News and updates from FinOps X 2024: How Microsoft is empowering organizations
Last year, I shared a broad set of updates that showcased how Microsoft is embracing FinOps practitioners through education, product improvements, and innovative solutions that help organizations achieve more. with AI-powered experiences like Copilot and Microsoft Fabric. Whether you’re an engineer working in the Azure portal or part of a business or finance team collaborating in Microsoft 365 or analyzing data in Power BI, Microsoft Cloud has the tools you need to accelerate business value for your cloud investments.
Understanding Cloud Cost Fluctuations with Power BI
Staying on top of your cloud costs requires regular reviews. There are many ways to slice and dice your cloud costs; one approach I find helpful is comparing daily and monthly cost deltas. Below is a visual from my Power BI report showing how my previous month’s costs compare to the month prior. The visual is filtered to only show delta increases/decreases over $1K. I can quickly see we spent $5K more on Azure SQL Database in the selected month compared to the previous month. I call this my 'large cost swings' graph. I understand that everything is not linear, nor do things translate nicely from one day or month to the next. However, the data has a story to tell. What I ask my team to focus on is the story the data is telling. In this case, we made some modifications to ADF and SQL, leading to a $4K net reduction in costs. Some stories explain the outcome of one or more actions. Then there are those stories which can help shape your future consumption and spending.Discover cost management opportunities using tailored Copilot in Azure prompts
In this blog we’re going to explore the value of incorporating Copilot in Azure in your Microsoft Cost Management tasks, and give some scenarios in which asking specific, fine-tuned prompts can yields the most helpful results.FOCUS: An open specification for cloud cost transparency
When it comes to FinOps, the data is of the utmost importance. Data is the key to understanding your cloud cost and usage patterns, and pivotal to making smart decisions about your cloud strategy and operations. This is why Microsoft is proud to be a founding member of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) project and why we’re dedicated to defining and evolving the specification alongside our customers, partners, and industry peers. And with FOCUS 1.0 support in Cost Management exports being announced at FinOps X 2024, you may be wondering what FOCUS is, why you should care, and where to get started. Look no further. I’ll give you a crash course in FOCUS 1.0.
