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Three Benefits of Embracing a FinOps Approach to Cloud Management
2024-12-10 17:04:48| The Webmail Blog
Three Benefits of Embracing a FinOps Approach to Cloud Management caro2698 Tue, 12/10/2024 - 10:04 Three Benefits of Embracing a FinOps Approach to Cloud Management December 16, 2024 by Karl Graham, Director, Financial Services, Rackspace Technology As businesses increasingly migrate to the cloud, the transition brings both major challenges and new opportunities. Understanding the pain points is crucial for financial directors and technology decision-makers, who need to optimize cloud investments while maintaining stringent cost control. A financial operations (FinOps) approach to cloud management can support both goals. Done right, this direction can help drive efficiency, free up resources and budget, and help meet business growth objectives, such as undergoing a digital transformation and expanding innovation. FinOps-focused cloud management is a management practice that promotes joint responsibility for governing and managing organizations cloud infrastructure and its costs. FinOps can play a role in helping manage cloud migration costs by leveraging AI, building budgets and identifying cost increases Achieving success with this approach requires understanding the challenges of cloud management and discovering the solutions that can help support adopting a FinOps approach to cloud management. Three common cloud management pain points and their solution Three key challenges stand in the way of achieving optimization cloud management, including a variable cost approach, lack of cost attribution and a lack of organizational alignment. Heres how they can impact your organization and how FinOps can provide an ideal solution. Challenge 1: Variable cost obstacle Shifting from fixed to variable costs can lead to unexpected expenses. The problem with variable cost is the possibility of unpredictable and fluctuating expenses created in a pay-as-you-go pricing model. Results can include out-of-control fees if use is not carefully monitored. This makes it difficult to budget and plan for cloud spending accurately. Solution: Adopt a FinOps approach to manage a variable cost structure. This can help overcome this challenge and deliver these benefits: Identify monthly cloud expenses, so leaders can make informed financial planning and budgeting decisions. Enable tracking and analyses of cloud spending, using intuitive dashboards and automated, real-time reporting to provide better visibility and no surprises. Help decision makers conduct regular cost reviews to find savings opportunities, such as considering a multicloud strategy for better pricing and flexibility. Facilitate rapid implementation of governance policies and educate teams on cost-efficient practices. Challenge 2: Cost attribution hurdle Cost attribution helps organizations maintain control of their expenditures. In the cloud, a primary problem is a lack of visibility into cloud use, resources and spending. Without clear insight into what is being used, by whom and for what purpose, managing cloud spend can be nearly impossible. When an organization lacks clear insight into its real-world cloud resource needs, outcomes can include over- and under-utilization. Solution: Adopt a FinOps approach to managing cost attribution. This can help overcome this challenge and deliver these benefits: Enable informed decision-making on cloud use, resource allocation and investments. Optimize resource use and right-size operation teams to support virtualized workloads. Eliminate resource waste with automated resource scaling to reduce unnecessary expenses. Challenge 3: Poor organizational alignment Siloed departments can hinder effective cloud management in a variety of ways. For example, silos can get in the way of seamless data sharing, create cloud use inconsistencies and weaken cloud resource optimization. The results include the risk of generating inefficiency and cost overruns. Solution: Adopt a FinOps approach to organizational alignment. This can help overcome this challenge and deliver these benefits: Provide a centralized platform that delivers visibility on cloud usage, costs and resourcing across finance, technology and business teams. Offer clear communication channels to facilitate fast and effective information sharing, which in turn speeds up decision-making and helps manage resourcing and costs. Continuous improvement with Rackspace FinOps Effective FinOps is not a one-time event. Its a continuous cycle of analysis, reporting and optimization. Rackspace Technology offers organizations a variety of FinOps solutions to help them achieve their cost management goals in the cloud. Among the Rackspace solutions are: FinOps Workshop: Helps organizations insight into their cloud costs and get on the path to optimized cloud spend. FinOps Assessment: This includes a two-month overview of a companys cloud environment. Following the assessment, Rackspace can identify low-effort, high-impact adjustments to the cloud to promote savings. Donny Cross, Vice President of Strategy at Rackspace, shares more insight on leveraging FinOps for cost savings in a podcast for Bank Automation News The Buzz. Financial institutions operated on relatively thin margins, stated Cross. So having strong governance, good controls and a handle on your cloud costs is super important. Also, from a regulatory standpoint, being able to be super transparent about your controls and the components of your cloud costs is critical in todays environment. As the landscape of cloud computing continues to evolve, adopting a FinOps approach is a significant advantage for organizations that want to streamline their cloud spending and maximize the clouds value. By addressing the pain points of cost management, attribution and organizational alignment, businesses can position themselves for greater success in the cloud. 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Keynote highlights from Dr. Werner Vogels: Managing Complexity with Simplicity
2024-12-06 15:34:32| The Webmail Blog
Keynote highlights from Dr. Werner Vogels: Managing Complexity with Simplicity juli0507 Fri, 12/06/2024 - 08:34 Keynote highlights from Dr. Werner Vogels: Managing Complexity with Simplicity December 6, 2024 by Michael Bordash, Principal Cloud Practice Architect, AWS COE Leader, Rackspace Technology Dr. Werner Vogels, VP and CTO at Amazon.com, took the stage at AWS re:Invent to deliver a keynote packed with invaluable insights. While all the keynotes were insightful, Dr. Vogels' presentations stand out for their practical, immediately actionable strategies that directly impact how we at Rackspace Technology deliver greater value to our customers. Celebrating 20 years at Amazon, Dr. Vogels innovations have been nothing short of remarkable. Reflecting on the four key themes from his first re:Invent 13 years ago, he showed how theyve stood the test of time, demonstrating exceptional foresight into the growing complexity of cloud computing. Hearing him describe how AWS services, like Amazon S3, have evolved in both complexity and simplicity highlighted Amazon's unwavering commitment to enhancing the customer experience. Managing complexity: the key to success in cloud computing This years theme, managing complexity or as Werner described it, "Simplexity" really resonated with me. At Rackspace Technology, were a leading multicloud service provider, helping thousands of customers manage complexity every day. As Werner stated, complexity is inevitable, but not all complexity is created equal. Intended complexity the complexity we build into systems intentionally is unavoidable. However, the unintended complexity that creeps in can make systems difficult to manage. This is where partnering with a company like Rackspace Technology can make all the difference. Guiding customers through their unique cloud journey At Rackspace Technology, we specialize in guiding customers through their unique cloud journeys. We understand that no two cloud journeys are the same, which is why we emphasize the importance of customizing each journey to meet specific needs and avoid unintended complexity. By implementing best practices, leveraging proven architectures, and utilizing solution accelerators, we help our customers drive business value quickly while minimizing risks and reducing complexity. This tailored approach helps to ensure that every cloud journey is rewarding from the start. Designing for scale: limiting complexity until it's needed As Canva discussed in their customer segment, designing for scale from the outset and limiting complexity until its needed is the ideal strategy. However, many customers find themselves with complex systems already in place. Thats where Rackspace Technology comes in weve spent years helping customers simplify and streamline existing complex processes, building automation that re-accelerates velocity and drives further innovation. Rackspace Elastic Engineering: a solution designed for simplicity and scale One of the most exciting innovations we offer is Rackspace Elastic Engineering, a service designed with the principles of simplexity at its core. Each Rackspace Elastic Engineering team is organized into pods, following the two-pizza team model made famous by Amazon. These dedicated cloud engineers focus relentlessly on automation, striving to make processes as efficient as possible. While we often joke that were trying to automate ourselves out of a job, the reality is that theres always room for improvement. The job never ends, and we are always evolving our customers' cloud environments to ensure they remain competitive and innovative. Learn more about how Rackspace Elastic Engineering can help you manage cloud complexity here. Innovation and partnership: thriving in complexity The innovations AWS introduces year after year are nothing short of breathtaking, and this years re:Invent was no exception. As AWS continues to raise the bar with new services like Amazon Aurora DSQL, its clear that simplifying distributed systems and navigating the growing cloud landscape is becoming increasingly challenging. Thats why its critical to partner with the right provider. AWSs cutting-edge innovations combined with Rackspace Technology services and expertise, can help customers thrive in complexity, turning challenges into opportunities for growth. At Rackspace Technology, were proud to partner with AWS to help customers along their cloud journey, harnessing the complexity of cloud computing and accelerate delivering business value. Visit our AWS Marketplace profile to explore AWS services available to your organization. And to learn more about our participation at AWS re:Invent, be sure to check out our blog posts covering the keynotes from Peter DeSantis, Matt Garman, Dr. Swami Sivasubramanian, and Dr. Ruba Borno. Recent Posts Keynote highlights from Dr. Werner Vogels: Managing Complexity with Simplicity December 6th, 2024 The Power of Partnerships: Dr. Ruba Bornos 2024 AWS re:Invent Partner Keynote December 5th, 2024 Key Highlights from AWS re:Invent 2024: Dr. Swami Sivasubramanians Vision for Gen AI December 5th, 2024 Key Highlights from AWS re:Invent 2024: CEO Keynote with Matt Garman December 4th, 2024 Highlights from Monday Night Live: Embracing the How of AWS Innovations December 4th, 2024 Links Blog Home Solve: Thought Leadership Newsroom Investor Relations Media Kit
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The Power of Partnerships: Dr. Ruba Bornos 2024 AWS re:Invent Partner Keynote
2024-12-06 00:49:20| The Webmail Blog
The Power of Partnerships: Dr. Ruba Bornos 2024 AWS re:Invent Partner Keynote edua3910 Thu, 12/05/2024 - 17:49 The Power of Partnerships: Dr. Ruba Bornos 2024 AWS re:Invent Partner Keynote December 5, 2024 by Matthew Juliana, Senior Manager, Solution Architecture, Rackspace Technology The cloud has revolutionized how businesses operate, and partnerships are essential to fully realize its potential. At AWS re:Invent 2024, Dr. Ruba Borno, AWS VP of Global Specialists & Partners, delivered an insightful keynote, using the analogy of a symphony to emphasize the power of seamless collaboration between AWS and its partners. She highlighted new AWS partner competencies, advancements in the AWS Marketplace, and the pivotal role partners play in driving migration and modernization efforts. AWS partners play a crucial role in crafting solutions that address customers' unique needs, much like the instruments in a symphony playing in harmony. The AWS Marketplace amplifies the reach of these tailored solutions, making them easily discoverable by customers. Through continuous collaboration, AWS and its partners maintain a fast pace of innovation to meet evolving demands. AWS acts as the conductor, coordinating with partners to deliver integrated solutions that complement AWS services and one another. Together, AWS and its partner network can solve a broader range of customer challenges with greater depth and flexibility than any single provider could offer. This harmonious collaboration between AWS and its partners creates impactful, customized solutions for customers. New partner competencies drive success in emerging technologies Borno introduced several new partner competencies and specializations designed to help customers identify partners with expertise in key emerging technologies. Several of the key competencies introduced focused on high-demand areas such as AI security, digital sovereignty and security data management. These new competencies are a direct response to the increasing complexity of technology landscapes. Heres a short list: AWS AI Security Specialization: This certification within the AWS Security Competency identifies partners with proven skills in securing AI environments and defending AI workloads AWS Digital Sovereignty Competency: Validates partners who can meet sovereignty and compliance requirements, particularly for public sector and regulated industries, focusing on data residency, access control, and resilience Amazon Security Lake Service Ready Competency: Recognizes partners who have integrated their solutions with Amazon Security Lake, helping customers streamline security data management AWS Security Incident Response Service Specialty: Equips partners to provide comprehensive incident response services, enabling effective security incident management and mitigation These competencies demonstrate AWSs commitment to connecting customers with validated experts in cutting-edge fields such as AI security, digital sovereignty, and security analytics. By building a robust partner ecosystem in emerging technologies, AWS is helping accelerate both cloud migration and the modernization of legacy applications. New AWS Marketplace features streamline software purchasing Borno also announced that Buy with AWS, a new feature for the AWS Marketplace, is now in general availability. This capability allows partners to embed AWS Marketplace checkout functionality directly on their websites and apps. With a single click, customers can access the AWS Marketplace, search for software and complete purchases all while using their existing AWS account for billing and user management. Partners also gain access to a dedicated dashboard to track engagement metrics such as site visits, browsing time and transactions initiated. We learned that AWS Marketplace now supports local currencies for transactions, benefiting software sellers worldwide. Previously, all AWS Marketplace payments were made in U.S. dollars, which often led to unpredictable foreign exchange costs for international vendors. Now, sellers can receive payments in Euros, Yen, Pounds, and Australian dollars, in addition to U.S. dollars. This change eliminates foreign exchange risks and allows for direct deposits into local bank accounts. By expanding the accepted currencies, AWS Marketplace reduces friction and uncertainty around payments for both overseas partners and U.S.-based partners who transact internationally. Enabling local currency transactions makes it easier for more partners worldwide to do business on AWS Marketplace while improving the experience for customers. The importance of modernization alongside migration Borno emphasized that migration alone doesnt unlock the full power of the cloud. While moving workloads to AWS is a crucial first step, modernizing those applications is key to staying ahead of the innovation curve. Migration gets workloads onto AWS, but modernization optimizes them, enabling businesses to fully leverage cloud capabilities and drive innovation. To accelerate application modernization, AWS introduced Amazon Q Developer Transform. This service offers an automated solution for modernizing legacy .NET, Java, mainframe and other workloads. By automating the process, Amazon Q Developer Transform reduces the manual effort and costs associated with modernization, helping customers quickly modernize complex applications and unlock the full potential of cloud infrastructure. Borno also highlighted that AWS expanded incentives under the Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) to encourage partners to think bigger. The incentives for modernization partners were restructured to provide more funding support for larger, more strategic modernization projects. By removing previous funding caps, AWS enables partners to access more financial assistance to modernize complex, business-critical workloads. Expanding the impact of generative AI innovation Guest speaker Francessca Vasquez, VP of Professional Services and the Generative AI Innovation Center at AWS, highlighted the center's mission to help customers design and scale generative AI solutions. Through its work, AWS has gained valuable insights into successfully transitioning generative AI from pilot projects to full production. AWS is working with partners around the world, including Rackspace Technology, to expand the reach of the Generative AI Innovation Center. Moving forward together The 2024 AWS re:Invent partner keynote underscored the incrediblepotential of the AWS partner network to drive innovation and transform industries worldwide. Exciting announcements like new competencies, AWS Marketplace enhancements and expanded modernization incentives reflect AWSs ongoing commitment to simplifying partner collaboration and accelerating customer success. Through the AWS Professional Services Partner Collective, which includes Rackspace Technology, AWS strengthens relationships, gathers diverse perspectives, and enhances the ability to deliver exceptional customer experiences. When AWS and its partners work in harmony, they amplify value and provide integrated solutions that help customers innovate faster and more effectively. Visit our AWS Marketplace profile to learn more about how we can help you unlock the future of cloud computing and AI with AWS. Recent Posts The Power of Partnerships: Dr. Ruba Bornos 2024 AWS re:Invent Partner Keynote December 5th, 2024 Key Highlights from AWS re:Invent 2024: Dr. Swami Sivasubramanians Vision for Gen AI December 5th, 2024 Key Highlights from AWS re:Invent 2024: CEO Keynote with Matt Garman December 4th, 2024 Highlights from Monday Night Live: Embracing the How of AWS Innovations December 4th, 2024 UK Financial Services Prepare for January 2025 DORA Implementation November 1st, 2024 Links Blog Home Solve: Thought Leadership Newsroom Investor Relations Media Kit
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