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From invoice shock to cloud control: a real-world example
They were early adopters. This medium-sized company decided a few years ago to build their application landscape as cloud-native as possible. No half measures, but full commitment to scalability, flexibility and speed.
And fair is fair: it worked. At first ...
Until costs started piling up.
What started as a smart, forward-thinking move slowly turned into a situation no one was really comfortable with. The monthly cloud bill kept rising. Not by a few percent, but in hefty increments. All the while, management felt they were working more and more efficiently. Where did this growth in costs come from? Which services actually delivered real business value? And why was it so difficult to get clear answers?
The biggest frustration? Not the size of the bill - although that was painful enough - but the lack of grip. The feeling that you're paying for something you don't fully understand or control. That raises questions you can't ignore as an organization: are we investing in the right things? What is the ROI of our cloud environment? And who is actually in control here?
For this customer, we went to work on a sharp analysis of the cloud environment. Not a report of 60+ pages, but a visual overview of what is running, what it costs and - above all - what it delivers. Step by step, we reduced complexity, lowered costs and increased value.
The result? Peace of mind. And a cloud environment that works for the company again, instead of the other way around.
The cloud never says no - but your budget might
In the days of on-premises, you knew exactly where you stood. You had a rack of servers, a fixed amount of storage and a network with clear boundaries. Did you want to expand? Then there was an investment moment. Ordering hardware, arranging approval, calculating delivery times. Not always convenient, but it forced you to make choices: is this expansion really necessary? What will it yield? Who is going to manage it?
It works differently in the cloud. There, there is no rack that fills up. No beeping server cabinets or flashing lights warning you that it's time to add on. Everything is available, instantly and in abundance. An additional database? Click. More computing power? Slide to the right. Backups, logging, analytics, test environments? Everything is rolled out in seconds.
That convenience is golden for speed and innovation. But it also has a downside: it tempts overconsumption. Because when provisioning is infinite and costs are not immediately visible, spending creeps in unnoticed. Especially if teams have provisioning rights of their own, or if temporary resources are forgotten to clear out.
Where before you automatically ran into a physical limit, now there is no natural brake. The only limit is your wallet - and you only feel that limit afterwards, when you see the invoice. This is precisely why visibility and direction is so important in the cloud. Not to slow down innovation, but to ensure that every euro really adds value.
Plenty of solutions, oversight is lacking
When everything was running on-premises, you made conscious choices. Every expansion required serious consideration. Licensing, installation, management - it took time, money and capacity. You didn't bring in a new tool for every small need. We first examined whether something could be solved within the existing environment.
This limitation had its advantages: it kept your IT landscape manageable.
In the cloud, this is reversed. There are dozens of solutions for every problem. From serverless functions to managed AI services, from log analytics to low-code platforms. Everything is available, at the touch of a button, mostly “pay as you go,” so it feels approachable. Just try something out, turn it on temporarily, handy for one little project ...
Before you know it, your landscape is a patchwork. Everything is doing something, but no one oversees the whole. And those small amounts? They pile up. Just like the dependencies and complexity. Where you used to choose one solution and build a strategy and management process around it, you now see proliferation in many organizations.
The cloud makes it easy to start, but difficult to stop - or to adjust if it gets bigger than intended. That's why it's crucial to consider not just what you're all using in the cloud, but why. What really contributes to your goals and what has gone unnoticed along the way?
From chaos to control: what insight really delivers
For this client, we started our Cloud Cost Audit™ - a thorough analysis of the entire cloud landscape. Not a technical maze, but a clear overview of what is running, what it costs and - more importantly - what it delivers.
Using AI-driven tooling, we mapped out which components were actually creating value for the company and which were mainly costing money without measurable results.
No wet-finger work, but hard data, presented visually and comprehensibly.
This provided the first complete picture of the cloud environment, including hidden costs and unused resources.
Based on that insight, we started cleaning up:
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Superfluous resources? Get rid of them.
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Duplicate solutions? Consolidated.
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Overgrowth of settings and variations? Standardized where we could.
Management is now easier and new releases are more manageable. All without losing the speed or flexibility of the cloud.
The result? A leaner, more efficient cloud environment that costs less and delivers faster. And an IT team that is once again in control - with insight, overview and the right tools to make informed choices.
Instead of being shocked by a bill afterwards, this company now knows in advance where they stand. That's the difference between running in the cloud and having real control over it.
Get a grip on your cloud, too?
Does it feel like your cloud environment is growing faster than your organization can handle? You're not the only one. But it can be done differently.
With the right insights, tools and choices, you can get a grip on cost, performance and value.
Wondering where to start?
Download our white paper Halve your cloud costs and discover practical strategies to reduce costs without sacrificing speed or innovation.