Cloud Migration Cost Management Resources

Migrating to the cloud can bring significant benefits for your organization, such as increased scalability, reliability, security, and innovation. However, migrating to the cloud also requires careful planning and management of costs to avoid overspending or underutilizing your resources.

A cost management strategy is an essential consideration when migrating or operating in the cloud. There are many benefits that this can bring, including:

• Reducing upfront and operational expenses by paying only for what you use and leveraging the economies of scale of the Microsoft Cloud.
• Gaining visibility and control over your cloud spending by using tools and practices to monitor, analyze, and optimize your costs.
• Aligning your cloud spending with your business objectives and value by using budgeting, forecasting, and governance mechanisms to allocate and track your costs.

By applying these aspects, you can achieve greater efficiency, agility, and innovation with your cloud resources, while avoiding unnecessary costs and risks.

Resources to help plan, operate, and optimize your cloud environment

Azure Fundamentals

If you are new to cloud or Azure take the Azure Fundamentals learning path to understand basic cloud concepts. Start the Learning Path.

• Microsoft Cost Management
• What is cost optimization?
• How to optimize your Azure workload costs
• Azure webinar series – Optimize Cloud Spending: Tools and Best Practices on Azure

Microsoft Azure Well Architected Framework Cost Optimization

Learn about the factors that influence cost and tools you can use to help estimate and manage your cloud spend.

• Introduction – Azure Well Architected Cost Optimization
• Plan and estimate your Azure Costs
• Provision with optimization
• Use monitoring and analytics to gain cost insights
• Maximise efficiency of cloud spend

Analyze costs and create budgets with Microsoft Cost Management

Learn how to use cost analysis to understand how your costs accrue each month.

• Introduction – Analyze costs and create budgets with Microsoft Cost Management
• Cost management principles
• Evaluate your costs using cost analysis
• Determine your most expensive resource and see trends
• Build budgets and alerts
• Exercise – Create your first budget
• Summary – Analyze costs and create budgets with Microsoft Cost Management

Azure Reserved Instances

Save money by taking advantage of Azure reservations. Analyze and decide what to purchase and then learn how to make a purchase. Understand the benefits provided through compute purchases and optimize against any under use. Perform basic reporting on your reservations.

• Introduction – Azure Reserved Instances
• Determine what to purchase
• Make a purchase
• View and manage reservations
• Monitor and optimize reservation use
• Analyze and report after reservation purchase
• Knowledge Check – Azure Reserved Instances
• Summary – Azure Reserved Instances

Optimize Azure costs with data analysis in Power BI

Use Power BI to understand where your money is being spent in Azure so you can help your organization to optimize its costs.

• Introduction – Optimize Azure costs with data analysis in Power BI
• Analyze costs in the Microsoft Cost Management Power BI app to optimize costs
• Manage hybrid benefits to reduce the licensing cost of Azure VMs
• Optimize your Azure reservation use to save money
• Import data into Power BI Desktop with the Cost Management data connector to better understand your Azure spending
• Knowledge check – Optimize Azure costs with data analysis in Power BI
• Summary – Optimize Azure costs with data analysis in Power BI

Azure savings for compute

Reduce compute costs with an easy, flexible savings plan.

• Azure savings plan for compute
• Optimize and maximize cloud investment
• Azure Savings Plan – Documentation
• Purchase Azure savings plan for compute
• Introduction to Azure savings plan for compute
• Understanding Azure savings plan for compute