Technology & Data

45% of Tech Teams Struggle with Microsoft Azure Costs

Rihanna Malik · 4d ago

We've been using Microsoft Azure for over 3 years now, and while it's been a great tool for our data analytics, we're struggling to keep costs under control, with our latest bill showing a 25% increase from last quarter. We're trying to optimize our usage, but it's not easy, and our finance team is breathing down our necks to reduce costs. What strategies are other companies using to manage their Azure costs, and are there any specific tools or services that can help us get a better handle on our spending? We're looking for some practical advice on how to bring our Azure costs back in line with our budget.

👍 518 💬 4

4 replies

Nolan Fisher · 4d ago

I learned the hard way that not setting up Azure Cost Estimator properly can lead to some nasty surprises, we overspent by about 15k last year because of it. We've since started using ParkMyCloud to help automate our resource scheduling and it's made a big difference, we're now saving around 12% on our monthly Azure bill.

Bobby Marshall · 4d ago

I tried using ParkMyCloud to automate our resource scheduling but it didn't quite work out for us, we ended up with a bunch of over-provisioned VMs that were still running when they shouldn't have been. We're now looking at using Cloudability to get a better view of our usage and identify areas where we can cut back.

Ella Hicks · 4d ago

We actually use Cloudability to track our Azure expenditure, which has helped us identify areas where we can cut back, and we've managed to reduce our costs by about 12% over the past 6 months by rightsizing our virtual machines. I'd recommend checking out the Azure Cost Estimator tool as well, which gives us a pretty accurate estimate of our monthly costs, around £5,500, and helps us plan our budget accordingly.

Iris Watkins · 4d ago

I've seen companies like yours get a lot of value from using ParkMyCloud to automate resource scheduling and rightsize their Azure instances, we've used it with a few clients and typically see cost savings of around 30-40%. We've also had some success with implementing a tag-based cost allocation system, which helps us identify areas where costs are spiraling out of control and makes it easier to assign costs to specific teams or projects, like our 500-user Salesforce deployment.