CloudSpend Summary Reports
The cloud offers a treasure trove of benefits for businesses, including scalability, agility, and access to cutting-edge technologies. However, for CxOs, managing cloud costs effectively can be a constant tightrope walk. Ever feel overwhelmed by your cloud bill? You are not alone! That is where the Summary Report comes in. It is a handy tool to understand your cloud spending and identify potential savings opportunities. But before we deep dive, lets shed some light on the cloud cost challenges.
Challenges that a CxO faces
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Hidden costs: Every billing cycle comes as a surprise for CxOs where most of the costs are hidden and entities like egress fees, data transfer charges, and underutilized resources come as a nightmare.
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Multiple cloud accounts: Managing costs across multiple cloud accounts (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) can be a logistical nightmare, making it difficult to get a holistic view of total cloud spending.
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Unforeseen usage spikes: Unanticipated surges in resource utilization can lead to unexpected bill shock and throw budgets off track.
Battle between innovation and optimization
The cloud’s ever-evolving landscape with new services and features can tempt businesses to adopt them readily, potentially leading to overspending without proper cost analysis. A heavy focus on cost optimization can hinder innovation and limit the ability to leverage new cloud capabilities that could drive business growth. With various departments and teams utilizing cloud resources, pinpointing who is responsible for specific costs can be a challenge. The lack of a clear cloud cost ownership structure can lead to a culture of “it is someone else’s problem,” hindering accountability for managing spending.
Getting past cloud cost challenges: Through the eyes of summary reports
Investing in automated cloud cost management tools can provide real-time cost visibility, identify optimization opportunities, and automate cost allocation across departments. Educating employees on cloud pricing models and best practices for resource utilization can foster a culture of cost responsibility.
Implementing the FinOps framework, which promotes collaboration between finance, IT, and business teams can optimize cloud costs while meeting business objectives. Regularly reviewing cloud resources and adjusting them based on actual usage can help eliminate waste and optimize spending. CloudSpend summary gives an overview of all the cost across all cloud providers from a single dashboard.
Trend analysis
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Month on Month: Compares your current month’s cloud spending to the previous month’s and lets you know where you’re spending less and where your costs have increased. This quick comparison helps you identify any significant fluctuations in your cloud bill.
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Year on Year: Compares your cloud spending for a specific month to the corresponding month in the previous year. This provides a broader perspective on your cloud cost trends over time.
Where’s your money going?
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Overall cost: This section gives you a clear picture of your total cloud spending for the selected date range.
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Overview: This section dives deeper into your cost breakdown, providing a chart that categorizes your cloud costs by region, service, and other relevant factors.
Optimizing your cloud spending:
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Top N report: Ever wondered which resources are costing you the most? This section identifies the top spenders across different categories like cloud type, accounts, and regions. This information helps you prioritize optimization efforts for the resources with the biggest cost impact.
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Cloud discounts: This section provides valuable insights into the various discounts you’re already benefiting from, such as committed use discounts or bundled savings plans. Cloud discounts are the potential savings area CxOs are interested in, where they leverage talks with cloud providers for future resource allocation.
By understanding these key sections of the Summary Report, you’ll be well-equipped to track your cloud spending trends, identify areas for potential cost savings, optimize your cloud resource allocation, and make informed decisions about your cloud strategy. The Summary Report is your ally in managing your cloud costs effectively. Utilize it to gain valuable insights and ensure you’re getting the most out of your cloud investment. To know more abour CloudSpend Summary reports, please refer to our documentation.
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