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© 2023 Zesty. All Rights Reserved
Learn more about us at https://zesty.co
How to Choose the Best RI Management Tool for Your CloudOps?
Check out our RI Management Buyers Guide, where we prepared a list of key selection criteria provided to help you focus your search on an RI management tool that will best meet the needs of your public cloud FinOps team.
At the bottom of the page, grab your must- have checklist with all the criteria you need to compare between different vendors
Onboarding and Maintenance Effort
Why this is important:
An RI management tool that is easy to onboard and maintain can save time and resources for the CloudOps team.
A tool that is difficult to onboard or requires a lot of maintenance can lead to delays in implementation and increased workload for the team. Additionally, if the tool is not maintained properly, it may not function as intended and could lead to suboptimal cost savings.
What to look for:
- For deployment, no code or architecture changes should be required.
- Solution should be easy to use and staff training should not be needed.
- Prior or during the POC, you should be able to view potential savings, in order to make an informed decision. This view should be accessible without having to activate your organizational account to the platform.
Savings Methodology
Why this is important:
The savings methodology of the RI management tool plays a critical role in the level of effective savings that can be achieved. Tools that only provide analysis and recommendations may require significant engineering effort to implement these recommendations to see any savings. Therefore, it’s important to carefully evaluate the methodology of an RI management tool when selecting one for your cloud environment.
What to look for:
- An RI management tool that can cover a greater percentage of your workloads automatically as this can help reduce your overall cloud costs without requiring manual effort from your team.
- Look for tools that leverage Reserved Instances (RIs) for its deeper discounts, so that you can maximize your savings and ensure that you are getting the most value across all of your workloads.
- Ensure that the tool offers automated remediations, so that it will identify and act on cost optimization opportunities without requiring any manual effort, further reducing the workload for your CloudOps team and generating even deeper savings through advanced technologies like machine learning.
Pricing Model
Why this is important:
The pricing model for RI management tools is typically a percentage fee which is taken out of the amount of savings achieved.
What to look for:
- A pricing model where the fee is limited to the savings it directly provides.
- A buyback guarantee – The vendor should compensate you every time you are over-provisioned with RIs that don’t get used.
Strong AWS Partner Relationship
Why this is important:
A close association with AWS not only indicates that the vendor is aligned with AWS terms and conditions but is a show of confidence in the service model and the tool’s performance capabilities. The awarding of competencies is only given to vendors strongly aligned with AWS’s best practices and that have demonstrated a high level of expertise in their respective domains.
In addition, a close partnership with AWS also makes it easier to deploy and manage the tool, ensuring a smooth integration process and consistent billing between financial reports provided by the vendor and that from AWS.
What to look for:
- Indicators that an RI management vendor has a close association with AWS include the following:
- Designation as an AWS partner – should host a partner badge on their website
- List of awarded competencies – a testament to the product’s performance efficacy
- Are they routing RI’s between different customer accounts?
- Accessible on the AWS marketplace – this will make it easier to deploy with your Cost Explorer account and ensure consistent billing
- AWS Account Manager familiarity – Your AWS account manager should be familiar with the tool and able to attest to its value.
Security
Why this is important:
It is important to assess the level of intrusion that an RI management tool may have on your proprietary data. You should consider how the tool will access and analyze your data, and whether it requires the installation of an agent. Additionally, you should evaluate the security measures that the tool has in place to protect your data. By carefully considering these factors, you can ensure that the RI management tool you select is both effective and secure.
What to look for:
- Ensure that the tool you select doesn’t require any agent installation on compute instances, nor is there any chance for exposure to data on the instance.
- Access to the organization’s Cost and Usage Report (CUR) should be sufficient.
- Access to the CUR should be limited and only accessible through a set of IAM role permissions. It is recommended to check those permissions to ensure you are only providing access to what is necessary.
- Confirm the tool is GDPR compliant and has SOC II Type II certification
Professional Services
Why this is important:
Professional services are an essential component of getting maximum utilization out of an RI management tool. Comprehensive services become crucial when technical issues need to be addressed, ensuring that a misallocation of RI’s gets rectified as soon as possible. Professional services can help businesses stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the cloud cost optimization industry, and ensure that they are getting the most value out of their pricing discounts.
What to look for:
- A Customer Success Manager (CSM) dedicated to your account
- 24/7 technical support
- A Help Desk with supporting documentation
- High customer satisfaction ratings on product review sites like G2
Established Company
Why this is important:
First, an established company is likely to have a track record of success and a proven product that has been tested and refined over time. This can provide greater confidence that the product will perform as expected and deliver on its promises. Additionally, an established company is more likely to have the resources and expertise necessary to provide comprehensive customer support, including ongoing maintenance and updates. Finally, an established company is more likely to have a solid financial foundation and be better equipped to weather any market fluctuations or challenges that may arise.
What to look for:
- The vendor has an established market presence
- They are servicing hundreds of accounts
- They are well-funded and have matured beyond early-stage funding rounds
- The vendor is supporting a large partner ecosystem that spans across numerous industry verticals and geographic regions.
Cancellation Terms
Why this is important:
It is essential to carefully review the cancellation terms of any agreement with an RI management vendor. Some vendors have terms that put the customer at significant risk if they choose to leave, by making them assume the financial risk of managing all the commitments that have been purchased. This can result in businesses becoming over-provisioned with unused commitments and no management process in place to offload them, leading to higher cloud costs and a loss of potential savings.
What to look for:
- Make sure there is a cancellation process in place to ensure there is a smooth transition for the managed commitments.
- Expect the vendor to request a 30-day grace period so that any potential excess commitments are removed from the account by the time the cancellation is effective.