program emphasizing reviewing, controlling, and monitoring cloud computing costs. Additionally, you may want to incorporate those duties into specific financial, technical, and managerial roles.
The effectiveness of your cloud cost optimization project ultimately depends on the people involved. Fusing key principles of cost optimization into various business roles enables your teams to measure and monitor cloud computing expenses continuously.
Cloud service providers typically provide billing statements with a detailed breakdown of all costs. Reviewing these details can help you achieve even greater cost savings by analyzing the highest expenses, including CPUs, storage, and other cloud management costs.
Achieving the highest cost optimization requires a complete understanding of how cloud service providers price their services. Besides identifying what services are used the most, this information also helps you decide what services to avoid. For example, reducing instance type by one class can significantly reduce the hourly rate.
Cloud computing offers many advantages, however expenses can quickly accumulate without a strategic plan. Cloud cost optimization helps reduce costs and improve application infrastructure efficiency. It’s an ongoing process that requires consistent measurement, monitoring, and improvement in order to maximize savings in the long term.
Migrating your data, IT infrastructure, and applications to the cloud evolves your business by leveraging unique benefits specific to cloud computing. Cloud cost optimization is vital to balancing resources and performance while maximizing ROI in the long term.
Moonswitch can help you control costs from the very beginning. We help set the foundation for a successful cloud migration through a strategic plan that aligns with your company goals. Contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation to learn if your business is a good fit for cloud computing.