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Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure

Change the way you work to get full value from the cloud.

  • 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.

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

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.

MEMBER RATING

9.3/10
Overall Impact

$85,899
Average $ Saved

19
Average Days Saved

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.

Read what our members are saying

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.

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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