One of the most often discussed topics around Cloud Management is Spend Optimization. It's covered by major analyst firms like Gartner and there are many products out in the market that can help you control Cloud spend. Public Cloud vendors also typically offer tools that help organizations track their spend.
So it seems the topic is well understood and there is no problem, right?
Not quite...
Analyzing your bills is reactive - you don't get the information until after the expense has already occurred.
Many Cloud Spend Management tools allow you to setup policies that help reduce unnecessary spending. But again, this is something that happens after the fact and after the expense has already been incurred.
You may ask - isn't that the best we can do? Some "waste" will always occur.
You are partially correct. But, while I believe some "waste" will always happen, we can minimize it.
Tools are great to have, but what about human behaviour? Tools by themselves will not solve the problem. They will show you waste and work to minimize it. But, you also need to educate people about efficient use of Cloud resources and define and apply Policies.
Remember the old concept of using a combination of "People-Process-Technology"? It still applies.
You need to have Technology to ensure that spend data is collected and broken down on a regular basis. You will use Technology to ensure that excessive waste does not happen, by applying automation Processes to prevent excessive waste.
That will take care of much of the problem, but you can do much better, without creating an impression of "always watching" users.
You also need to ensure that you have appropriate processes to PREVENT waste from happening. Technology will minimize waste that is already happened. Having defined Processes will allow you to not only minimize waste that is already happening, but it can also allow you to prevent the waste from happening.
By defining and implementing standard Processes, you can ensure that users follow a standard approach to request and obtain a Cloud Service (whether it's a virtual machine, access to Machine Learning/AI capabilities or a Cloud DB or any other service). By doing so, the company will be aware of all activities and can quickly catch unexpected, or unauthorized usage attempts.
Companies should employ a standard catalog to provide both ease of access to Authorized Cloud Resources to users, and control over which resources employees are able to access. This will help ensure that the company can control who and what they are using.
Service catalogs can also ensure that Cloud Services are decommissioned easily - preventing unnecessary expenses.
But, perhaps the most important aspect of minimizing waste is user behaviour.
People can ensure that they use Cloud Services appropriately, in a way that minimizes waste. But, we all have habits that we have built over the years. Historically, we used company owned resources - they were acquired and available to be used by anyone that has the authority to do so. Having a VM or a server that was idle wasn't a big deal.
But, in the age of Cloud Services, this behaviour will result in waste. We need to learn to:
Education is a big part of move to Cloud Services. Companies need to ensure that users are aware of when expenses occur. Companies should provide users with tools to make it easy to stop or delete Cloud Services when they are not needed.
With Cloud, more than your own "traditional" data center, it is critical that you provide users with:
In my opinion, education is critical. We all must change how we use Cloud Services compared to "traditional" IT resources. The fact that Cloud employs pay-as-you-use model is a fundamental shift from the old buy-then-use model and it will take time for our behaviours to change.
So it seems the topic is well understood and there is no problem, right?
Not quite...
Analyzing your bills is reactive - you don't get the information until after the expense has already occurred.
Many Cloud Spend Management tools allow you to setup policies that help reduce unnecessary spending. But again, this is something that happens after the fact and after the expense has already been incurred.
You may ask - isn't that the best we can do? Some "waste" will always occur.
You are partially correct. But, while I believe some "waste" will always happen, we can minimize it.
Tools are great to have, but what about human behaviour? Tools by themselves will not solve the problem. They will show you waste and work to minimize it. But, you also need to educate people about efficient use of Cloud resources and define and apply Policies.
Remember the old concept of using a combination of "People-Process-Technology"? It still applies.
You need to have Technology to ensure that spend data is collected and broken down on a regular basis. You will use Technology to ensure that excessive waste does not happen, by applying automation Processes to prevent excessive waste.
That will take care of much of the problem, but you can do much better, without creating an impression of "always watching" users.
You also need to ensure that you have appropriate processes to PREVENT waste from happening. Technology will minimize waste that is already happened. Having defined Processes will allow you to not only minimize waste that is already happening, but it can also allow you to prevent the waste from happening.
By defining and implementing standard Processes, you can ensure that users follow a standard approach to request and obtain a Cloud Service (whether it's a virtual machine, access to Machine Learning/AI capabilities or a Cloud DB or any other service). By doing so, the company will be aware of all activities and can quickly catch unexpected, or unauthorized usage attempts.
Companies should employ a standard catalog to provide both ease of access to Authorized Cloud Resources to users, and control over which resources employees are able to access. This will help ensure that the company can control who and what they are using.
Service catalogs can also ensure that Cloud Services are decommissioned easily - preventing unnecessary expenses.
But, perhaps the most important aspect of minimizing waste is user behaviour.
People can ensure that they use Cloud Services appropriately, in a way that minimizes waste. But, we all have habits that we have built over the years. Historically, we used company owned resources - they were acquired and available to be used by anyone that has the authority to do so. Having a VM or a server that was idle wasn't a big deal.
But, in the age of Cloud Services, this behaviour will result in waste. We need to learn to:
- Select right-sized instances,
- Shut down services when not in use,
- Delete any resources that are not needed
Education is a big part of move to Cloud Services. Companies need to ensure that users are aware of when expenses occur. Companies should provide users with tools to make it easy to stop or delete Cloud Services when they are not needed.
With Cloud, more than your own "traditional" data center, it is critical that you provide users with:
- Education on how to responsibly use Cloud Services and when costs are incurred
- Policies governing responsible use of Cloud Resources
- Technology to ensure that users can access Cloud Services easily and to monitor usage of resources to minimize waste and to identify areas of waste
In my opinion, education is critical. We all must change how we use Cloud Services compared to "traditional" IT resources. The fact that Cloud employs pay-as-you-use model is a fundamental shift from the old buy-then-use model and it will take time for our behaviours to change.
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