CloudCostChefs Weekly – Issue #42, August 1, 2025

📊 60-Second Cloud Bites

Global cloud spending hits $720 billion in 2025 - Gartner projects public cloud services will reach over $720 billion this year, with a third of that ($216 billion) being wasted on underutilized resources. Companies routinely overspend by 30% due to hidden charges and lack of real-time visibility. Source: Intellias

84% of SMBs struggle with cloud cost management - New research shows that while cloud enables faster time-to-market for small businesses, managing cloud spending remains the top challenge for 84% of organizations. The solution isn't repatriation but implementing proper FinOps practices. Source: BizTech Magazine

Microsoft launches FinOps marketplace office hours - Microsoft Tech Community launched monthly FinOps office hours focusing on marketplace acceleration for SaaS and AI workloads. The July 30th session covered how marketplace solutions can support FinOps practitioners with pre-vetted tools. Source: Microsoft Tech Community

🍳 Chef's Feature Recipe: Tame Multi-Cloud Container Costs

Problem: Running Kubernetes across AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE? You're paying up to $2,190 annually just in control plane charges ($0.10/hour per cluster × 3 providers × 24/7).

Solution: Consolidate and optimize your container orchestration:

Audit current clusters: kubectl config get-contexts to list all clusters.

Identify low-utilization clusters: kubectl top nodes on each cluster.

Consolidate workloads: Move dev/staging to shared clusters using namespaces.

Right-size node pools: Use kubectl describe nodes to check resource requests vs. limits.

Enable cluster autoscaling: Configure HPA and VPA to prevent over-provisioning.

Savings: Reducing from 6 clusters to 3 saves $1,095/year in control plane costs alone, plus 30-50% on node costs through better resource utilization.

🛠️ Tool of the Week: Kubernetes Resource Recommender

What it does: Open-source tool that analyzes your Kubernetes workloads and recommends optimal CPU/memory requests and limits based on actual usage patterns.

Why SMBs love it: Prevents the "guess and overprovision" approach that wastes 40-60% of container resources. Works with any Kubernetes cluster (EKS, AKS, GKE).

Quick start: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/robusta-dev/krr/releases/latest/download/krr.yaml

Link: GitHub - robusta-dev/krr

📈 FinOps Factoid

90% of organizations use multi-cloud - Nearly all companies now run workloads across multiple cloud providers, but only 60-70% achieve proper resource tagging for cost attribution. Without consistent tagging, you can't identify which teams or projects are driving costs, making optimization impossible. Source: Intellias

❓ Reader Q&A

Q: "We're spending $8K/month across AWS and Azure but can't figure out where the money goes. Help!"

A: Start with the hub-and-spoke model: Assign one person as your FinOps practitioner (likely from IT), then have them work with each department to tag and track their resources. Use AWS Cost Explorer and Azure Cost Management to identify your top 5 spending categories first. Most SMBs find 80% of waste in compute (oversized instances) and storage (forgotten volumes). Set up budget alerts at $1K increments to catch spikes early.

Next step: Download AWS and Azure billing CSVs, sort by cost descending, and tackle the top 10 line items first.

📅 Events & Resources

Microsoft FinOps Office Hours - Monthly recurring event, next session TBD. Microsoft Tech Community hosts live Q&A on marketplace solutions for FinOps practitioners. Covers SaaS and AI workload cost optimization strategies. Join the community

Synoptek Cloud Cost Optimization Webinar - Upcoming session on cutting cloud expenses while maintaining control and business agility. Features practical strategies for cost optimization without sacrificing performance. Register here

🎯 Kitchen-Sink Call-To-Action

Get Our 90-Day FinOps Habit Checklist - Transform your cloud cost management from quarterly fire drills into daily habits that deliver 15-30% cost reductions. This practical 12-week program builds sustainable FinOps habits without enterprise complexity. Download your free checklist