Cloud computing has revolutionized the way
businesses operate. It offers scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency.
But cloud services also come with a downside: cloud waste.
Cloud waste is the unnecessary spending of
resources and money on cloud services. These services are often not fully
utilized or optimized. About 32% of cloud spending is wasted. This can lead to budget concerns as spending
skyrockets.
But that figure also holds opportunity. It
means that you can reduce nearly a third of cloud spending by optimizing how
you use cloud tools.
So, how can you reduce cloud waste at your
business and save money? Here are some smart tactics to consider.
Before implementing any cost-cutting
strategies, conduct an audit. It's essential to have a clear understanding of
your current cloud usage. Conducting a comprehensive cloud audit allows you to
identify:
Use cloud management tools to generate
reports. Look at usage patterns, costs, and performance metrics. This initial
assessment forms the foundation for implementing effective waste reduction
tactics.
Right-sizing involves matching your cloud
resources to the actual demands of your workloads. Many businesses fall into
the trap of overprovisioning. This means securing more user licenses or
features than they need. This leads to increased costs and unnecessary waste.
Analyze your workload requirements and
resize instances accordingly. Use tools provided by your cloud service
provider. These tools can identify and adjust the capacity of instances. This
ensures that you only pay for the resources you truly need.
Cloud providers offer cost-saving options
like Reserved Instances (RIs) and Savings Plans. These allow businesses to
commit to a specific amount of usage. This is in exchange for discounted rates.
By leveraging these options, you can significantly reduce your cloud costs over
time.
Carefully analyze your workload and usage
patterns. Then, determine the most cost-effective reserved capacity or savings
plan. Find a plan that aligns with your business's long-term goals.
Dynamic workloads have a need for dynamic
resource allocation. Install automated scaling policies. These ensure that your
infrastructure scales up or down based on demand. This optimizes performance.
It also prevents overprovisioning during periods of low activity.
Cloud services enable you to set predefined
policies for scaling. Examples are AWS Auto Scaling and Autoscale in Azure.
These features help ensure efficient resource utilization without manual
intervention.
Storage costs can accumulate quickly. This
is especially true when data is not regularly reviewed and archived. Estimate
your storage needs. Then, put in place lifecycle policies to automatically
downsize lesser-used data. Such as transitioning less frequently accessed data
to lower-cost storage options.
Regularly review and delete unnecessary
data to free up storage space. Adopt a proactive approach to storage
management. This can help you significantly reduce costs associated with data
storage.
Schedule your cloud resources to run only
when you need them. For example, turn off development, testing, or staging
environments during nights and weekends. Or scale down your production
environment during off-peak hours.
Use available tools to automate the
scheduling of your cloud resources. Base this on automated rules and policies
that you define.
Sometimes, you may forget or neglect to
delete cloud resources. Resources that you no longer need or use. This can
include:
These resources can accumulate over time
and incur unnecessary costs. To avoid this, you should regularly audit your
cloud environment. Delete any unused or orphaned resources your business is not
using. You can often use cloud provider tools to find and remove these.
Different departments in the same
organization may be using duplicate services. Marketing may use one task
management app, while Sales uses a different one. Centralize cloud resources
and remove duplicate tools.
Having everyone use the same cloud tool for
the same function can save money. As well as enhance collaboration, reporting,
and data integration.
Serverless computing allows businesses to
run applications without managing the underlying infrastructure. You pay only
for the actual compute resources used for your processes. This eliminates the
need for provisioning and maintaining servers. Which reduces both operational
complexity and costs. Consider migrating suitable workloads to a serverless
model. This can help you optimize resource use and cut cloud waste.
By following these smart tactics, you can
reduce cloud waste at your business. As well as optimize your cloud spending.
This helps you save money. You can also improve operational efficiency and
environmental sustainability.
Are you struggling with expanding cloud
costs? Need help identifying and removing cloud waste? Our team of cloud
experts can help you.
Article used with permission from The Technology
Press.