Million Dollar Lines of Code: an Engineering Perspective on Cloud Cost Optimization

Cost Efficiency in Cloud Computing

• Cost efficiency is crucial in cloud computing, as every engineering decision has cost implications.
• The cloud offers room for improvement in terms of cost efficiency.
• A well-architected system is often cost-effective.
• Engineers should collaborate with finance and operations teams to manage cloud costs effectively.

Tips for Improving Cost Efficiency

• Avoid unnecessary API calls, data retrieval within loops, and large data attributes in databases.
• Optimize resource usage, use caching, and test thoroughly before deploying changes.
• Consider the cost implications of changes to cloud infrastructure and applications.
• Avoid premature optimization; consider cost-effectiveness iteratively over time.

Cloud Efficiency Rate (CER)

• CER measures cloud spending efficiency: (Revenue - Cloud cost) / Revenue.
• A CER of 80% indicates a healthy business.
• For non-profits, use the budget or fundraising goal instead of revenue.

Cloud Migration Considerations

• Understand on-prem operational costs to estimate cloud migration costs.
• Establish a baseline of cloud efficiency and data center efficiency rates.
• Include cooling power, headcount, and people time in TCO calculations for a more realistic representation.