Ask CloudMonitor
Type a question about your spend and get an answer from your own data. It’s the shortcut for the question you’d otherwise spend ten minutes building a report to answer.
You’ll find it in the Inform group, and there’s a launcher in the top bar from any screen.
Asking well
Section titled “Asking well”The single most important thing: the question carries its own scope. Unlike every other screen, Ask CloudMonitor ignores the top-bar filters — so put the period, the provider, the cost group and the cost basis into the sentence.
Not: what did we spend? (with Last 30 Days set at the top)
But: what did we spend on storage last month, for the Platform cost group?
That’s not a limitation so much as a different contract. A conversational answer that silently depended on a filter you set on another screen twenty minutes ago would be worse.
Ask for billed or amortised cost explicitly if the distinction matters — see effective cost vs billed cost.
What it’s good and bad at
Section titled “What it’s good and bad at”Good at the specific factual question: what did X cost, which service grew most, how does this month compare to last.
Less good at anything you intend to act on directly without checking. Treat an answer as a pointer, not a citation. If a number is going in a report, open The Ledger with the same scope and confirm it — that takes thirty seconds and the two should agree.
Two states you might hit
Section titled “Two states you might hit”In demo mode:
Answers come from your organisation’s cost data, so there is nothing honest to show on sample data. Switch demo mode off to ask.
That’s deliberate. Answering questions about a fictional company would teach you nothing about your own spend and would be easy to mistake for real. Turn demo mode off on your profile page.
Not set up:
Ask CloudMonitor isn’t set up for this workspace
The assistant is bound to your workspace at installation, so an admin can’t switch it on from Settings. Contact support.
Where to go instead
Section titled “Where to go instead”If you’re exploring rather than asking one question, The Explorer is the better tool — you can shape the analysis and save it. Ask CloudMonitor is for the one-off.