Optimizing Customer Spend: How XContent uses CloudMonitor to lower their customer's spend
XContent Business Solutions - An CSP Customer FinOps Success Story
XContent Business Solutions
XContent Business Solutions serves as a trusted Azure Cloud Service Provider, providing comprehensive solutions and technological innovations to address business challenges and foster growth. With a commitment to client satisfaction, XContent continually seeks opportunities to enhance services and cultivate strong relationships.
- Industry: Cloud Services Provider (CSP), IT and Professional Services
- Headquarters: Pretoria, South Africa
- Company Size: 50+
- Website: https://xcontent.com/
Problem Statement
Customer's have no idea on how much they are spending on cloud
As a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) specializing in the Microsoft ecosystem, we at XContent, in collaboration with Cloud Monitor, are committed to being the trusted advisors for our clients. Our mission is to demystify the complexities of the Microsoft environment, with a particular emphasis on Security, Compliance, and Costing.
The challenge we face is the lack of transparency and understanding that many customers have regarding their cloud spending. This complexity is not just an external issue; it reflects our internal need to enhance our ability to manage resources and expenses effectively, even after leveraging Azure’s capabilities for nearly a decade.
In our pursuit of excellence, we identified the need for a tool that could resonate with Microsoft’s core principles and provide the essential data to guide both our customers and us toward well-informed decisions. Our collaboration with Cloudmonitor is a strategic step towards achieving this goal, aiming to simplify the navigation of the Microsoft ecosystem and provide clarity on cloud spending for our customers.
Key FinOps Challenges
- Customers do not have good visibility on their cloud spend
- Many security loopholes that leave our customers at risk
- We need a tool to identify the quick wins for us to pass on to our customers
The FinOps Solution
White labelling CloudMonitor as part of CloudSource
After a meticulous evaluation of our and our customers’ cloud estate, we recognized the necessity to both understand and optimize resources to deliver unparalleled value to our clients. By white labelling CloudMonitor as part of CloudSource, we achieved an all-encompassing perspective of the Azure framework. This integration illuminated areas of redundant resources, high-cost deployment patterns, and inconsistencies among various resource types.
Utilizing these insights, we seamlessly incorporated them into our client consultations. Our clients were particularly impressed with the visualizations, patterns, recommendations, and detailed data on their resources, which are often difficult to obtain through native Microsoft tools. This unified strategy, under the CloudSource umbrella, has the potential to enhance any cloud-based organization’s efficiency. We have successfully implemented this approach with numerous clients, all of whom have realized significant benefits.
Results for the Business
Customer showing a 32% Reduction in Azure Spend
A particular customer of ours was able to achieve up to 32% savings by using CloudMonitor.
Outcomes (XContent)
By white labelling CloudMonitor and incorporating it into the CloudSource product XContent managed to save up to 32% in savings for their various customers
Outcomes (Customers)
Each CloudSource customer now receives a professional FinOps reporting solution which gives their business users visibility on their cloud spend and any cost anomalies.
Related FinOps Domains
With the expansion in operations and subsequent increase in Azure platform costs, Understanding Cloud Usage and Cost became extremely important. The growing number of developers led to greater cloud usage, and the organization needed to have a detailed understanding of this usage and its associated costs.
As the Azure bills began to escalate, it became imperative to effectively optimise cloud resources. The challenge was to align the actual workload needs with the utilised cloud services as closely as possible, only using the right resources in the right size and at the right time to maximize value to the business. This need for cost-effective use of cloud resources underscored the importance of Cloud Usage Optimisation.
Looking to take your business to the next level with Azure and Microsoft 365? Look no further than CloudSource! Our cutting-edge cloud management solution is a game-changer for businesses looking to streamline their operations and focus on what they do best.
At CloudSource, our top priority is delivering the highest level of service and support to our clients. Our team of experienced cloud experts is dedicated to optimising your cloud environment, ensuring it’s secure, well-architected, and always running smoothly.
Learn more about CloudSource by XContent.
