ANFIMAU | FinOps solutions, cloud infrastructure cost optimization

The client

Our client is a big company engaged in constructing large-scale industrial complexes. Its industry specifics necessitated the implementation of cloud icons/sources, mainly virtual machines.

The client was harnessing MS Azure cloud infrastructure, which has allowed for flexibility, prompt and informed decision-making and other benefits for their business.

Aiding the company in multiple directions, the infrastructure turned out to require significant costs. With this trouble, the client reached out to our team.

1.
Cloud computing has been around for a couple of decades, and has demonstrated tangible benefits for businesses in terms of efficiency, cost savings, security, and flexibility. With the exponential increase in data use, more and more companies are going for cloud infrastructures to keep all of their vital information and programs up and running. That’s why, cloud-hosted servers have become invaluable for many businesses as they allow to access large amounts of data over a secure, online network connection.
2.
However, the problem arises when the cloud infrastructure a business implements doesn’t align with its needs, scale and other specifics. Such unwise usage of cloud servers may become unprofitable for a business and hold back tremendous profits. That’s why, it’s crucial to thoroughly assess the company’s needs and requirements before migrating to a cloud environment.

Two middle age business workers smiling happy and confident. Working together with smile on face hand giving high five at the office

Business challenge

Reduced cloud costs without compromising on performance

The client has observed tangible expenses spent on managing their cloud infrastructure which were hindering the company’s profits. Our team was tasked with an in-depth analysis of the client’s usage of cloud servers and finding ways to optimize cloud infrastructure management and save costs.

The solution was required to improve the performance, cost-effectiveness, and reliability of cloud computing resources at the client’s disposal.

We decided to start cutting down costs by monitoring the client’s usage of each cloud server. Our team has performed an analysis of the infrastructure utilization to identify the points of optimization and bring maximum value to the client’s business.

While reviewing the usage of cloud resources to find ways to improve cost efficiency, we have completed the following bullet points:

Determined the current parameters of each server, including CPU, memory, disks, and hourly/monthly price.
Considered how each server was being utilized, examining metrics like CPU/memory/IOPS/GPU utilization.
Determined the minimum parameters for every resource to meet their workload and spikes in demand.
Calculated the potential savings by subtracting the costs of the proposed size from the original costs, resulting in the value of potential savings.

As part of the optimization, we considered numerous factors affecting workload and optimized the use of prepaid virtual machines. As a result, we had a list of servers and hard drives that required optimization (by rightsizing or changing the families) or deletion. Then we provided our client with recommendations for optimizing their virtual machines including:

Underutilized storage capacity and disks.
Disks that were not attached to any servers.
Unused disks.

To achieve the final aim, our team used various APIs provided by Azure and utilized Power BI for data import, aggregation, transformation, and export.

Next steps

Automated recommendation system on rightsizing servers’ capacities

We are currently working on a service that will automate the calculation of savings by importing client resources into the repository on a schedule. Historical resource data like metrics and usage will be phased out. After importing the resources, the service will analyze virtual machine utilization and determine the optimal size for each machine to achieve maximum savings. These findings will be saved as "recommendations" available for export.

The service will track which recommendations were implemented and calculate the actual savings achieved. This will make the optimization process easier for our clients and help them get the most out of their resources.

Transparency

Our cooperation with clients is always open and honest. We ensure regular communication, an established daily reporting system, and tracking tools to provide relevant recommendations.

Scrutinized analysis

We perform a thorough analysis of our client’s business specifics and make sure the solution we are working on is bound to bring biggest business value.

Continuous support and recommendations

We take responsibility for the quality of all our projects. Our team keeps monitoring all the data sources to ensure cost-efficiency, scalability and high performance.

Result-oriented approach

The client is always the first priority. That’s why, the only indicator of the project’s success is the achievement of the goals and objectives set by the client.