Cloud technology solutions are intuitive tools that can help any business move its operations offsite and into the cloud. While there are various cloud platforms business owners can use, one such solution, Microsoft Azure, is a fully comprehensive cloud platform capable of growing with your needs—so long as you know how to optimize your costs efficiently and effectively.
This is where Azure cost optimization comes into play. With these solutions and practices in place, not only can your company save money, but you can also prepare yourself and your team members for a scalable future.
An overview of Azure cost optimization
The tools Microsoft Azure provides for cost optimization and cloud management (for example, Microsoft Cost Management and Azure Advisor) give organizations insights into their cloud usage practices.
Specifically, cost optimization tools allow you to view:
- The individual solutions that make up your cloud infrastructure.
- The expenses that go toward using and managing your solutions.
- The exact resources that your cloud infrastructure uses.
In other words, optimizing your Azure costs allows you to view how your company’s cloud budget is being spent, providing you with a deeper understanding of the nature of your cloud expenses. You can gain insights into how each service and tool impacts your organization’s resources, along with receiving advice on how best to save money based on an analysis of other Azure users.
With Azure, you have everything you need to cut costs, streamline decision-making regarding your company’s cloud, and boost business efficiency.
How can optimizing costs in Azure benefit businesses?
Deploying tools and practices that seek to reduce your Azure costs offers you a world of benefits. By partaking in Azure’s optimization services, you will be able to build and launch business-relevant operations and tools without forcing you to pay out of your own pocket or significantly rework your organization’s carefully crafted budgeting plan.
This can offer you more time and money that can be better spent on servicing your customers, empowering your team, and improving business efficiency. But, these advantages are only achievable if your cloud service costs are in line with your organization.
Luckily, Microsoft offers users a pricing calculator to see their organization’s monthly costs for Azure. The hosting environment and the number of Azure users in your business will influence your costs.
7 ways to make the most of Azure cost optimization
To successfully reduce your company’s spending on Azure, you must follow a clear process that grants you a holistic look at your current Azure infrastructure.
This includes:
- Research the Azure services available and their costs.
- Analyze your Azure bills to find which services directly increase the efficiency of your business processes.
- Actively prepare for and perform the seven cost optimization practices.
Cost optimization practices
1. Close or mitigate resources that are not delivering value
You must identify the Azure resources that are not actively contributing to your business and reduce their usage (or rid yourself of them entirely). These solutions will have negative impacts on your business efficiency, such as increased staff stress and poor allocation of resources.
2. Leverage Microsoft Cost Management
Microsoft Cost Management provides you with a space to see the individual services equipped for Azure, along with their associated costs. You can use this tool for more impactful cost analysis.
3. Invest in autoscaling
To get the most out of Azure, you must configure autoscaling for your virtual machines (VMs). This refers to the practice of determining and following a utilization level for your VMs. If autoscaling is enabled, the number of VMs in use may be seamlessly decreased or increased based on the situation—it saves you from overusing resources while lowering your Azure subscription’s cost through the power of automation.
4. Keep resources for predictable workloads
In Azure’s case, regular pricing is determined by the number of central processors you utilize, the storage space you use, and your system’s memory. To keep things simple, any applications and procedures that do not maximize the value of the three aforementioned factors will result in you paying for them anyway—additional expenses you do not need.
Make sure consistent workloads use all three factors to make the most of your Azure cost optimization.
5. Select the computing service that matches your business needs
Azure supports various computing services you can choose from. These cloud technology solutions and services must actively contribute to your business processes.
They include (but are not limited to):
- Azure App Service: Provides you with the ability to build scalable applications for mobile devices and the web.
- Azure Batch: Lets you run more robust computing operations in a cloud environment.
- Azure Virtual Machines: Lets you host applications and operating systems within a Microsoft-enhanced environment.
6. Take advantage of the Azure Hybrid Benefit
Bill consolidation for Azure (aka Azure Hybrid Benefit) is the process of dividing cloud costs across on-site licences and Azure, effectively lowering any costs related to sourcing and managing the platform.
7. Use Azure consulting services
Azure consulting services can help businesses reduce their Azure costs by providing expertise and guidance on how to use the platform and its cloud technology solutions in cost-effective ways. Azure consultants can also provide assistance with sourcing, optimizing and troubleshooting applications and services, guaranteeing that your Azure infrastructure runs at maximum efficiency with the lowest cost possible.
Grow your business efficiency with Microsoft Azure
Azure is fully equipped with the tools you need to improve and manage your cloud spending and budget. But if you are not using said tools effectively (or you are unaware of how they can assist your company), your Azure spending will not be ideal.
Skynet MTS’s Azure consulting services can provide your organization with all the support and skills it needs to scale up with Azure. If you are determined to reduce your cloud costs and become more competitive in your industry, reach out to Skynet MTS’s Azure consultants today.