Review and analyze this workload regularly

As AWS continuously introduces new services and enhancements, it is crucial to regularly assess your existing architectures. This practice ensures that your solutions remain financially viable while optimizing resource utilization and operational efficiency.

Best Practices

Regular Workload Reviews for Cost Optimization

• Schedule periodic reviews: Establish a routine (e.g., quarterly or bi-annually) for reviewing existing workloads to ensure optimal cost efficiency is achieved.
• Utilize AWS Cost Explorer: Leverage AWS Cost Explorer to analyze costs associated with current services and identify trends or anomalies that signal areas for potential savings.
• Stay informed on AWS service updates: Regularly check AWS announcements for new services and features that can provide cost-effective alternatives to existing solutions.
• Engage in benchmarking: Compare the performance and costs of your existing services against newly available AWS offerings to assess potential improvements.
• Document changes: Maintain clear documentation of any architectural changes made as a result of these reviews to track improvements in cost efficiency.
• Involve stakeholders: Collaborate with engineers and financial teams to gather diverse perspectives on workload performance and cost implications.

Questions to ask your team

• How often do you review your current workloads for potential optimizations?
• What metrics do you use to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of existing services?
• Have you identified any recent AWS service releases that could benefit your architecture?
• How do you keep track of new AWS services and features that could optimize costs?
• Do you have a process in place to assess the impact of adopting new AWS services on your existing workloads?

Who should be doing this?

Cloud Architect

• Lead the review of existing workloads to assess cost efficiency.
• Identify and evaluate new AWS services and features relevant to current workloads.
• Conduct cost analysis and modeling for proposed changes.
• Prepare recommendations for adopting new services or re-architecting existing solutions.

Cost Analyst

• Monitor cloud spend and performance metrics to identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Support the evaluation of new services by providing data and insights.
• Assist in generating cost reports and analyses for decision-making.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to align cost optimization efforts with business goals.

DevOps Engineer

• Implement and manage new AWS services as directed by the architectural recommendations.
• Ensure workload deployments are aligned with cost optimization best practices.
• Automate processes to improve efficiency and reduce costs wherever possible.
• Provide technical insights during the evaluation of new services.

Product Owner

• Prioritize cost optimization initiatives in the product backlog.
• Facilitate discussions with stakeholders about the benefits and trade-offs of adopting new services.
• Ensure alignment between new services and the overall product strategy.
• Review feedback from the team on existing workloads to foster continuous improvement.

What evidence shows this is happening in your organization?

• Cost Optimization Review Checklist: A structured checklist to guide teams in regularly reviewing workloads, identifying opportunities for service improvement, and ensuring cost efficiency by adopting new AWS services.
• Workload Evaluation Report Template: A template for generating periodic reports that assess current workloads, highlight potential new services, and recommend architectural changes for cost savings.
• Cost Monitoring Dashboard: An interactive dashboard that provides insights into current AWS service usage, costs, and identifies areas where new services could enhance cost efficiency.
• Regular Evaluation Strategy Guide: A guide outlining best practices for evaluating AWS services, setting timelines for regular reviews, and strategies for re-architecting workloads for optimized costs.
• Service Adoption Policy: A formal policy that outlines the process for reviewing and adopting new AWS services, ensuring that cost efficiency is a key consideration in architectural decisions.

Cloud Services

AWS

• AWS Cost Explorer: A tool that allows you to visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs and usage over time, helping you identify cost-saving opportunities.
• AWS Budgets: Allows you to set custom cost and usage budgets that alert you when your costs exceed your defined thresholds, which helps in monitoring workloads for cost effectiveness.
• AWS Trusted Advisor: Provides real-time guidance to help you provision your resources following AWS best practices, including cost optimizations.

Azure

• Azure Cost Management and Billing: Helps you understand your Azure spending by analyzing costs and usage, providing insights to optimize costs associated with your workloads.
• Azure Advisor: Offers personalized best practices to optimize your Azure resources, including cost savings and performance improvement recommendations.

Google Cloud Platform

• Google Cloud Billing Reports: Provides detailed insights into your expenditures on Google Cloud services to aid in identifying areas for cost optimization.
• Google Cloud Ops Suite: Helps you monitor and manage performance, usage, and cost, allowing you to identify opportunities for cost efficacy in your workloads.

Question: How do you evaluate new services?
Pillar: Cost Optimization (Code: COST)