How Nonprofits Can Manage Their Cost in Azure
Nonprofits face a unique challenge of having to find ways to reduce operational costs as well as finding new funding streams. Thus, having to measure, reduce, manage, and tighten their belts to keep within budget. Add to that pricing, software and services, then you have a recipe for costs to get out of control. Microsoft does offer a grants and discounts to nonprofit organizations. However, even with those generous offers, nonprofits need to have extra tools to help manage costs. Don't worry, we got you covered. In this blog we will be able share some tips and strategies that nonprofits can use to effectively manage their costs in Azure. Leverage Azure Grants and Discounts Microsoft offers significant grants and discounts to eligible nonprofits. For instance, nonprofits can receive up to $2,000 in Azure credits annually. These grants can be used to offset the cost of various Azure services, making it more affordable for nonprofits to leverage the power of the cloud. To learn more how you can get started with claiming your Azure sponsorship credits learn more here: Claiming Azure Credits | Microsoft Community Hub. Things to Consider Move older servers to Azure to save money Utilize Hybrid Azure Benefit Take advantage of your Support plan Optimize your resources Implement cost management policies for your subscriptions Optimize Resource Usage One of the key takeaways to manage costs in Azure is by optimizing resource usage. This involves regularly monitoring and analyzing your cloud usage to identify underutilized resources. Azure provides tools like Azure Cost Management and Azure Advisor, which offer insights and recommendations on how to optimize your resources and reduce costs. Azure Advisor provides advice to help in the five categories of your Azure subscription: Azure Advisor Categories Reliability: Ensures your Azure services are reliable and available by providing recommendations for improving fault tolerance and disaster recovery. Security: Offers guidance on securing your Azure resources, including identity management, network security, and data protection. Performance: Provides recommendations to enhance the speed and efficiency of your Azure applications and services, ensuring optimal performance. Costs: Helps you manage and reduce Azure expenditures through cost-saving strategies and resource optimization suggestions. Operational Excellence: Focuses on best practices for managing and monitoring Azure environments to achieve smooth and efficient operations. Azure Advisor provides suggestions for managing underutilized resources and shows their effects on your subscription. If your virtual machines are not being used to their full potential, you can adjust them to minimize resource waste. Moreover, using Azure Advisor alongside Cost Management tools can improve your team’s productivity and get a bird’s eye view on your budgets. Implement Cost Management Policies Setting up cost management policies can help nonprofits keep their cloud spending in check. Azure allows you to set budgets and alerts, ensuring that you are notified when your spending approaches or exceeds your budget. This proactive approach helps in avoiding unexpected costs and staying within your financial limits. Cost Management Features Create budgets Get forecast estimates Create alerts Get reports & analysis Use Reserved Instances Albeit nonprofits may not be able to receive the discount that reserved instances provide if they have an Azure Sponsored subscription. If you have predictable workloads, using Azure Reserved Instances can lead to significant cost savings. By committing to a one- or three-year term, nonprofits can save up to 72% compared to pay-as-you-go pricing. This is particularly beneficial for organizations that have steady, ongoing cloud usage. There will be times when you will need to weigh in your options. Using the Azure Pricing calculator can help build estimates to see what may be more charitable to your workload. Take Advantage of Free Services That's right, you heard me say free. There are some services that are always free and trials. Azure offers a range of free services that nonprofits can take advantage of. These include free tiers of popular services like Azure App Service, Azure Functions, and Azure DevOps. Utilizing these free services can help nonprofits reduce their overall cloud expenditure while still benefiting from Azure's capabilities. FREE Azure Services 12 Month Services free 55 Services that are always free Free trials for multiple services in Azure . Regularly Review and Adjust Cost management is an ongoing process. Nonprofits should regularly review their Azure usage and costs, making adjustments as needed. This might involve scaling down resources during off-peak times, switching to more cost-effective services, or taking advantage of new Azure offerings and discounts. Conclusion By leveraging grants and discounts, optimizing resource usage, implementing cost management policies, using reserved instances, taking advantage of free services, and regularly reviewing and adjusting their cloud strategy, nonprofits can effectively manage their costs in Azure. These strategies not only help in reducing expenses but also ensure that nonprofits can continue to focus on their mission without financial constraints. Hyperlinks Claiming Azure Credits | Microsoft Community Hub Azure Benefits and incentives | Microsoft Azure Nonprofit FAQ | Microsoft Nonprofits Free Azure Services | Microsoft AzureBudget, Alert, & Save with Cost Management
Azure Cost Management Managing cloud costs efficiently is crucial for nonprofits striving to maximize their impact while staying within budget. Azure Cost Management offers a suite of tools designed to help organizations monitor, allocate, and optimize their cloud spending. This blog post will guide you through the navigation of Azure Cost Management and share best practices to ensure your nonprofit can make the most of its cloud investment. Azure Cost Management is integrated into the Azure portal, providing a seamless experience for users. Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough to help you get started: Accessing Cost Management: Located in the Cost management menu tab. You will see options to manage your billing, cost analysis, cost alerts, budgets, and advisor recommendations. Use the directions below to navigate the Azure portal and begin learning how you can create your first budget. Cost Management + Billing Log in to the Azure portal. Navigate to the "Cost Management + Billing" section. If you do not see the option in your home directory, you can type "Cost Managment + Billing" in the top search bar. Here, you can view your cost data at various scope levels, such as billing account, billing profile, and invoice section. Features Cost Analysis: Use the "Cost Analysis" feature to visualize your spending. You can categorize costs by resource group, service, location, or tag, and create custom filters to focus on the data that matters most to your organization. Budgets and Alerts: Set up budgets to monitor your cloud spending. Specify a time period, amount, and alert threshold for your budget. Azure will notify you when your spending approaches or exceeds the set limits. Cost Allocation: Distribute your cloud costs across different projects or departments within your nonprofit. Use tags to categorize resources and create cost allocation rules to split or move costs between them. Exports and Reports: Create custom reports and export cost data for in-depth analysis. This feature allows you to integrate cost data with other business systems to gain greater insight into your spending patterns. Ricky Esquivel from Pexels. Defining Your Scope Disclaimer: Before you begin to create a budget there are some prerequisites to consider. You will need the appropriate access to your Azure Account. If you are not a Role Based Access Control (RBAC) role of owner or contributor or Billing administrator, you will not be able to create a budget. Billing Scopes are tied to the structure of your Azure Account Billing. The scope can be defined by the following: Resource Group: A container for resources that are related or deployed together for a given workload. Subscription: It looks at all resources, resource groups, and related services and are the primary container for Azure. Management Group: A hierarchal container the houses subscriptions with six levels of depth. No matter the scope level you choose. Different scenarios will matter on your particular use case. Large organizations may have multiple regions and need to use management groups for organizational level hierarchical adoption of policies, billing for each department, and performing cost analysis to see performance across regions. Management groups can only have one parent per management group. However, each parent can have many children. It is also important to note that policies are adopted from the top down, which means the children will adopt the policy. Small to medium businesses can use Management groups as well. However, they may be able to get away with a few subscriptions for their needs. A common workflow being, Development and Production. Select Scope for the Budget Navigate to Azure Portal. In the top search bar, type "Cost Management." In the left-hand menu "Cost Analysis" tab located at the top of the menu is the Scope. You can select the change button to change the scope (You can also select the scope in the Overview menu as well). Select the Scope where the budget will apply: Management Group: Budget at the organization level. Subscription: Budget for an entire Azure subscription. Resource Group: Budget for a specific group of resources. Then click the "Select" button. Congratulations! You are on your way to optimizing your costs by selecting the appropriate scope for your budget. Now, let's proceed to set up your budget. If you decide to change the scope, such as selecting a different resource group, you can easily do so during the budget creation process. Let's move forward and create your budget to ensure efficient financial management and cost optimization. Define Budget Settings Log into the Azure Portal. In the top search bar type "Cost Management." In the left-hand menu select the "Monitoring" >"Budgets." in the "Budgets" menu, click the "Add" button located at the top of the menu. In the "Budget scoping" area you can select the scope by clicking on "change." You can also add filters to the scope. Examples like product, frequency, etc. In the "Budget Details" section Enter a Budget Name (e.g., "Monthly Dev Budget"). Choose Reset Period: Monthly Quarterly Annually Set Start and Expiry Date: Choose when the budget should start. Set an optional end date. Enter Budget Amount: Define the cost threshold for the budget (e.g., $10,000 per quarter). Click "Next." After you click next you will setup the alerts to notify the admins of the alerts. Do not click create until you specified who will be alerted in this step. Set Up Alerts & Notifications Under Alert condition, select the condition "Actual" or "Forecasted." Define Threshold Percentage: Example: 50%, 75%, and 90% of the budget. Select Alert Type: Actual Cost: Alerts trigger when the actual cost reaches the threshold. Forecasted Cost: Alerts trigger based on projected spending. Choose Notification Methods: Enter email addresses of recipients. Optionally, select an Action Group to automate responses (e.g., Power Automate or Logic Apps). Click "Create." Best Practices for Azure Cost Management To make the most of Azure Cost Management, consider implementing the following best practices: Tagging Resources: Ensure all your cloud resources are properly tagged. This practice helps in organizing and tracking costs more effectively. Use Azure Policy to enforce tagging policies and audit compliance. Utilizing Azure Advisor: Leverage Azure Advisor for personalized recommendations on cost optimization. It provides actionable insights to help you reduce costs, improve performance, and enhance security. Setting Up Budgets and Alerts: Regularly review and adjust your budgets based on your organization's needs. Use alerts to stay informed about spending anomalies and take corrective actions promptly. Optimizing Resource Usage: Identify underutilized resources and consider resizing or shutting them down. Use Azure's autoscaling features to match resource allocation with demand, ensuring cost efficiency. Regular Cost Reviews: Conduct regular reviews of your cloud spending. Analyze cost trends, identify areas for improvement, and implement cost-saving measures. Engage with your finance and IT teams to ensure alignment on cost management goals. Conclusion By effectively leveraging Azure Cost Management, nonprofits can achieve superior control over their cloud spending, ensuring that more resources are dedicated to their mission. Implementing these best practices will empower your organization to optimize costs, enhance efficiency, and achieve a greater impact. Now, you can begin by creating budgets and setting up alerts to keep the right team members informed and ensure you stay within your budget scope. For further details, please refer to the documentation. Hyperlinks Tutorial - Create and manage budgets - Microsoft Cost Management | Microsoft Learn Understand and work with Cost Management scopes - Microsoft Cost Management | Microsoft Learn Optimize your cloud investment with Cost Management - Microsoft Cost Management | Microsoft Learn
