Cloud cost optimization is something that must be done by any company using cloud services to avoid waste and misappropriation of funds.
The best practices for cloud cost optimization have to be in place if an organization wants to witness changes in the amount they spend on cloud services. Some of these practices require continuous and regular effort, such as auditing cloud costs.
In this article, you will learn about the definition of cloud cost optimization and the best practices for an organization trying to cut the costs of its cloud services.
What is Cloud Cost Optimization?
Most people often confuse cloud cost optimization with a reduction in the amount an organization pays for its cloud services. This is far from the correct definition of cloud cost optimization; it means something much better and more effective.
Cloud cost optimization is looking for the best yet cost-effective cloud services that perfectly fit an organization or company’s needs without breaking the bank. This means that reduction isn’t the only keyword when discussing cloud cost optimization; efficiency and effectiveness are also major elements.
An organization looks for the best cloud services that won’t make them go over the budget and, at the same time, get quality services. With increasing costs in running businesses and a bad outlook of the world economy, cloud cost optimization is something every organization using cloud services should consider.
Best Practices for Cloud Cost Optimization
Below are some best practices that can help an organization get the best cloud services without exceeding its budget.
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Audit Cloud Costs
How would an organization know they are spending more money than usual when they audit their cloud costs infrequently? This is a duty that most organizations fail to carry out, making them pay more for cloud services than needed.
When an organization regularly audits its cloud cost, it will know how much money they spend on cloud services and how to set a budget. Auditing cloud costs will also help an organization identify overlaps and see what they do to cut them off.
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Get a Budget
One of the first steps an organization that wants to reduce its cloud costs should take is to set a budget for the cloud services they use. A budget will help them know how much they can comfortably spend on cloud services without harming the company’s finances.
A budget for cloud services should be decisive; it should look out for the perks and discounts often offered by cloud service providers. A budget is more like a plan for a company’s cloud needs, so it should be straight to the point yet good enough to make a positive impact.
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Remove Unused Services
One of the things that lead to increased cloud costs in organizations is unused cloud services which are still paid for even when idle.
Besides taking money from an organization even when not used, an idle cloud service or product might be a weak link for a supply chain breach. Software service can help an organization with software supply chain security issues.
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Right Size Organizations resources
An organization can reduce its cloud resources by bringing them down to their needed size. Most organizations use cloud resources that are bigger than needed; in other words, they often generalize instead of personalizing.
One of the major defects of using generalized cloud services is that sometimes an organization has to pay for services they don’t even need. When an organization has the right size of resources, they pay for only those services that the company strictly needs at a certain time. Getting the recommendations of software service providers will help an organization right size resources better.
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Use Discounts
Most cloud service providers, such as AWS, give huge discounts when an organization purchases a cloud service for a long period. For instance, a cloud service provider might offer up to 50% discounts when an organization pays for a cloud service upfront for more than a year.
Instead of an organization paying monthly, it would be better to reduce cloud costs by paying upfront and getting discounts of up to 50%. This will reduce costs and help an organization channel its energy to do other things instead of paying for cloud service from time to time.
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Choose the Right Storage
One of the mistakes that some organizations make is choosing cloud storage that they might not use. Every organization has storage needs; some might need as low as 256 GB, while others might need as much as more than five terabytes.
An organization needs to analyze its storage needs and choose accordingly with those storage needs instead of spending randomly. If an organization has a storage need of 500 GB, it would be better to evaluate and pay for that instead of a two-terabyte storage.
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Optimize Cloud Costs In Each SDLC stage
The cloud is part of the software supply chain and software development lifecycle (SDLC), so costs should be optimized at every stage. For each stage of software production and distribution, the number of cloud services needed will be the same. During the building stage of software, it usually needs a step-by-step increase in the amount of cloud storage space needed.
Not only should cloud costs be optimized at every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), but they should also be secured. Since the cloud is part of the software supply chain, software service providers provide expert help in providing security for the cloud and other supply chain elements.
To properly manage the cost of cloud services at each stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), planning must be done, design and building, and monitoring must be in place.
Wrapping Up
Cloud services play an important role for an organization or company that uses them; however, many organizations overpay for these services. Sometimes most of the cloud services that are being paid for aren’t even being used by the organization leading to a waste of funds.
Many practices have to be in place to reduce the cost of money wasted on cloud services and improve performance. An organization has to evaluate, create a budget, the right size, make use of discounts, use the right storage options, and many other things.
