Cloud Cost Management Strategies for APAC Businesses

Cloud cost management is important for APAC businesses and is expected to account for nearly half of global cloud spending by 2025.

FREMONT, CA: With the rapid adoption of cloud computing in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, the imperative for robust cloud cost management strategies has intensified. Anticipated to reach USD 131.4 billion by 2023, the cloud computing market in APAC is propelled by a confluence of factors. This includes the widespread integration of digital technologies across businesses of varying sizes, surging demand for cloud-based applications and services, and the expanding accessibility of cloud infrastructure and services within the region. While the cloud offers numerous advantages, such as heightened agility, scalability, and innovation, it is of paramount importance to underscore the potential for cloud costs to spiral out of control if not diligently managed swiftly.

Here are some key cloud cost management strategies for APAC businesses in 2023.

Understanding Cloud Usage and Costs

The initial phase of effective cloud cost management involves gaining a comprehensive grasp of cloud usage and associated expenses. This entails utilising cloud billing and monitoring tools to consistently track cloud usage and costs. With this knowledge, opportunities for optimising cloud expenditure can be readily identified.

Optimising Cloud Resources

There are several strategies for optimising cloud resources and minimising associated costs. These include leveraging reserved instances for workloads with consistent usage patterns, which can yield substantial cost savings. Ensuring that the instances are right-sized for every workload is another key step. Additionally, it's important to deactivate any unused resources during periods of inactivity. Furthermore, opting for managed services over self-managed ones can help lower operational overhead and expenses.

Implement Cloud Cost Management Tools and Processes

Several cloud cost management tools and processes are available to reduce cloud expenditures. These include employing cloud budgeting and forecasting tools to establish and monitor cloud budgets and expenditures concerning those budgets, implementing cloud anomaly detection tools to identify abnormal surges in cloud costs, utilising cloud cost optimisation tools for suggestions on enhancing cloud spending efficiency, and instituting cloud governance processes for the creation and enforcement of cloud usage policies.

Educating Employees About Cloud Cost Management

Educating employees about cloud cost management enables informed decision-making regarding cloud usage. This entails offering training in efficient cloud resource utilisation and strategies to mitigate unnecessary cloud expenses.

Monitor the Cloud Costs Regularly

Once cloud cost management strategies have been implemented, it is essential to regularly monitor cloud costs to ensure the effectiveness of these strategies. Cloud billing and monitoring tools can be employed to track and identify potential areas for further optimisation in cloud spending. By adhering to these cloud cost management strategies, APAC businesses can reduce their cloud expenses and enhance overall profitability.

The average cloud cost overrun for businesses in APAC stands at 35 per cent, signifying a major excess in cloud expenditures. To address this issue, businesses can leverage region-specific pricing to capitalise on reduced cloud expenses in particular areas, capitalise on committed use discounts for cost-efficient management of committed cloud resources, utilise spot instances to economise on idle cloud resources, opt for managed services to curtail operational expenses, and employ a cloud management platform for enhanced and efficient cloud cost.