94% are still wasting money in the cloud

Cloud is now a fundamental part of every business’s infrastructure and optimising cloud costs has never been more important. As HashiCorp’s 2023 State of Cloud Strategy Survey reveals that a staggering 94% of organisations are still wasting money in the cloud, we follow up on our previous blog post on how to reduce your cloud spend.

Cloud cost monitoring tools

Invest in cloud cost monitoring and optimisation tools. These tools can provide real-time insights into your cloud spending, identify cost anomalies, and suggest areas for improvement.

Tagging and cost allocation

Implement a robust tagging strategy for your cloud resources. Properly tagged resources make it easier to allocate costs to specific departments or projects, enabling you to identify areas where cost reductions are most needed.

Lifecycle management

Automate the lifecycle management of resources. This includes setting policies to automatically delete or archive unused data, snapshots, or old resources. Keeping only what's necessary reduces storage costs.

Use spot instances and preemptible VMs

Take advantage of spot instances on AWS or preemptible VMs on Google Cloud for non-critical workloads. These instances are significantly cheaper than on-demand instances, but they come with the caveat of potential termination.

Serverless computing

Consider migrating certain workloads to serverless computing platforms like AWS Lambda or Azure Functions. With serverless, you only pay for the exact compute time used, which can lead to substantial savings.

Optimise data transfer costs

Be mindful of data transfer costs between regions and services within your cloud provider. Minimise unnecessary data transfers and consider using content delivery networks (CDNs) to reduce latency and data transfer fees.

Reserved capacity for long-term stability

While savings plans and reserved instances are excellent for predictable workloads, they also provide cost stability. Consider using them for mission-critical applications that require long-term support and predictability.

Cloud cost governance

Establish clear cloud cost governance policies within your organisation. This includes regular cost review meetings, cost awareness training for teams, and incentives for cost-conscious behaviour.

Continuous optimisation

Cloud optimisation is not a one-time effort. Continuously monitor, analyse, and optimise your cloud resources to adapt to changing usage patterns and evolving cloud services.

Evaluate multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies:

Depending on your business needs, consider a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategy. This can help you leverage cost advantages offered by different cloud providers for specific workloads.

Remember that cloud cost optimisation is an ongoing process that requires diligence and adaptation. By combining these additional strategies with the ones mentioned in the original blog post, you can develop a comprehensive approach to saving money in the cloud.