cloud optimization

SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE/GRANDE/VENTI, WHATEVER

There’s a myth that FinOps is only for organizations with the largest cloud budgets, which is not true. There are a whole host of problems that need to be managed, regardless of budget and business size. FinOps can help solve these problems by providing a framework for managing costs, optimizing resources, and improving efficiencies. Nick and Jason will be discussing these and helping you understand more why tracking costs should be done in any business or organization’s size, in this latest episode of Cloud Cost Optimization.

WORDS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR DAY

JASON: TECHNOLOGY IS NOW A LINE ITEM IN EVERY BUSINESS’ COSTS

“Technology has become a line item on everyone's budget. I mean, unless you're, you know, selling cigarettes and booze at the corner store, or haircuts or something like that. Technology has become a major part of any business.”

JASON: WHEN YOU NEED TO START TRACKING COSTS

“I think if it's growing at a rapid pace and if it's significant enough in nature that somebody is telling you we need to examine and look at the costs. That's when you should start, and that's going to depend on the size of the organization.”

Get to know our hosts in the links below:

• Nick Lumsden | Jason Yaeger

Get a free assessment and optimize your environment in TenacityCloud.com

SHARING IS CARING, BUT SOMETIMES IT’S PROBLEMATIC

The problem of shared costs is one that has been around for a long time and is especially difficult when it comes to cloud spending and variable spending. In the past, we have not managed shared costs very well. So today, Nick and Jason will be giving us a deeper understanding of this matter and explaining how we solve such problems, only here, in the latest episode of Cloud Cost Optimization.

WORDS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR DAY

NICK: THE POWER OF VISIBILITY

“The power in the cloud is that you can actually see all those underlying costs. Maybe with the, you know, with the exception of labor, you still got to figure out your labor costs. But when it comes down to infrastructure costs, you know, I can actually see my data costs and my storage costs, and my you know, all of it I can understand directly and exactly how much those costs are.”

JASON: HOW TO START ALLOCATING

“Start with making sure everything is allocated appropriately before you work on shared allocation.”

Get to know our hosts in the links below:

• Nick Lumsden | Jason Yaeger

Get a free assessment and optimize your environment in TenacityCloud.com

THIS MYTH IS BUSTED!

In today's episode, Nick and Jason dispel the myth that FinOps is only about saving companies money. FinOps is actually about so much more than that, it's about optimizing resources, improving efficiencies, and ensuring that an organization's finances are in good shape. While saving money is certainly a goal of FinOps, it's not the only one, and it's important to understand all of the different facets of FinOps in order to properly implement it within your organization. Find out more in this latest episode of Cloud Cost Optimization.

WORDS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR DAY

JASON: How FinOps help the finance teams

“It was hard for finance teams to keep up with the pace of change that was happening, and then I think FinOps is a way to help those finance teams along the way and give them the tools and the processes necessary to be able to adapt to that change.”

JASON: FinOps is not just for “savings”

“Only one leg of the FinOps operating model is optimal savings, optimization in the terms of and then even though that savings is typically only even a facet of that, but if you look at the operating model, it's about being able to predict and understand when these things changes before they happen. So that you can react and save that budget before it becomes an issue.”

Get to know our hosts in the links below:

Nick Lumsden | Jason Yaeger

Get a free assessment and optimize your environment in TenacityCloud.com

CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT IN UNDERSTANDING A LOT OF THINGS, BUT HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND CONTEXT ITSELF?

Nick and Jason talk about the importance of context in understanding cloud management and consumption. They discuss how context allows you to apply specific business data to your review of cloud spend or utilization. Without context, data can be viewed in a generic way that may not be helpful to your specific business needs. Learn more in this latest episode of Cloud Cost Optimization.

WORDS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR DAY

JASON: Initial thoughts on what context is

“I think, to probably make it as short as possible, it's to apply the things that are specific to my business to the data that I'm reviewing. In the cloud, it's typically spend, utilization, or optimization, based on maybe products or business groups or teams, which could be many different things. So it's viewing that data within the context that matters to me and not some generic way.

NICK: Context is very important in trying to solve a problem

“I have a bunch of alert noise in my slack channel or in my support system, what do I do with it? And we hear this one all the time, providing context around why the alert was actually generated, and what sorts of issues exist in the environment that could lead to it is really critical for an engineer trying to solve the problem.”

Get to know our hosts in the links below:

Nick Lumsden | Jason Yaeger

Get a free assessment and optimize your environment in TenacityCloud.com

We had a lot of expectations for Dr. Werner Vogels’ re:Invent keynote and he delivered. Whether it was about advances in 3D design, data-informed simulation work, simplifying how to build and build fast, or just knowing how to tell a good story, Werner gave us a lot to chew. Dan Hopkins, VP of Engineering at Stackhawk, joins Hilary and Rahul to offer the engineers’ view on the Werner Matrix and wrap our coverage of this year’s conference. Let us know what you think at podcast@cloudfix.com.

Tuesday’s keynote from Swami Sivasubramanian - AWS VP of Data & Machine Learning, leaned much more into the “data” part than the “machine learning” part of his role. Data is a major theme at re:Invent this year. Rahul, Hilary and special guest Alex Kearns, AWS Consultant at Inawisdom (an AI/ML company), chat through why they think AWS is focused on data, and review their unfilled wish lists on further artificial intelligence and machine learning integration into the platform. Let us know what you think at podcast@cloudfix.com.

Great explorers through history defined the theme of Adam Selipsky's re:Invent Keynote this morning. But what caught Rahul and Hilary’s attention wasn’t what was being said, but what didn’t get explored on stage. Along with special guests J.R. Storment and Joe Daly from FinOps Foundation, they unpack Selipsky's announcements, and dive into what they wish they’d also heard. Let us know what you think at podcast@cloudfix.com.

The Cloudfix Team is on prem at AWS’s massive re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, and we’re bringing you along with us throughout the week. Rahul, Hilary and special guests meet up every morning to unpack the latest AWS news from the conference, and swap opinions and hot takes on where the cloud community grows from here. We start with Rahul’s best predictions for what we can expect will be unveiled this week, and connect with AMD’s Brad Smith. Got any questions about re:Invent? Find us at podcast@cloudfix.com.

LAYOFFS HERE, LAYOFFS THERE, HAPPENING EVERYWHERE

It’s alarming to see that a lot of organizations in the tech space right now are cutting down their people in massive numbers. Our hosts Nick Lumsden and Jason Yaeger will be focusing today on all things layoff, what’s happening now, what are its common causes, and its impact on downsizing organizations. Tune in to get yourself informed in this latest episode of Cloud Cost Optimization.

HIGHLIGHTS

JASON: What happens if you layoff half your force

“If you lay off half of your staff, and then ask the other half of your staff to work twice as hard, you're probably going to churn out another, I don't know 15-20%, because there will be people that go ‘ ‘no, I'm not I'm not doing that.”

JASON: Keep as many people as you can

“I don't know if this would have this works at these really large organizations, but it's always better when you try to preserve as many jobs as you can, realistically, and so asking people to take pay cuts, and minimizing the percentage of staff that you actually have to turn, in my opinion, is probably a better way to handle these situations.”

JASON: Impact of layoffs on cloud spend

“The less people you have, the less time you have to do all of the things that all of the things outside just keeping the lights on and running, you know, which include making, you know, they include all of your efforts around cloud spend optimization.”

Get to know our hosts in the links below:

Nick Lumsden | Jason Yaeger

Get a free assessment and optimize your environment in TenacityCloud.com

“We have the opportunity to level the playing field by taking advantage of resources.” - Carl Robinson

Thank you for tuning in to episode 17 of The CUInsight Network, with your host, Lauren Culp, Publisher & CEO of CUInsight.com. In The CUInsight Network, we take a deeper dive with the thought leaders who support the credit union community. We discuss issues and challenges facing credit unions and identify best practices to learn and grow together.

My guest today is Carl Robinson, SVP of Payments at Alacriti. In this episode, Carl shares insights on how to use tech to the fullest in the shifting market of payments and cloud optimization. We chat about his career journey, his personal experiences with automation, and the importance of understanding digital strategy to enhance the user experience. 

Members are now accustomed to speed, real-time service, and “instant gratification” with many digital services. The speed of money movement and payments are what members view as excellent service. Carl explains how cost-effective iteration can help credit unions leverage technology and increase the quality of operations and member experience without needing to start from scratch.

Carl encourages credit union teams to start finding new solutions by experimenting with tech approaches that increase real time services and speed. Incorporating these elements can help credit unions jump ahead in the financial services industry while mitigating risk. He also shares resources credit unions use to get started. 

During our rapid fire questions, we learn that Carl has been interested in the world of payments for many years but wanted to be a racecar driver growing up. He shares that his calendar is rarely empty and that he enjoys spending his time with his children. Listen in as Carl walks us through his favorite books to read and who he thinks of when he hears the word “success.” Enjoy my conversation with Carl Robinson! 

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.

Connect with Carl:
Carl Robinson, Senior Vice President of Payments at Alacriti
carl.robinson@alacriti.com
www.alacriti.com
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