The costs of running your Google Cloud Platform (GCP) infrastructure can add up quickly if left unchecked. Without the right strategy, companies can wind up leaving a lot of savings on the table. Having worked with some of the biggest cloud spenders in the world, Cloudability has identified notable trends in the way successful companies monitor, manage and mitigate their GCP cloud costs.
Use Resources Together, Manage Them Together With FinOps
The fact that cloud makes it so easy for anyone in the company to spin up resources (and thus, incur costs) means everyone needs to be able to play a part in managing those costs together as well. That’s where FinOps comes in.
FinOps is a cloud operating model that relies on cross-company collaboration. The financial strategies for managing GCP as a team work best when all of the stakeholders have input.
For a deeper understanding of FinOps practices and processes and how they help teams work together better in the cloud, download our e-book, FinOps: A New Approach to Cloud Financial Management.
How to Implement FinOps in Your Organization
How you get started with FinOps will look different depending on whether or not your company already has a cross-functional team responsible for cloud infrastructure, such as a Cloud Center of Excellence. If you do, then it’s a great foundation for FinOps, and if you don’t, then now is a great time to form one.
Either way, the first step should ensure that all relevant stakeholders are represented in whatever governing body you set up. This should include representatives from Finance and Management, as well as Development and IT Operations.
Cost Avoidance and Cost Optimization
It’s important to differentiate between cost avoidance and cost optimization activities.
Cost avoidance is about using less, and includes activities like turning off a resource or reducing its size to a smaller option to decrease cost.. Cost optimization, on the other hand, is about reducing the rates you pay for what you are using. For example, you might optimize costs on GCP with Committed Use Discounts (CUDs) or Preemptible VMs.
In this e-book, we break down these activities so you can build a comprehensive strategy that includes both cost avoidance and cost optimization.
Ready to Learn More?
Download our Mastering the Fundamentals of GCP Costs e-book and take your first step toward mastering the fundamentals of GCP cost efficiency.
