Projects

Cloud Cost & Reliability Optimization

FinOps Framework & Azure Cost Management

Cost Governance & Optimization

The Cost Crisis

01

Challenge: Uncontrolled cloud spending with $2.3M annual Azure costs and no visibility into resource utilization.

  • 40%+ Waste: Over-provisioned VMs, idle resources, and orphaned disks consuming budget.
  • No Visibility: Lack of cost tracking and anomaly detection leading to budget overruns.
  • Manual Processes: No automated governance or optimization workflows.

Cost Breakdown

$2.3M

Annual Azure Spend

$920k

Identified Waste (40%)

FinOps Framework Overview

02

3-Phase FinOps Journey

Phase 1: Inform
  • Cost visibility & allocation
  • Tagging taxonomy
  • Budget alerts
  • Anomaly detection
Phase 2: Optimize
  • Hybrid Benefit enablement
  • Reservations & Savings Plans
  • Rightsizing VMs
  • Idle resource cleanup
Phase 3: Operate
  • Automated governance
  • Continuous optimization
  • Chargeback/Showback
  • FinOps culture adoption

Integration: Azure Cost Management + Billing | Azure Advisor | Power BI Dashboards

Rate Optimization: Azure Hybrid Benefit

03

Windows & Linux VMs

Leverage existing on-premises licenses with Software Assurance to reduce VM operating system costs by up to 40%.

  • Windows Server: Apply AHB to 120+ Windows VMs (Standard & Datacenter editions)
  • Linux (RHEL/SLES): Enable AHB for 30+ Linux VMs with qualifying subscriptions
  • SQL Server: Extend AHB to SQL Database, SQL MI, and SQL Server VMs
Quick Fix Automation

Azure Advisor provides one-click remediation to apply AHB across eligible VMs.

Savings Breakdown

Windows VMs

$280k annual savings (40% reduction)

Linux VMs

$60k annual savings (RHEL/SLES)

SQL Server

$40k annual savings (SQL MI + DB)

$380k/year

Total AHB Savings | 150+ VMs Optimized

Rate Optimization: Reservations & Savings Plans

04

Azure Reservations

Commit to 1-year or 3-year plans for predictable workloads to secure up to 72% discount over pay-as-you-go rates.

  • Virtual Machines: Reserved 80+ VM instances (D-series, E-series) for production workloads
  • SQL Database: Reserved capacity for mission-critical databases
  • Azure Synapse: Reserved compute for data warehouse workloads

Azure Savings Plan

Flexible pricing model with commitment to consistent usage ($/hour) across any eligible services.

  • Compute Savings Plan: Applied to VMs, App Service, Container Instances
  • Flexibility: Automatically applies to any region, instance size, or OS

Commitment Strategy

1-Year Reservations -40%
3-Year Reservations -62%
Savings Plan (Compute) -65%
Coverage Analysis

Used Azure Advisor to analyze 7, 30, and 60-day lookback periods to identify optimal reservation coverage.

$420k/year

Reservations + Savings Plan Savings

Usage Optimization: Rightsizing

05

Azure Advisor Recommendations

Leveraged Azure Advisor to identify over-provisioned resources and optimize VM SKUs based on actual utilization patterns.

  • VM Rightsizing: Downsized 45+ VMs from D16s to D8s (50% cost reduction)
  • Storage Optimization: Moved infrequently accessed data to Cool/Archive tiers
  • Database SKUs: Optimized SQL Database DTU/vCore allocation based on workload patterns
Utilization Metrics

Analyzed CPU, memory, and disk I/O over 30-day periods to identify candidates for downsizing.

Optimization Impact

Compute Reduction

25% reduction in total compute costs through VM rightsizing

Storage Tiering

18% storage cost savings via Cool/Archive tier migration

Database Optimization

12% SQL Database cost reduction via DTU optimization

$100k/year

Rightsizing Savings | 45+ VMs Optimized

Usage Optimization: Idle Resource Cleanup

06

Automated Detection

Implemented Azure Policy and automation to identify and remediate idle resources consuming budget without delivering value.

  • Orphaned Disks: Detected and deleted 120+ unattached managed disks
  • Unused Public IPs: Removed 35+ unassociated public IP addresses
  • Stopped VMs: Identified VMs stopped for 30+ days and deallocated them
  • Dev/Test Schedules: Auto-shutdown policies for non-production environments (7 PM - 7 AM)
Automation

Azure Automation runbooks execute weekly scans and send cleanup recommendations to resource owners.

Cleanup Impact

Orphaned Disks

$80k annual savings (120+ disks @ $55/mo avg)

Public IPs

$15k annual savings (35+ IPs @ $36/mo)

Auto-Shutdown (Dev/Test)

$65k annual savings (50% reduction in non-prod costs)

$160k/year

Waste Eliminated | Automated Cleanup

FinOps Toolkit & Workbooks

07

Microsoft FinOps Toolkit

Deployed the official Microsoft FinOps Toolkit to automate cost tracking, anomaly detection, and optimization workflows.

  • Cost Anomaly Detection: Real-time alerts for unexpected spending spikes
  • Budget Forecasting: ML-powered predictions based on historical trends
  • Chargeback/Showback: Automated cost allocation to business units
  • Power BI Integration: Executive dashboards with drill-down capabilities
Integration

Workbooks deployed to Azure Monitor with Reader role for cross-subscription visibility.

Workbook Capabilities

Rate Optimization Tab

AHB, Reservations, and Savings Plan recommendations

Usage Optimization Tab

Compute, storage, and networking optimization insights

Top 10 Services

Identify highest-cost services for targeted optimization

Real-Time Visibility

Across All Subscriptions | Anomaly Alerts

Azure Advisor Integration

08

Cost Optimization Workbook

Integrated Azure Advisor's Cost Optimization Workbook to centralize recommendations and track remediation progress.

  • Welcome Tab: Cost optimization goals and prerequisites
  • Resource Overview: Distribution per region and data transfer costs
  • Rate Optimization: AHB, Reservations, Savings Plan opportunities
  • Usage Optimization: Compute, storage, and networking recommendations
Quick Fix

One-click remediation for AHB enablement and VM rightsizing directly from the workbook.

Automated Remediation

CI/CD Integration

Advisor recommendations integrated into Azure DevOps pipelines as cost gates

Policy Enforcement

Azure Policy denies deployment of non-compliant SKUs or regions

Weekly Reports

Automated email summaries of new recommendations and remediation status

96%

Recommendation Adoption Rate

Monitoring & Governance

09

Cost Management + Billing

Established comprehensive cost governance framework with automated controls and visibility.

  • Tagging Taxonomy: Enforced mandatory tags (CostCenter, Environment, Owner) via Azure Policy
  • Budget Alerts: Configured thresholds at 50%, 75%, and 90% of monthly budget
  • Chargeback Model: Automated cost allocation to business units based on tags
  • Showback Dashboards: Self-service Power BI reports for cost transparency
Proactive Alerts

Action Groups send alerts to Slack and email when budgets are exceeded or anomalies detected.

Governance Framework

Tag Compliance

100% tag compliance enforced via deny policies at subscription level

Budget Thresholds

Monthly budgets set per subscription with automated alerts and approvals

Cost Allocation

Granular chargeback to 15+ business units based on resource tags

100% Visibility

Granular Cost Tracking | Automated Governance

FinOps Reference Library

10

Frameworks & Guides

Tools & Repositories

Recap & Impact

11

"By implementing a comprehensive FinOps framework and leveraging Microsoft's cost optimization tools, we transformed cloud spending from an uncontrolled expense into a strategic investment."

42% Cost Reduction

$960k annual savings

Real-Time Visibility

Granular cost tracking

Automated Governance

96% recommendation adoption

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