Expert Advice from Ovidiu Negus on Optimising Cloud Costs
Discover insights on optimising cloud solutions for cost-efficiency purposes from Ovidiu Negus, Portfolio Service Owner at Accesa.
In this interview, Ovidiu Negus, Portfolio Service Owner at Accesa, shares his expert insights on optimising cloud solutions for cost-efficiency. With extensive experience in cloud technologies and working several years as a software architect and consultant, Ovidiu shares the key difference between short-term cost-cutting and long-term efficiency strategies, highlighting the importance of future-proofed scalability and sustainable cloud architectures.
With his strong background in cloud solutions, he can help software development teams understand how to build better software using cloud technologies and how to do it cost-effectively. In this interview you’ll discover practical solutions to common misconceptions and success stories from his expertise, illustrating the impact of cloud cost-efficiency on business operations.
What is the difference between cloud cost-reduction and cloud cost-efficiency, and why is it important for companies to focus on cost-efficiency rather than just reducing expenses?
The key difference between cloud cost-reduction and cloud cost-efficiency lies in businesses’ respective focus and time horizons.
Cloud Cost-Reduction vs Cloud Cost-Efficiency
The primary goal of cloud cost reduction is to achieve savings by minimising the current use of cloud services. This approach typically involves tactics such as downsizing or eliminating unused resources, negotiating better pricing with cloud providers, and optimising the consumption of existing services.
While cost-reduction can provide immediate financial benefits, it often fails to address the underlying architectural and design decisions that drive long-term cloud spending.
In contrast, cloud cost-efficiency takes a more strategic, mid-to-long-term perspective. The focus is on re-architecting cloud solutions to optimise their overall design and usage patterns, rather than simply cutting costs. This involves factors such as selecting the most appropriate cloud services, right-sizing resources, automating scaling and provisioning, and implementing efficient data management and storage strategies.
How do you see cloud cost-efficiency becoming a priority for companies across Europe, and how can Accesa’s cloud solutions help businesses achieve these efficiencies?
With economic uncertainties and rising operational costs, European businesses are increasingly focused on optimising their IT costs. Cloud costs often represent a significant portion of IT budgets, making them a prime target for efficiency improvements.
The rapid pace of digital transformation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has led many European companies to accelerate their cloud adoption. This rush to the cloud has often resulted in less efficient design and application architectures, as businesses prioritised speed over optimisation. As these companies mature in their cloud journey, they're now recognising the need to optimise their cloud spending and improve efficiency.
Accesa has extensive experience with cloud projects spanning all major cloud providers (e.g. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). This broad expertise allows our experts to recommend and implement the most suitable and cost-effective cloud solutions for each client's specific needs.
Our solutions focus on efficient service usage, ensuring that clients are using the right services at the right scale. This approach helps businesses avoid overprovisioning and unnecessary costs while maintaining optimal performance. With focus on continuous optimisation, Accesa's solutions include ongoing monitoring and optimisation processes to ensure that cloud efficiency is maintained as business needs evolve.
As companies increasingly migrate to the cloud, what are the long-term business benefits of implementing cloud cost-efficiency measures early in the process?
Optimised software architecture
Incorporating efficiency into the software architecture process from the beginning leads to better-designed systems that are inherently more cost-effective and scalable. This approach reduces technical debt and minimises the need for expensive refactoring or re-architecting in the future.
Future-proofed scalability
By considering scalability requirements from the outset, companies can design their cloud infrastructure to accommodate future growth and market changes. Efficient scalability ensures that companies can quickly respond to market demands, seasonal fluctuations, or unexpected spikes in usage without incurring disproportionate costs.
Environmental sustainability
Cost-efficient cloud architectures often correlate with reduced energy consumption and a smaller carbon footprint. This aligns with growing environmental concerns and can enhance a company's reputation and appeal to environmentally conscious customers and investors.
What are some common misconceptions that clients have about cloud cost optimisation, and how do you help them navigate these challenges?
Moving to the cloud automatically reduces costs
Reality: While cloud can offer cost savings, it's not guaranteed without proper management.
Navigation: We educate clients on the importance of continuous monitoring and optimisation. We implement cost management tools and processes to ensure ongoing efficiency.
Turning off unused resources is enough for cost optimisation
Reality: While this is important, it is just one part of a comprehensive cost optimisation strategy.
Navigation: We introduce clients to a broader range of optimisation techniques, including right-sizing, auto-scaling, and architectural improvements.
Migrating legacy applications to the cloud as-is will reduce costs
Reality: Lift-and-shift migrations often lead to inefficiencies and increased costs.
Navigation: We advocate for and assist with application modernisation and re-architecting when appropriate to fully leverage cloud-native capabilities and cost efficiencies.
Cloud cost optimisation is a one-time effort
Reality: Cloud cost optimisation is an ongoing process that requires continuous attention.
Navigation: We establish regular review cycles and implement automated monitoring tools to ensure ongoing optimisation.
Can you share any success stories or key insights from your experience, particularly where cloud cost-efficiency has significantly impacted a client’s operations?
One important success story is based on optimising cloud-based financial data management.
Client Profile
A large Financial services company needed to develop a cloud-based system to handle, store, and manage massive amounts of financial data. The primary challenge was to process this data quickly while maintaining cost-efficiency in cloud services consumption.
Challenges
High volume of data: Billions of financial transactions and records to be processed.
Scalability: The system needed to handle increasing amounts of data volumes without service degradation.
Cost concerns: Initial estimates suggested prohibitively high cloud costs for the required storage and computing power.
Our Approach
We implemented a data lake architecture using cloud-native services to separate storage from compute resources and utilised a combination of hot, warm, and cold storage tiers to optimise costs based on data access patterns.
Auto-scaling and Right-sizing: Implemented auto-scaling for compute resources based on actual demand. We regularly analysed usage patterns to right-size resources, ensuring optimal performance without over-provisioning.
Cost Monitoring and Optimisation: Deployed cloud cost management tools to provide real-time visibility into resource usage and costs. Set up automated alerts for unusual spending patterns or approaching budget thresholds.
Conclusions
By optimising cloud architectures and ensuring scalable, sustainable designs, businesses can achieve both financial savings and operational resilience. Our cloud solutions, built on best practices and ongoing optimisation, help businesses navigate the complexities of cloud cost management, ensuring efficient use of resources and aligning with long-term growth and sustainability goals.
