Stay True to your intent
Cloud sticker shock is a real thing; you need to get past it before it turns into cloud regret. There are numerous cost optimization tactics available, choosing the right ones requires some careful consideration. Whether you are wanting to maximize the value of a cloud project pro-actively or reactively, the answers are the same, just the question is a little different. What is your primary objective in going to the cloud vs. what was your primary objective? Why does that matter? If your goal in going to the cloud was to take advantage of near infinite scale and redundancy, then it is probably inappropriate to just start slashing your bill. Conversely, if your primary objective was cost savings then creating numerous layers of geo-redundancy on SSD may be equally counter-productive. This paradigm conceptually reminds us of the triple constraints of project management, do you want it cheap, fast or good, pick 2?
Now, let’s not just assume that with performance-driven objectives that you’re forced to break the bank. There are multiple ways to accomplish most any task in the cloud and each method almost certainly doesn’t cost the same; you are empowered to choose the most fiscally attractive means to meet your objective. Do you see how I did that? You need the objective first; what defines success? Fact is that the key to value optimization is pragmatically seeking the balance between cost and requirements.
If you are not able to answer the question: why did I go or why am I going to the cloud then you or your client are likely to experience sticker shock because you won’t feel like you are getting a good deal.
Extra Pro Tip – Office 365 counts as “the cloud”, if you intended to drop your per person cost to deliver email services and you have extra unused licenses then you are artificially inflating your per user cost.