5 Smart Ways to Reduce Azure Costs

Managing costs becomes a critical aspect of maintaining a healthy IT budget. By implementing strategic measures, you can optimise your Azure spending and ensure you’re getting the most value from your investment.

5 Smart Techniques to Reduce Azure Costs

1. Optimise Your Azure Lift and Shift Strategy

Before migrating your existing infrastructure to Azure, conduct a thorough audit to understand why it’s structured the way it is. Identify inefficiencies and explore ways to streamline your setup. This can involve re-architecting applications to be more cloud-native, which can lead to better performance and cost savings.

2. Maximise Savings with Azure Storage and Archiving

Not all data needs to be readily accessible at all times. Evaluate your data usage and identify which data can be archived. Azure offers various storage tiers, including an archive tier for infrequently accessed data. By moving less critical data to cheaper storage options, you can significantly reduce costs.

3. Cut Costs by Eliminating Idle Azure Resources

Idle resources can quickly inflate your Azure bill. Regularly review your resource utilisation and eliminate any that are not actively being used. This includes virtual machines, databases, and other services that may be running but not contributing to your operations. Implementing automated scripts to shut down idle resources can also help manage costs.

4. Utilise Azure Cost Management Tools for Better Budgeting

Azure provides a suite of cost management tools designed to help you monitor and optimise your spending. Use these tools to gain insights into your usage patterns, set budgets, and receive alerts when you approach spending limits. These tools can help you make informed decisions and avoid unexpected costs.

5. Save Big with Azure Reservations

For resources that you know you’ll need long-term, consider Azure Reservations. By committing to one- or three-year plans, you can save significantly compared to pay-as-you-go pricing. This is particularly beneficial for stable workloads where resource requirements are predictable.

Proven To Reduce Azure Costs

Mi-Voice faced rising Azure costs and needed guidance to manage these complexities. Enhanced stepped in to achieve significant cost reductions, boost efficiency and performance, and ensure full compliance. The optimisation focused on:

• Optimal Discount Plan: Applied the best Azure Savings Plan to maximise savings.
• Virtual Machine Sizing: Assessed VM sizing based on utilisation to ensure resources matched actual needs.
• Orphaned Resources: Identified and eliminated unused resources, reducing unnecessary costs.
• Backup Retention: Ensured backup retention policies met business needs without incurring unnecessary costs.
• Storage Usage: Recommended lifecycle policies to manage data efficiently, moving data to lower-cost storage tiers.