Learn More About Cloud Cost Management Tools
Who Uses Cloud Cost Management Tools?
Cloud architects: Cloud architects manage the technical requirements of cloud architecture and oversee a company’s cloud environment and strategies. A cloud architect is the main persona that uses cloud cost management software. Understanding how to manage cloud spends and optimize cloud resources falls upon the cloud architect. A cloud architect doesn't just work with engineering and development, they also work closely with HR, finance, logistics, and security to ensure that cloud strategies are being optimized.
Cloud cost managers: Cloud cost managers handle various tasks such as forecasting, budgeting, business development practices and processes, identification of trends and opportunities, cloud governance best practices, among many others. Managers can use the analytics dashboard to keep track of cloud strategies and propose changes and suggestions to decision makers based on derived insights.
IT teams and admins: IT admins use cloud cost management tools to optimize cloud infrastructure and ensure all resources are being used judiciously. Cloud admins can use the software to set up real-time monitoring, budget, notifications, and alerts. Administrators gain access and control the cost view over the company cloud through a web-based interface they can access from anywhere.
Cross-functional teams: Cloud computing has become an integral part of enterprises across the globe. Several cross-functional teams such as engineering teams and application development and testing teams within an organization depend on cloud to ensure they create and release products with a much lower time to market. The heads of cross-functional teams within an organization can keep track of how spending on cloud resources to ensure they are well within the budget provided.
Cloud service providers: Cloud service providers offer cloud cost optimization options. Having internal cost management options that are reliable, scalable, consistent, and available as required is a key benefit for several customers. Some of the biggest names in cloud platforms include AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud, and several others have their specific cloud spend management platforms such as Amazon CloudWatch, AWS Budgets, Azure Cost Management, Cost management by Google Cloud, among several others. Integrated cost management tools along with billing support are offered at no additional costs by these cloud giants.
Software Related to Cloud Cost Management Tools
Cloud management platforms: Cloud cost management forms a key part of cloud management platforms. A cloud management platform is a set of unified software tools which help companies monitor and control cloud computing resources. This software brings the administrative visibility and capability of cloud cost management solutions.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) providers: Cloud cost management tools are typically paired with infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings to minimize the costs of a pay-as-you-go model. Companies also use a combination of these tools to increase the efficiency of their cloud service usage—these solutions often provide reporting features to outline waste and redundancies.
SaaS spend management software: Cloud cost management software has some overlap with SaaS spend management software, but the latter is used to monitor and manage spending on cloud applications rather than cloud infrastructure.
How to Buy Cloud Cost Management Tools
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Cloud Cost Management Tools
When researching cloud cost management platforms, the first and foremost step is to ask one question—what issues could potentially be solved using a cloud cost management tool? It is essential to understand cloud spend inefficiencies and identify the ones harming the buyer’s organization. Taking into consideration the reasons for cost inefficiencies is critical. Some of the key reasons that cause companies to rack up huge cloud bills are:
Poor resource management caused by oversizing: Companies usually end up spending a lot on acquiring resources but only utilize half of that at any point in time. A capacity that isn't needed is a part of the wasted cloud costs. Rightsizing ensures that costs are being optimized and the company is not facing copious amounts in bills.
Software inefficiency: Since several different teams would be using the cloud resources within the company, it becomes quite difficult to keep track of the cloud storage costs. Failure to measure software efficiency or not having set targets can lead to an increase in the wastage of cloud computing resources.
Forecast issues: As discussed earlier, scaling is a key feature of cloud computing. However, when companies fail to forecast their needs (which is a difficult task) such as developing new services or changing existing ones, it could rack up unintentional costs since the company would be over or underprepared for the additional needs.
Architectural design: With the hype around moving to cloud, several companies are moving to cloud just to enter the hype; realizing later that it is much more expensive than anticipated. Workloads might not be suitable for some specific cloud environments or not supported, additional licensing might be required, governance issues might crop up, and a host of other problems that would only drive costs further up.
Once a company has identified the issues and cost inefficiencies, it becomes much easier for the customer to filter out and identify what type of cloud cost management they are looking for. If the buyer prefers having a single software solution owner, they could opt for a single cloud provider with inherent cloud cost optimization capabilities. However, if the buyer prefers a separate tool to manage various cloud environments like hybrid and multi-cloud environments, they could opt for another stand-alone solution altogether. Customers can use reviews here at G2.com as a guide to move forward with choosing the software.
Compare Cloud Cost Management Tools Products
Create a long list
This step involves creating a long list of cloud cost management software providers that assist buyers in cost optimization plans. Some key factors to consider include automation, server instances tracking, billing methods, dashboard functionality, cost reduction, security support, data privacy, etc. In this step, it is important to note that many top cloud service providers provide cloud cost optimization as a part of their cloud offerings (on a subscription basis), hence it is important to evaluate whether the added functionality is sufficient or a stand-alone solution is required.
Create a short list
Once the long list of cloud cost management tools has been identified, it is time to remove software that does not meet all the business criteria. For this, it is important to fall back on the assessment made earlier on what is to be done before choosing a cloud spend management solution. Based on the assessment, buyers can further shorten their list and only choose those software vendors that meet all the business requirements.
Conduct demos
Once the list has been reduced to a couple of vendors, buyers may begin to request a demo. The demo will give them an idea of how the software will work once and help them assess all the various features the software has to offer. Having a demo on resources and applications is a good way to ensure the best fit. At this step, the buyer should ask several questions to the vendor about after-service support, staff training, and other additional features that can be provided. Understanding the dashboard and visualization of the cost parameters is essential during demos.
Selection of Cloud Cost Management Tools
Choose a selection team
Choosing the right team to work together on choosing the software is a critical part of the process. This team will be in charge of identifying pain points to finally overseeing the entire implementation of the cloud management software. The team should include a mix of different personas who have the required skills, interest, and time. Some roles include cloud architects and cloud admins, IT admin and staff, department heads, and finance managers (for budget allocations).
Negotiation
When choosing a cloud cost management tool, bringing in negotiation factors is very important especially on pricing. Since a buyer’s requirement for the cloud might change based on the types of workloads being run and applications being developed, buyers should ensure that the software accurately reflects the resources being utilized at that point in time and account for possible changes in the future. This is necessary to ensure that the customer is not being overcharged. Bringing such discussions to the negotiation table is key. In addition, it is important to negotiate possible additional costs that might come in for the remainder of the contract.
Final decision
Once all the steps are complete, the final decision is made weighing all factors and scenarios. Buyers can first try to run cloud cost management software with a smaller number of instances and monitor the cost savings and resources being optimized. Based on this feedback, it can be used for enterprise-wide cloud cost management.
