Lessons from Microsoft’s Internal Azure Cost Optimization

• Microsoft’s discussions of its internal Azure cost optimization efforts could help customers create and adjust strategies to reduce unnecessary spending.
• The studies show that an organized continual approach to monitoring and tweaking Azure spend is critical.
• Microsoft has first-hand access to Azure product teams, which likely makes it easier for the company to optimize spending compared to other customers.

Microsoft’s internal IT group, called Microsoft Digital Employee Experience (MDEE), uses Azure services, such as Advisor, Monitor, and Cost Management; architectural redesigns that move applications from IaaS to PaaS; and application-centric and cross-group review teams to optimize Azure spending.

Overview

Microsoft began moving its internal line-of-business applications to Azure in 2014, and the company now uses Azure to host 95% of those applications.

Azure debuted commercially in 2010, but it originally offered only PaaS, rather than IaaS services (such as customer-controlled VMs). Microsoft’s internal IT group explored PaaS deployments prior to 2014, but its significant move to Azure began with lift-and-shift projects that migrated workloads to Azure IaaS VMs with minor design changes to keep them running without interruption. Gradual efforts have brought IaaS-to-PaaS redesigns to take advantage of cloud technologies that deliver efficiencies and reduced costs.