Things to consider when trying to control Cloud Spend

When it comes to cloud cost management, consider the following questions:

What cloud resources are being used and by whom?

What are the associated resource costs?

How do these costs measure against the broader business strategy?

With cloud, an organization can and should monitor and analyze its cloud usage and cost on a daily or weekly basis.

This will often be done by someone on the technical team.

Here are some various roles in managing cloud costs

Cloud spend can quickly become a large expense for any business, so it's important to have someone dedicated to managing it. There are a few different roles that can be involved in managing cloud costs, depending on the size and needs of the organization:

Cloud Cost Manager: This is the role responsible for overall management of cloud spending. They work with different teams to understand their needs and usage patterns, and then find ways to optimize costs.

Cloud Financial Analyst: This role works closely with the Cloud Cost Manager to understand cost data and identify trends. They use this information to help make decisions about how to improve cost management.

Cloud Infrastructure Engineer: This role is responsible for the design and implementation of the cloud infrastructure. They need to understand how different components work together and how they can be optimized for cost.

Cloud Operations Manager: This role oversees the day-to-day operation of the cloud infrastructure. They need to be conscious of both the costs and the performance of the system in order to make sure it is running efficiently.

Overall, there are many different roles that can be involved in managing cloud costs. Whether you are looking for someone to focus on tracking expenses and identifying opportunities for improvement, or someone who can design and manage the infrastructure itself, there is a role that is right for your needs. The key is to find the right person with the right skills and knowledge to help you save money on your cloud spend.

If this hasn’t been set up already, it is recommended that on a weekly or monthly basis, the finance team should look at the results of the organization’s spending through the appropriate teams and determine whether any changes are needed to confirm that the organization's cloud spend is optimized.

Having a culture of accountability in place across teams helps organizations spot waste, quickly take action to eliminate it, and ensure they're maximizing their cloud investment.

It will also help drive cross-group collaboration across technology, finance, and business teams to make sure their cloud spend aligns with broader business objectives.

Just remember, the variable nature of cloud costs impacts people, processes, and technology.