Analyze your cloud spending reports. Identify underutilized or idle instances. Right-size your resources to match actual needs. Take advantage of reserved instances or committed use discounts. Explore cheaper storage options. Automate scaling to avoid over-provisioning.

- Regularly evaluate the size of your compute instances (downgrade to smaller instances + use auto-scaling features) - Assess storage types and classes - Consider long-term commitments by analyzing workloads to identify which resources are used consistently, and consider purchasing reserved instances for those resources to gain cost discounts compared to on-demand pricing - Tag resources by project, department, or function to gain better visibility into spending - Ensure that you're not over-licensed for software running in the cloud - Consider tools that also focus on application resource management and optimization (IBM Turbonomic, AWS CloudWatch,...)

By implementing the right monitoring tools and metrics, you can collect valid data and run analytics to identify cost centers, allowing you to optimize workloads rather than just reducing resource allocation. Additionally, selecting the appropriate resource types and plans while navigating the CSP’s cost matrix will help further reduce costs.

?? The biggest cost drivers in the cloud are usually people. Reasons for this and the solution: - People prefer to take more resources, e.g. CPU and RAM, because that's how we've always done it. Possible solution: Analyse the workload before migrating to the cloud. - Resources are running because they are forgotten. Possible solution: Personalised budget alerts, for example in test environments. - Incorrect licence model for Windows servers. Possible solution: By using hybrid licences in Azure, up to 30% of server costs can be saved from 4 hours runtime per day/server. - No clear allocation of resources and services. Possible solution: Tagging strategy Please like, I would also like to have such a cool batch. Thanks ;)

To spot potential cost-saving opportunities in cloud resource utilization use the following strategy: 1. Audit your usage: Regularly check for unused or underutilized resources, like idle VMs or zombie storage. 2. Rightsize everything: Match your resources to actual needs by downsizing over-provisioned instances. 3. Leverage reserved instances: Use long-term contracts for predictable workloads to get discounts. 4. Automate scaling: Implement autoscaling to match demand dynamically, avoiding over-provisioning. 5. Monitor & optimize: Use cost management tools to track spending and identify inefficiencies. Stay vigilant, and you'll keep costs lean!