Hyperscalers Helping Customers Control Cloud Costs?

The hyperscalers have a vested interest in not actively helping end users control cloud computing costs. The more test buckets and sandbox environments left running, for instance, the more the meter ticks in the provider’s favor. And the more revenue stacks up on the balance sheets.

But as a recession looms and organizations have started to understand how much cloud computing really cost them during the pandemic-deployment frenzy, there’s been a lot of coverage about controlling expenses. End users are becoming far more aware of the need to manage their cloud environments with deliberation and attention.

That bodes very well for channel partners — MSPs and the like — but not necessarily so much for the hyperscalers themselves. Yet, the cloud providers have to look like champions for end users. For some time, each of them has delivered a cursory level of cost and optimization management, to say that they do indeed help customers keep a handle on cloud expenses.

Therefore, it’s interesting to see Google Cloud assert that it will deliver “granular” cost management in 2023. Several of its vendor partners have specialized in this area for years. Will Google Cloud buy one of them or offer something more home-grown to end users? And to what extent will the “granular” detail go? We’ll have to keep an eye on developments in this domain.

Ichhpurani did tell us that Google Cloud doesn’t look at cloud cost controls “in a negative light. We’re proactively working with the ecosystem, and always have been, to build FinOps practices for our customers.”

And that was the case “even before the current economic situation,” he added.

Overall, Ichhpurani told Channel Futures, if customers are showing return on their Google Cloud investments, “that’s what leads to them continuing to invest.”

Next up, big changes are coming to Partner Advantage.