Multicloud Cost Optimisation Strategies: Balancing Performance and Budget Across Clouds

TL;DR

Multicloud environments offer flexibility and resilience, but without robust cost optimisation strategies, they risk spiralling expenses. This article outlines practical, CIO-level approaches to control, monitor, and reduce cloud spend across platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP, while maintaining performance and security.

Introduction

Multicloud adoption has exploded, driven by the need for vendor flexibility, resilience, and specialised capabilities. However, the promise of agility often collides with reality—soaring operational costs, budget unpredictability, and underutilised services. As a Global CIO advising on enterprise IT transformation, I’ve seen firsthand how unchecked multicloud sprawl can quietly erode profitability.

This article explores strategic multicloud cost optimisation through a boardroom lens—prioritising financial control without compromising agility, innovation, or performance.

The Multicloud Conundrum: Opportunity vs. Cost

Why Multicloud is Here to Stay

From avoiding vendor lock-in to deploying best-in-class services, enterprises are embracing multicloud. Yet managing workloads across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) introduces complexity that traditional cost control tools and teams weren’t built to handle.

The Cost Management Blind Spots

1. Duplicate services across cloud providers.

2. Inconsistent tagging, impairing visibility.

3. Siloed cost governance by department or region.

4. Unused reserved instances or misaligned commitments.

Strategic Multicloud Cost Optimisation Tactics

1. Implement Unified Cloud Cost Governance

Establish a central FinOps team to monitor usage, enforce policies, and make informed budgeting decisions across cloud estates.

Actionable Tip: Leverage platforms like CloudHealth, Spot.io, or native tools (Azure Cost Management, AWS Cost Explorer) for real-time visibility and forecasting.

2. Rightsize Resources Aggressively

Avoid paying for overprovisioned compute or storage by analysing usage patterns.

Tools to Use:

• Azure Advisor

• AWS Compute Optimizer

• GCP Recommender

3. Use Reserved and Spot Instances Strategically

• Reserved instances offer savings of up to 75%.

• Spot instances are ideal for stateless, fault-tolerant workloads.

CIO Insight: Blend instance types across environments to balance reliability and cost.

4. Automate Idle Resource Termination

Idle resources—VMs, storage volumes, load balancers—are hidden budget killers.

Best Practice: Schedule auto-shutdown scripts or policies to remove waste during non-peak hours.

5. Enforce Consistent Tagging

Tag every cloud asset by project, department, and environment.

Framework to Follow: Define mandatory tags—e.g., CostCentre, Owner, Environment—and enforce them via IaC pipelines.

Building a Culture of Cost Awareness

CIO-Level Influence

As leaders, we must embed cost accountability across engineering and finance. That means incentivising teams to track spend and avoid treating the cloud as a bottomless utility.

Training and Tooling

• Educate teams on FinOps principles.

• Provide dashboards tailored to each department's KPIs.

• Hold monthly “cloud spend reviews” with business leaders.

Case Example from Industry

During my time advising a Private Equity-backed manufacturing group with £600M turnover, we transitioned from siloed AWS and Azure contracts to a unified cloud optimisation strategy. By rationalising workloads, enforcing tagging, and renegotiating cloud agreements, we achieved a £2 million reduction in technical debt within eight months.

FAQ

Q1: How can multicloud cost optimisation benefit hybrid cloud strategies?

By unifying spend tracking and enforcing policy consistency, it ensures visibility and budget control across on-prem and cloud environments.

Q2: What’s the role of AI in multicloud cost management?

AI-powered analytics can predict usage patterns, flag anomalies, and automate rightsizing or workload placement decisions.

Q3: Can smaller enterprises benefit from multicloud optimisation tools?

Absolutely. Startups and mid-sized firms can use open-source tools or basic tagging plus cost explorer dashboards for early savings.

Conclusion: Aligning Cloud Spend with Business Strategy

Multicloud cost optimisation isn’t a one-off exercise—it’s a continual process aligned with your growth, transformation, and digital strategy. As CIOs and business leaders, we must balance the allure of scale with the discipline of efficiency.

Richard Keenlyside is a Global CIO, PE&MA Advisor, Endava TAC and a former IT Director for J Sainsbury’s PLC.

Call me on +44(0) 1642 040 268 or email richard@rjk.info.

Follow me on X https://x.com/cioinpractice & LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardkeenlyside/