Jessica A.,
Too Long; Didn't Read
The cloud should be cheaper than on-premise. Often it isn't—because resources are running that nobody needs anymore, instances are over-dimensioned, and no one truly understands the bill. With a few targeted measures, you can save 20-40%. And quite quickly.
"Why are we paying 50,000 francs a month for... what exactly?"
That's the question that comes up eventually. From the CFO. Or the CEO. Or from someone who really looks at the cloud bill for the first time.
And then you're standing there. And the honest answer is often: "Good question."
(Don't worry. You're not alone. We see this all the time.)
Why Cloud Costs Get Out of Control
The cloud makes it damn easy to scale up resources. A few clicks, a Terraform script—bam, 50 new instances.
Shutting down? That's easy to forget.
Or the developer who created the instance is on vacation. Or quit. Or doesn’t remember what it was for.
And so the zombies pile up. Instances that run. Volumes nobody needs. Snapshots from two years ago. All costing. Every month. Automatically.
Studies show: On average, 30% of cloud spending is pure waste. Not "could be optimized"—but money for things that benefit no one.
The good news? You can reclaim that.
7 Strategies That Really Work
Here are the measures that have the fastest impact for our clients. Sorted from "you can start tomorrow" to "needs some lead time".
1. Find and Kill Zombie Resources
What: Identify and delete all unused cloud resources.
Why it works: 10-20% of your resources probably run without real use. Just... forgotten.
How much you save: 10-25% of total costs. Immediately.
What you should do:
EC2/VM instances with <5% CPU over 30 days? Candidates.
Volumes without attachment? Get rid of them.
Snapshots older than 90 days? Really still needed?
Dev/Test environments running 24/7? Turn off at night.
A Swiss fintech we worked with saved 18,000 francs a month just by zombie hunting. Implemented in two weeks.
(The CTO was... surprised. And a little embarrassed.)
2. Right-Sizing: Adjusting Resources to Reality
What: Downsize instances to actual usage.
Why it works: Most resources are over-provisioned. "Better too big than too small" is expensive.
How much you save: 15-30% on compute costs.
What you should do:
Analyze CPU, memory, disk over 30 days
Instances with average <40% utilization? Candidates for downsizing
Test in non-prod, then roll out in prod
Caution: Don't just look at averages. Peak loads must still work. And some workloads need headroom.
AWS Compute Optimizer and Azure Advisor give you direct recommendations. Free. Use them as a starting point.
3. Reserved Instances for Stable Workloads
What: Agree to 1-3 year terms, get 40-60% discount.
Why it works: For workloads that run 24/7 anyway, pay-as-you-go is simply expensive.
How much you save: 40-60% on the affected instances.
What you should do:
Production databases, core services—anything that runs constantly
Analyze at least 6 months of historical usage
Buy RIs for ~70-80% of the baseline (not 100%—keep flexibility)
Caution: RIs are a commitment. If you no longer need the instance, you still pay. So start conservatively.
4. Spot Instances for Flexible Workloads
What: Use surplus cloud capacity at 70-90% discount.
Why it works: Cloud providers have excess capacity. You can use it cheaply—but it can disappear at any time.
How much you save: 70-90% on suitable workloads.
Suitable for:
Batch Processing
Data Analytics
CI/CD Build Jobs
Machine Learning Training
Dev/Test environments
Not suitable for: Anything that cannot be interrupted. Production databases? No.
Many CI/CD systems (GitLab, Jenkins) natively support Spot Instances. That’s an easy win.
5. Automate Dev/Test Shutdown
What: Shut down development and test environments at night and on weekends.
Why it works: Your developers (hopefully) don’t work 24/7. Why should the instances?
How much you save: 60-70% on dev/test costs.
What you should do:
Scheduled Scaling: up at 08:00, down at 18:00
Weekends completely off
Exceptions only on explicit request
A trading company we work with saved 12,000 francs a month with this. The developers didn’t even notice.
(Okay, one complained. But he was working at 3 a.m. That’s a different problem.)
6. Tagging: Know What Costs What
What: Tag all resources with owner, project, environment.
Why it works: You can only optimize what you can measure. Without tags, you don’t know who’s responsible for what.
How much you save: Directly: 0%. But it enables everything else.
What you should do:
Define tagging standard (Owner, Project, Environment, Cost Center)
Enforce policies (no resource without tags)
Report costs by tags
Without tagging, FinOps is almost impossible. This is the foundation. Invest time here.
7. Establish Monthly Cost Reviews
What: Regularly review costs—not just when there’s a fire.
Why it works: Cloud usage changes. Once optimized, it’s outdated after 6 months.
How much you save: Keeps other savings sustainable.
What you should do:
Monthly 30-60-minute meeting (Finance + IT + Key Teams)
Review top 10 cost drivers
Identify new anomalies
Define quick wins for the next month
The ritual dies if no one supports it. CFO or CTO must want it.
The Order that Works
You don’t have to do everything at once. Here’s the order we recommend:
Week 1-2: Kill zombie resources, set up dev/test shutdown
→ First savings, no risk
Week 3-4: Right-sizing for obvious cases
→ More savings, low risk
Month 2: Introduce tagging, reserved instances for stable workloads
→ Foundation for long-term optimization
Month 3+: Establish monthly reviews, spot instances where sensible
→ Continuous improvement
The Most Common Mistake
The biggest mistake we see: Optimize once and then forget.
You do a project. Save 30%. Celebrate. Move on to the next thing.
Two years later: Costs back at the old level. Or higher.
Why? Because cloud usage isn’t static. New features, new teams, new workloads. Waste comes back. Automatically.
FinOps is not a project. It’s a process. Like fitness. You don’t go to the gym once and stay fit forever.
(It would be nice. But it’s not the case.)
What You Can Do This Week
Get the cloud bill for the last 6 months – Look at the trend. Is it rising? Why?
List 5 resources you suspect – The instance that was "set up quickly." The test environment from 2 years ago.
Ask the owners – "Do you still need this?" The answer is more often "no" than you think.
Calculate the effect – 20% of your monthly cloud bill. That’s a realistic savings potential. Is it worth it?
The Point
Cloud cost optimization is not rocket science. Most savings come from obvious things: resources no one needs. Instances that are too large. Dev environments running at night.
The difficult part isn’t the tech. It’s the discipline to regularly look at it.
Companies that have their cloud costs under control aren’t those with the best tools. They are those who invest 30 minutes each month to monitor.
That sounds unsexy. It is. But it works.
