Gonzalo González

Cloud adoption has become a necessity for companies seeking agility, scalability and efficiency. With the increased use of the Cloud also comes the need to manage and optimize the associated costs. Aware of this situation, more and more companies are prioritizing the optimization of Cloud spending. This is where the FinOps (Financial Operations) practice, specifically adapted for the Cloud, comes into play. What is FinOps? FinOps is a cultural practice that combines finance and operations to optimize Cloud spending. Its main objective is, as described by the FinOps Foundation, Maximizing the business value of the Cloud enables timely data-driven decision making and creates financial accountability through collaboration between engineering, finance, and business teams. FinOps not only focuses on cost reduction, but also on maximizing the value and efficiency of Cloud resources. Unlike other IT financial management practices, FinOps promotes active collaboration between finance, engineering and business teams, integrating their efforts to optimize costs without compromising performance or agility. FinOps also emphasizes shared responsibility, ensuring that all areas, teams and employees of the company are involved in managing and optimizing Cloud costs. Cloud cost optimization, a growing priority for companies ■ 65% of companies make intensive use of the Cloud. ■ 59% of companies prioritize Cloud cost optimization. ■ 71% of companies already have FinOps initiatives planned for 2025. Source: Flexera 2024 State of the Cloud Report → FinOps basics The FinOps practice defines six principles that guide all related activities to achieve the set objectives: Finance, technology, product, and business teams work together to optimize costs without compromising service quality. Decisions are guided by the business value of the Cloud by evaluating the return on investment (ROI) and the impact on business objectives. All employees are accountable for Cloud usage and the financial impact of their actions and must collaborate in managing Cloud costs. FinOps data must be accessible in a timely manner helping to make quick and effective management decisions. A centralized team drives FinOps, coordinating efforts and ensuring best practices are implemented. Leverage the Cloud's variable cost model by adjusting resource consumption as needed. FinOps helps companies manage Cloud spending through collaboration between finance, engineering, and business teams without compromising the necessary reliability, security, and performance that their operations demand. What are the benefits of the FinOps practice? There are several benefits that the FinOps practice provides to organizations, among which the following are the main ones: Financial visibility. Consumption information and cost allocation, identifying areas of waste and opportunities for optimization. Cost savings. Measures and policies to reduce present and future costs, identifying and implementing continuous improvements in processes and the use of Cloud resources. Agility. Optimizes business value delivery times and allows the company to adapt quickly, adjusting Cloud resources effectively and efficiently. Risk reduction. Managing unexpected cost increases and planning the deployment of new loads, allowing companies to establish accurate budgets and greater financial predictability. Collaboration. Improves communication and involvement of areas in financial aspects, promoting a culture of shared responsibility, ensuring that everyone understands and contributes to cost management. Why implement FinOps in our company? We may think that the main reason to implement FinOps in our company is to save costs in the Cloud, nothing further from reality. The implementation and adoption of FinOps practice has many more implications, mainly it is a cultural change that seeks to maximize business value. That is the key, but why adopt this practice? Financial and governance control in the Cloud is essential to maximize business value, which is the main objective of FinOps. ✅ FinOps enables continuous improvement with the Inform-Optimize-Operate cycle, maturing in each of the defined capabilities. Collaboration between areas is often complex mainly because they work as silos, which sometimes results in misalignment of common objectives as a company. ✅ FinOps encourages joint communication and collaboration so that all teams contribute to financial control and to the common goal of bringing value to the business. Many companies are concerned about not having a forecast of their Cloud infrastructure costs. ✅ FinOps provides the means to anticipate, control and mitigate these situations with a clear impact on the business. Keys to implement FinOps Implementing FinOps in an enterprise is not just a strategy to control costs, but an initiative that requires a transformation in the way resources are managed in the Cloud, including: Comprehensive initial assessment of current Cloud spend and identification of areas for improvement. Establishment of a FinOps team that includes members from finance, technology and operations to lead the initiative. This centralized team will be responsible for driving FinOps across the company. Definition of metrics and objectives to measure success and guide optimization efforts. Implementation of tools and processes to facilitate monitoring, analysis and cost management in the Cloud, with all that this entails. Education and training to ensure that all employees understand FinOps principles and can apply them. Challenges in implementing FinOps Implementing FinOps in a company may seem a daunting task due to the multiple challenges involved, which are essential to ensure that the implementation is successful and generates the expected benefits, such as: Cultural change: Adopting FinOps requires a significant cultural change, where teams must collaborate and communicate effectively. Tools and technology: Successful FinOps implementation depends on using the right tools for monitoring, tracking and cost analysis. Education and training: It is crucial that teams are well-informed and trained in FinOps best practices to maximize their effectiveness. Conclusion The practice of FinOps is crucial for any organization looking to get the most out of its Cloud investment. Not only does it provide greater transparency, control and optimization helping to reduce and optimize costs, but it also facilitates better decision making and greater operational efficiency, fostering a culture of accountability and collaboration. Implementing FinOps can be challenging, but the long-term benefits in terms of cost savings and operational efficiency make it worth the effort to stay competitive. Cloud 6 common mistakes when quoting for a Cloud project October 19, 2023

The cloud has become a key element in the digital transformation of companies seeking to take advantage of the flexibility, scalability, and cost savings it offers. However, managing resources in the cloud also involves a number of challenges and opportunities that are worth knowing and taking advantage of. One of these is the management of workloads in the cloud, a fundamental point for guaranteeing the performance, security, and efficiency of the services offered by companies. As we saw in a previous article, a workload is the set of applications, data, configurations and resources running in the cloud to meet a specific objective. Optimizing workloads involves analyzing and improving the technical, operational and financial aspects that affect their operation. Managed Services and Optimization in Microsoft Azure At Telefónica Tech we offer Managed Services on the Azure cloud, to which we can include the Workload Optimization Service. These are solutions that allow our customers to delegate the management of their Cloud resources, in the cloud, to a team of experts who are responsible for monitoring, managing, and optimizing their workloads in Azure. This way, our customers can focus on their business and get the most out of their cloud investment. We identify and remediate various recommendations in the customer's infrastructure, always aligned with the five pillars of the Azure Well-Architected Framework, which defines a set of best practices to design, implement and operate cloud solutions in an efficient, secure and scalable way based on: Operational excellence to maximize efficiency and improve service quality. Security by implementing best practices and solutions to protect data and systems. Reliability by applying appropriate technologies and configurations to ensure high availability and continuity of applications, and services in Azure. Performance by optimizing the performance of workloads in Azure to ensure applications and services run efficiently, and quickly. Cost reduction through recommendations to optimize the use of resources in Azure without compromising quality, and performance. We also apply the cultural practice and discipline of financial management provided by FinOps (Financial Operations), an approach that combines financial and operations practices to optimize spending in the cloud. Benefits of optimizing workloads in Azure Optimizing workloads in Microsoft Azure with Telefónica Tech brings several benefits that help get the most out of your investment in the Azure cloud, including: Reducing costs by aligning consumption with actual demand and avoiding wasted resources. According to a Gartner study, 81% of companies consider cloud spending as a major challenge. Adoption of cloud security best practices, protecting data and systems against potential threats, vulnerabilities, and attacks. We take care of configuring and updating the most appropriate security measures for each scenario. Improvements in the performance of Cloud systems, ensuring that applications and services work optimally and without interruptions, all with the strictly necessary resources. We proactively monitor the status and activity of resources and manage incidents that may arise. Increased fault tolerance of workloads in the cloud, ensuring business continuity in the face of possible contingencies. We design and implement high availability, scalability and disaster recovery solutions, identifying inefficiencies in the infrastructure. ✅ Our team of Telefónica Tech experts supports you throughout the entire process of adoption and implementation of improvements, ensuring benefits, success, and customer satisfaction. Telefónica Tech Optimization Service tools and features in Microsoft Azure Our Workload Optimization Service in Microsoft Azure includes several additional tools and features that make it easier for you to manage and optimize resources in the cloud. Among others: Cloud Portal dashboard with KPIs and graphs that provide detailed information on identified recommendations and their implementation. Implementation of remediations and notifications of recommendations that you can evaluate to request their implementation according to your specific needs. Optimization mode changes so that our customers can adjust the optimization mode (Essential or Extended) on each account autonomously and transparently. Detailed reporting and dialogue on costs, benefits, and status of recommendations. Semi-annual meetings and deliverables of improvements that allow us to maintain a close dialogue with the customer, enabling us to transmit our recommendations based on continuous analysis of the infrastructure by our experts. ✅ Our managed services for Microsoft Azure also allow our customers to access and control the consumption of cloud resources through a web portal and a mobile app. It is possible through these channels to view billing details, receive alerts and tips to reduce spending, and activate or deactivate services according to their changing needs. Conclusion The new Optimization Service on Azure is another example of Telefónica Tech's commitment to innovation and excellence in customer service. Customers can reduce their costs, improve their security and increase their productivity, taking full advantage of the benefits of Microsoft's public cloud and the value of their investment in Cloud. Telefónica Tech is thus positioned as a strategic partner to accompany companies in their digital transformation, offering comprehensive and customized solutions that are adapted to their needs. Cloud AWS managed services for load optimization: importance and benefits October 24, 2023 Foto: Freepik.

Efficient management of Cloud resources has become a challenge for companies using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to ensure optimal performance, protect their data and applications, and maintain effective cost control. Managed services on AWS allow companies and organizations to delegate the management of their Cloud resources and free up internal resources for strategic business tasks. ◾ Example: An online store that opts for managed services to focus on developing its platform and brand, product catalog, and improving customer experience and service. Managed services offer companies the ability to entrust the management of their Amazon Web Services resources to experienced, qualified and certified professionals. This includes the administration of virtual machines and optional services deployed on them, such as databases and middleware. Delegating management while maintaining control It is essential when choosing managed services that they are not limited to basic management. They must also apply specific functionalities according to the needs and criticality of each customer's business applications. This includes monitoring key elements, backing up virtual machines, managing patching and even implementing security measures such as antivirus on managed virtual machines, among other capabilities. In addition, ensuring effective control of consumption and cost estimation will require appropriate tools, such as exportable reports and dashboards that allow companies to maintain a global and transparent view of their spending and resources on AWS. ◾ Example: an online media company using a managed service that includes constant monitoring to ensure that its platform is always available, even at times of very high web traffic. Optimization functionality in AWS: Improving efficiency An integral part of efficient cloud infrastructure management is optimization. At Telefónica Tech we offer our customers the ability to apply optimization recommendations identified by both, AWS and our own team of experts. This optimization functionality focuses on detecting, identifying and remediating optimization recommendations in AWS, aligned with the AWS Well-Architected Framework. We will also periodically deliver an improvement report based on our experts' analysis, which we expect to be the roadmap for optimizing our customers' infrastructure. ⛅ What is the AWS Well-Architected Framework? A guide and set of best practices designed for organizations to build secure, resilient, and efficient high-performance architectures on AWS. There are several capabilities provided to make this process agile and transparent: Cloud Portal dashboard with KPIs and graphs that provide detailed information on identified recommendations and their implementation. Remediation implementation and recommendations notifications that you can evaluate to request their implementation according to your specific needs. Optimization mode changes so that our customers can adjust the optimization mode (Essential or Extended) on each account autonomously and transparently. Detailed reporting and dialogue on costs, benefits, and status of recommendations. Semi-annual meetings and deliverables of improvements that allow us to maintain a close dialogue with the client and where we transmit our recommendations based on continuous analysis of the infrastructure by our experts. Why optimize loads on AWS? Cloud-intensive usage is a reality for 81% of enterprises, according to Flexera, but managing cloud spending remains a challenge. Simply migrating workloads to the cloud does not guarantee cost reduction, nor does it guarantee improved security or optimal performance. It is essential to implement a continuous improvement cycle that optimizes workloads to achieve this. Customer benefits Telefónica Tech's optimization functionality brings significant value to our customers' management and efficiency. Multiple benefits are achieved by aligning workloads with the AWS Well-Architected Framework: Reduced costs with identified recommendations that help eliminate unnecessary spending on AWS infrastructure. Increased fault tolerance by improving the resiliency of workloads to potential failures, ensuring higher availability. Stable and improved performance of cloud systems, resulting in a better user experience. Industry and AWS security best practices, strengthening the security of workloads. Efficient and appropriate scalability, facilitating modernization and migration of existing and future workloads. AWS load optimization modalities Telefónica Tech offers two different optimization modalities: Essential. This is free of charge and is included as part of the managed services. It includes optimization recommendations, access to the dashboard, benefit reports and the possibility of contracting the Extended optimization mode at no additional cost. Extended. This is a flexible, pay-as-you-go option that expands optimization options. It includes a greater number of recommendations, access to dashboards and detailed profit and billing reports, the ability to request remediation 24 hours a day, and the ability to adjust the number of Extended accounts. In addition, we offer semi-annual meetings with our experts and generate recommendation deliverables. We offer a comprehensive solution for the efficient management of cloud infrastructure through Telefónica Tech's AWS Public Cloud Managed Services, with a clear focus on load optimization in AWS. This allows companies to maximize the value of their investments in Cloud platforms while ensuring the efficiency and security of their operations. Cloud The importance of FinOps in managing and optimizing costs in the Cloud November 19, 2024 Image from Wayhomestudio on Freepik.