What We Did

Holistic Technical and Operational Assessment

The first requirement for managing cloud costs is understanding how well the existing cloud spend aligns with the company’s business goals. Once we understood the overall context, our senior consulting team analyzed governance policies, cloud tools, infrastructure and application requirements, and development processes. Our analysis produced a specific, milestone-driven cost optimization plan tailored to helping our client reduce their costs.

Armed with specific client requirements, we crafted a cost optimization plan that dramatically reduced cloud costs while minimizing the impact on users and maintaining application performance. The plan reduced costs immediately and established a long-term cost governance effort which included enrolling in ConvergOne’s Cloud Governance & Cost Optimization service. 

Through C1’s cloud governance program and formal cloud partnerships, we were able to offer more favorable payment terms and improved the client’s working capital by extending the payment terms to almost 60 days.

A Simplified Development Process, Updated Tooling, and Autoscaling Leading to Immediate Cloud Cost-Savings

We applied our application, cloud, and governance knowledge to reduce the client’s cloud spend in three core areas. First, we moved our client’s applications from expensive, oversized compute environments to “right-sized” environments to match their actual needs. Second, we purchased annual reservations that locked in significant savings, And third, we simplified and improved the software development and delivery process. We also upgraded their software tools to manage costs, remove unused services, and implement auto-scaling to match varying application needs.

Creating a Best-in-Class Governance-Led Cost, Security, and Compliance Program

Cloud spending is an indicator of how well a cloud environment is governed. If cloud costs are changing or increasing unpredictably, it’s a sign that proper governance controls could help achieve better cost management and lower cloud costs.

We established a cloud governance program using best practices to create a program that continuously manages costs, security, and compliance without hampering IT’s ability to move quickly and support their mission-critical cloud-based applications.

The governance service includes business and technical policies, processes for implementing and monitoring policy compliance, as well as tools to automate reporting. All three elements working together drive a consistent reduction in costs and efficient use of their IT investments. The governance program includes recommendations for modernizing applications to take advantage of cloud-native services that further improve cost efficiency, performance, and reliability.

Proactively Managing and Optimizing Costs

The key to a successful cost optimization program is management’s commitment to a regular cadence of setting, monitoring, and managing cloud cost goals. The Cost Optimization Service establishes an ongoing governance cadence with a cross-functional leadership team to align business goals with cloud spend, set policies, and review progress toward managing cloud costs. With the proper framework in place, the client knows what direction cloud costs are headed, and all parties feel comfortable.

Utilizing our cloud governance framework and cloud-management recommendations, the client not only has a deep understanding of how cloud costs are aligned to business outcomes but also the knowledge and tools to take action with predictable outcomes.

Optimize Cloud Costs While Focusing on Strategic Technical Objectives

Optimizing cloud costs is more than shutting down unused servers. It requires an in-depth technical, financial, and governed approach while aligning with business goals. A proper partner brings the experience and perspective of working with similar clients to reduce cloud costs.

We highly recommend talking to an expert about cloud governance to ensure that all of your business, technical, and financial goals are met. Contact C1 today to get a cloud-governance assessment, as well as specific recommendations and next steps to optimize your cloud costs.