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ArturoJimenez - PeerSpot reviewer
Supervisor, Vendor Solutions at TD SYNNEX
Real User
Allows customers to see their consumption in real time
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that our customers can see their consumption in real time. Even though we have a couple of analytics provided by our company, those are not in real time."
  • "I haven't detected anything that needs improvement, but any solution could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We provide this solution for all of our customers. We have been providing it since it was released. We are using it to assist our customers.

How has it helped my organization?

The amount of customers we have reached has increased.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that our customers can see their consumption in real time. Even though we have a couple of analytics provided by our company, those are not in real time.

What needs improvement?

I haven't detected anything that needs improvement, but any solution could be improved. 

Buyer's Guide
Azure Cost Management
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Azure Cost Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used a different solution, but we switched because the one provided by Microsoft is free.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward. It's embedded on the Azure Portal, so there's no installation time. There's nothing to be installed.

What was our ROI?

Since we are a DC, we only provide this solution to customers. They pay our fees, so there's not too much invested in this.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is free. It's part of having an Azure subscription.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 10 out of 10.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: distributor
PeerSpot user
VP GTM Operations at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Good reporting and ideal for small to medium-sized companies but needs better policy-based remediation
Pros and Cons
  • "We don't actually use the Azure Cost Management features. We have our own capabilities. We put our own technology on top of Azure as Azure doesn't deliver a really good cost optimization, so our customers come to us to enhance what they're potentially doing inside their Azure platform."
  • "The policy-based remediation is probably the biggest area where Azure is lacking and that's why we sell a lot of our technology to our customers."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily sell the solution to our clients. We also have our own solution. We do cost reporting including budgets and budget alerts and unused services like SQL databases, ABMs, managed disk, Cosmos DB, service plan and usage, and the detailing of all of that.

What is most valuable?

We don't actually use the Azure Cost Management features. We have our own capabilities. We put our own technology on top of Azure as Azure doesn't deliver a really good cost optimization, so our customers come to us to enhance what they're potentially doing inside their Azure platform.

We do AWS and Azure. We do it all automatically to identify cost remediation or optimization targets and then put into automation or policy automation to continue to remediate based on tagging, subscriptions, service type, and a whole bunch of other things.

What needs improvement?

The policy-based remediation is probably the biggest area where Azure is lacking and that's why we sell a lot of our technology to our customers.

We don't really use the Azure tools that much. We look at the underlying services themselves. I don't really go into the Azure console and therefore I don't know about specific missing features. It's actually quite good as a solution. It's actually pretty reasonable. However, it just doesn't have the automation that's required at scale.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been in business since 2013, therefore, we've been using the solution for about seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We need more automation. Otherwise, our clients can't do what they need to do, and, in that sense, the solution doesn't really work for our purposes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability isn't a problem per se, however, it comes back to the policy-based stuff. A lot of our customers can't use a manual interface to do what needs to be done. They need automation to do it. The solution in general lacks that capability. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to scale.

How are customer service and technical support?

We don't really contact technical support as we have our own platforms that handle things. We don't require their assistance.

What other advice do I have?

We're a cloud management company. I run sales, so I am not using the solution to any great technical extent.

We have a technical relationship with Azure. We're very integrated with Azure. Not just from a Cost Management perspective, but also from orchestrated Azure services. We're an extra service delivery platform. We actually hook into Azure, Alibaba, GCP, AWS, OpenStack, Nutanix, VMware. We're hooked into 27 different public cloud providers and private hypervisor solutions.

The solution is a SaaS-based product.

We run our own platform. We basically have a SaaS service. We connect into Azure subscriptions or Azure EA or CSP, and the customer will then provide us with credentials, and then we would basically automate all of the customer mediation across Azure. We would identify approximate remediation times as suggested across many different services, and then automatically put in policy-based workflows that would continue to remediate the services deployed within the Azure environment.

We do certify our platform with the Azure certification programs. We are certified in the marketplace in terms of connecting to the marketplace and their APIs. We look at deeper aspects of the product and read up on technical support about the Azure console front end.

Overall, I would recommend it to small and medium businesses. I wouldn't recommend it to large enterprises due to the lack of automation.

I do quite like the product and would rate it seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Azure Cost Management
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Azure Cost Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1293888 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Helps with forecasting and reducing costs, but it needs better customization features
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that it helps us to better forecast and reduce costs."
  • "I would like to see better customization."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to help with setting up our yearly budget. We look at how much we are currently using on a monthly basis how and close we are to meeting the monthly budget. If we find that we are going over then it helps to adjust the yearly budget.

We also look at what resources have been used more extensively in the current month as opposed to last. The dashboard allows us to make these comparisons. From here, we can optimize resources and reduce costs. In the end, we also develop new resources.

Ideally, we can look ahead to see what we can expect by making changes to certain resources. This is done by looking back at previous months and seeing what the effects were for other changes.

Our second use case has to do with projecting profitability by looking at trends. We are looking at one-year relationships to search for tending patterns. 

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that it helps us to better forecast and reduce costs.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see better customization.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Azure Cost Management for the past year. More generally, we have been exploring Azure technologies for the past three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This a stable solution and we have rarely encountered issues. Sometimes, it takes a little bit longer than usual to generate our reports but it could be a website or network issue.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We don't manage the solution so we don't know about the scalability. Internally, only our IT management team uses it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It is not complex, although it takes some time to understand.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Security Consultant at The IT Advantage
Consultant
Has an easy initial setup process and a helpful technical support team
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup process is easy."
  • "The product's licensing cost could be improved."

What needs improvement?

The product's licensing cost could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Azure Cost Management for three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the platform's stability a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We manage Azure Cost Management for one in our environment.

How are customer service and support?

One of the executives from the technical support team has been helpful.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process is easy. We have a team of ten engineers working on deployment and maintenance. It takes a long time to complete as it requires setting up multiple firewall rules.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Azure Cost Management a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
reviewer1546590 - PeerSpot reviewer
Control System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Is stable and scalable, and can be installed quickly
Pros and Cons
  • "During the two years I've been working with this solution, it has only been down once or twice. Thus, I would rate the stability of the solution at nine out of ten."
  • "The UI is complex, and it should be less so."

What is our primary use case?

We use Azure Cost Management for billing and cost estimation purposes.

What is most valuable?

I like that it's a free solution that we can use to check our overall cost and utilization.

What needs improvement?

The UI is complex, and it should be less so.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

During the two years I've been working with this solution, it has only been down once or twice. Thus, I would rate the stability of the solution at nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For Azure Cost Management's scalability, I would give a rating of eight out of ten. We have five release managers who use the solution in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support staff are well trained and excellent. As such, I would rate technical support at nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The installation process is straightforward for Azure Cost Management. It takes a couple of minutes to implement it.

The maintenance can be handled by one person.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Azure Cost Management and rate it at ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Corporative Account Executive at Visión Software S.A.S.
MSP
Helps our customers reduce their costs and makes their organizations more efficient
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the granularity of the tools."
  • "I would like to see some features included for costing and more information about the components of deployment. Sometimes, it's very difficult to match the component with the solution because the descriptions are not very clear."

What is our primary use case?

My clients use Azure Cost Management to reduce costs and work more efficiently.

The solution is very sensitive. Every component must be configured because it affects the project cost.

We're using the latest version.

What is most valuable?

I like the granularity of the tools.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see some features included for costing and more information about the components of deployment. Sometimes, it's very difficult to match the component with the solution because the descriptions are not very clear.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good. I would rate it five out of five.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup is very easy.

For deployment and maintenance, we need one engineer for five customers.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution eight out of 10. 

When deploying the solution, the first thing the engineer must do is configure text to every component. If the engineer forgets to configure the text, it's a future problem for customers.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1365090 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Analyst at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Good security features, but performance and reporting need to be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft's technical support is good."
  • "The initial setup is a little bit complex."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to manage costs for our implementation of Oracle Hyperion.

What is most valuable?

The security features are very good. 

What needs improvement?

Adding a simple workflow automation capability would be helpful. In our HR, procurement, and finance departments, all of the processes are manual.

I would like to see improvements made in performance and reporting.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Azure Cost Management for about two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

To some extent, we have had some issues with stability. However, not that much.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability has not been an issue.

How are customer service and technical support?

Microsoft's technical support is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a little bit complex.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for anybody who is implementing this solution is to carefully consider the design. If the design gets too complex then it will lead to poor performance.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1369938 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Leader for Infrastructure Support at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Fairly affordable and extremely customizable, but needs automatic report generation capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable aspect of the solution is the fact that it's extremely customizable. It makes it very flexible in terms of usage."
  • "The solution could use automatic emailing. That would help improve the product a lot, at least for our purposes."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for our infrastructure at our organization.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable aspect of the solution is the fact that it's extremely customizable. It makes it very flexible in terms of usage.

What needs improvement?

The solution could use automatic emailing. That would help improve the product a lot, at least for our purposes.

If Azure could automate the creation of reports and have the system automatically email us on the solution, that would be ideal. It would even be acceptable to have them available on the dashboard so we don't have to go back and set up the same filters every time. That would be a time-saver for us. Just to have the solution automated to that extent would be good.

Overall, however, we've been pretty happy with the way the solution functions. There isn't too much missing, in my opinion.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about two years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable. It's quite reliable. I don't recall having to deal with crashes. There aren't bugs or glitches within the product that affect its usability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable. If a company needs to expand, it shouldn't have any issues doing so using this product.

The team we have on it currently is pretty small. There are only about three or four users on the solution at this time.

We do plan to increase usage in the future. We haven't yet, however.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support has been good. I don't have any complaints there. We've been satisfied with the level of service we've been provided.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup wasn't complex. It was a few years ago now, but I recall that the whole implementation was pretty straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing on the solution is fair. I wouldn't describe it as overly expensive or costly.

What other advice do I have?

I'm just a customer. I don't have any kind of special relationship with Azure.

I would rate the solution seven out of ten.

I really like the solution. I don't know if I have any recommendations to other users. It just works well.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user