With cloud becoming a priority for businesses across sectors, adoption is showing no signs of a slowdown. Companies are embracing the cloud like never before, spending anywhere between
$10 million to $100 million a year on the technology and applications. Although companies stand to benefit tremendously by embarking on the cloud journey, many are also experiencing unprecedented cloud bills. Are you one of them? Then here’s how you can get the most out of your cloud investment while restricting overspend!

The reasons for mounting cloud costs are many

From the very beginning, cloud vendors have positioned the cloud as being a cost-effective alternative to using on-premises data centers. This has put a lot of pressure on companies to embrace the cloud or run the risk of losing out to the competition. As everyone rushes to build business strategies on a foundation of cloud adoption, they end up:

1. Scaling cloud instances

without realizing the costs associated with the expansion or without optimizing cloud usage and efficiency. Because setting up cloud instances has become so easy for companies, cloud expansion remains largely unchecked. With no mechanism in place for controlling or limiting instances, companies end up with several hidden costs and duplicate subscriptions – which contribute greatly to the overall cloud bill.

2. Embracing all modern cloud capabilities

without conducting a detailed study of what cloud features can really benefit the company. With cloud vendors offering an array of modern cloud capabilities, organizations are tempted to embrace it all. However, purchasing more cloud computing capacity and app-driven solutions than needed adds substantially to the monthly cloud bill.

3. Purchasing several duplicate subscriptions

without having clear insight into the overall usage of cloud across the enterprise. If every team or department ends up purchasing or subscribing to cloud services for themselves, the end result is duplicate subscriptions – with several idle or unused resources. Such subscriptions also get automatically renewed every month and contribute greatly to the monthly bill.

Thankfully, ways to optimize spend are also available

Despite the “pay as you go” concept that was the founding principle for the unstoppable growth of the cloud, many organizations end up spending a lot more money than required. If you want to optimize spend and minimize your monthly bills, you need to take some steps now. Ask yourself, are you:

1. Identifying and classifying the workloads you really need

as against blindly embracing all that cloud has to offer? Although cloud capabilities today are many, instead of investing in all the offered capabilities, it is important to identify workloads that stand to benefit the most from being on the cloud. Choose legacy systems, low-risk applications, and applications that are expensive to run on-premises on priority. Such an approach will not only help you get more clarity about your own needs but it will also provide a clear insight into the investment you’ll require.

2. Using cloud cost optimization tools

to track cloud spending across your enterprise? The right tools can provide detailed insight into your instances as well as your usage. You can get a detailed understanding of duplicate, redundant, and idle instances. These insights will help you get rid of unused workloads or zombie assets, cherry-pick the services you need, and control and optimize your cloud bills.

3. Developing and updating your cloud monitoring strategy

to ensure you work well within your cloud budget? Having a robust and updated cloud monitoring strategy can help in streamlining various cloud resources. This will also provide you alerts when you are nearing your limit – so you can optimize costs in time. The right strategy can also help you right-size instances and reduce costs – without affecting the performance of your workloads.

Get the most of your cloud investments

Most organizations are under the impression that cloud adoption will help in drastically bringing down their operational expenses. But when they see their cloud bills mounting, they struggle to identify the reason behind their massive bills. This leads to disappointment and frustration. Despite the many benefits that cloud offers, it is important for organizations to embark on the journey in the right manner, to get the most out of their cloud investments. This includes identifying workloads that are an ideal fit for the cloud, investing in the right cloud cost optimization tools, and developing and maintaining a robust cloud monitoring strategy.

In addition, partnering with an experienced and expert cloud partner with knowledge of tools and processes will help you identify issues and help you keep your cloud bills to a minimum.