Cloud cost check-up: summary

Where the money goes (example, per month)

• Microsoft 365 seats (16 paid)$336
• Cloud hosting (Azure)$640
• Website, domain and email filtering$38
• Other subscriptions (e-sign, scheduling)$120

Example monthly total $1,134

Five things worth a closer look

1. Seats for people who have left

   Example: about $54/month

   Check first: Confirm each seat is unused and the mailbox is archived first.

   Trade-off: None once the data is kept.

2. A test server that is left running

   Example: about $85/month

   Check first: Ask who built it and whether anything still uses it.

   Trade-off: Stopping it breaks anything quietly depending on it.

3. Old backups and snapshots kept forever

   Example: about $35/month

   Check first: Agree a retention period that matches what the business needs.

   Trade-off: Older restore points would no longer exist.

4. A database sized far above its load

   Example: about $70/month

   Check first: Look at three months of usage before changing the size.

   Trade-off: Less headroom if work suddenly spikes.

5. Steady workload on pay-as-you-go pricing

   Example: about $45/month

   Check first: Only for work that has run the same for a year.

   Trade-off: A commitment of one year or more.

If every idea held up: about $289 a month (example number)

How we would decide, in order

• Start with the cheapest and safest: seats and subscriptions no one uses.
• Look at three months of real usage before changing the size of anything.
• You approve every change. Changes are a separate, written scope.