Understanding Azure Pricing Models
Azure Cost Optimisation starts with knowing how Azure charges for its services. Microsoft Azure offers several pricing models designed to suit different business needs:
- Pay-as-you-go: Flexible and commitment-free, but often the most expensive over time.
- Reserved Instances (RIs): Commit to one- or three-year plans to benefit from significant discounts.
- Spot VMs: Buy unused capacity at reduced rates. Ideal for non-critical or short-term workloads.
Choosing the right model isn’t always straightforward. That’s where understanding your usage patterns comes into play.
Common Areas of Cloud Overspending
We’ve seen this firsthand. Businesses often overspend on Azure due to:
- Over-provisioned virtual machines
- Idle or unused resources
- Lack of automated scaling
- Poor visibility into consumption
Without clear oversight, even small inefficiencies can accumulate into major budget issues.
Azure Cost Management and Billing Tools Explained
Azure’s native cost tools offer deep insight into spending patterns. Azure Cost Management and Billing helps track usage, set budgets, and create alerts.
These tools also support forecasting and allow for spending caps. To get real value, they must be configured correctly. Veracloud supports this during onboarding.
Strategies for Right-Sizing Virtual Machines and Services
Right-sizing involves matching virtual machine (VM) sizes and services to actual workloads. This means:
- Identifying underused VMs and scaling down
- Utilising auto-scaling for demand spikes
- Reviewing usage data monthly
Think of it like this. Paying for a full conference room when you only need a desk doesn’t make financial sense. We help you adjust your infrastructure so it fits your real needs.
Leveraging Azure Hybrid Benefit and Reserved Instances
Azure Hybrid Benefit lets you use your existing on-prem Windows Server and SQL Server licences in the cloud. Combined with Reserved Instances, you can save up to 80% over pay-as-you-go pricing.
These programmes are underutilised simply because they’re not widely understood. Veracloud simplifies licensing and ensures you benefit from every available discount.
Implementing Tagging for Cost Allocation and Tracking
Resource tagging enables better accountability and budget tracking. You can tag resources by department, project, or client. This is essential for cross-charging and internal reporting.
Azure’s built-in tagging functionality is powerful but requires consistent implementation. Veracloud provides best practice templates to standardise this across your environment.
How Veracloud Helps Businesses Control Azure Costs
At Veracloud, we combine our deep Azure expertise with practical strategies to cut costs and improve cloud efficiency. Here’s what matters:
- Proactive monitoring: We spot issues before they become expenses.
- Transparent pricing: Avoid surprise costs with predictable monthly billing.
- Microsoft Licensing guidance: Get peace of mind knowing you’re using the right plans.
- Tailored IT roadmaps: We align your cloud strategy with business growth goals.
We are Microsoft 365 specialists and ISO 27001:2022 certified, meaning your cloud operations are optimised and secure by default.
See what’s possible
Keep your cloud spending in check. Book a quick chat with Veracloud and start saving on your Azure infrastructure today.
