The cloud computing space is constantly evolving — a fact that can sometimes set the stage for inconsistencies and confusion around both industry terminology and best practices. Cloud agnostic is one of those confusing terms, as is cloud native. But with the number of cloud agnostic and cloud native applications growing, it’s important to set the record straight.

Picture a fast-growing company that depends heavily on AWS for its infrastructure but doesn’t use AWS Budget Alerts. One month, they received an AWS bill 50% higher than expected. Without any warnings, they could not address the cost anomalies in real time. This led to budget overruns and strained financial planning. The engineering team couldn’t explain to the finance operations how that happened. This situation highlights the need for AWS Budget Alerts.

MongoDB has earned quite the credentials as a flexible, high scalability, and reliable database management system. Yet, it isn’t flawless. Several MongoDB alternatives now offer superior advantages for specific use cases. In this guide, we’ll share insights into the strengths and weaknesses of leading alternatives to MongoDB. By the end of this post, you will be in a better position to choose your next DBMS with confidence.

Cloud-native applications continue to evolve and grow in complexity. And that complexity hurts the most when managing Kubernetes costs in Azure. AKS cost optimization may seem obvious, but it might also seem difficult to achieve. Microsoft’s fully managed Kubernetes service can help you run, manage, and deploy containerized applications. And while it optimizes performance, it can cause unexpected costs when improperly managed.

CloudBolt helps optimize cloud usage by offering robust automation and cloud cost management features. Still, some organizations may find it lacks the features and integration they need. Also, its pricing structure might only be suitable for some budgets, leading businesses to consider other solutions in the market. So, what are the best Cloudbolt alternatives?

As FinOps programs scale — particularly within larger enterprise organizations — it becomes increasingly important for different roles within the organization to have access to different sets of data to make informed, proactive decisions related to their specific areas of responsibility.

Developing an AWS tagging strategy can feel like wrangling different cooks in the same kitchen. Engineers want to innovate, fix issues, and improve existing code. Finance wants to know if the company is making a healthy return on technology investments. Yet, the cloud is like a menu without the pricing. In their quest for continuous improvement, engineers can innovate without slowing down. And this can consume more computing resources than expected, leading to a surprise AWS bill.

Cloud computing offers several undeniable benefits to businesses. Some of the biggest ones are agility, cost savings, data recovery, and developing new apps and services to meet changing customer needs. Despite these benefits, the cloud can be complex, demand specialized skills, and require companies to follow up-to-date cloud security best practices. Why is that a problem? A 2020 report shows that 68% of companies cited misconfiguration as their biggest cloud architecture challenge going into 2021.

In April of this year, we released “The State of Cloud Cost in 2024” report. As with our previous cloud cost survey from 2022, this one was packed with data on how finance and engineering professionals use the cloud and how they manage the costs associated with that use. If you’re in the SaaS world, you’ll definitely want to tune in to this webinar we’ve created to discuss the results of the survey: Deep Dive Into The 2024 State Of Cloud Cost Report.

It can be challenging to translate complex engineering concepts to business leaders. If you frame things well, though, you can have more productive conversations that lead to greater alignment between engineering and the rest of the business. With that in mind, I’d like to share some of my recommendations for discussing cost with your leadership team — and hope it might help you have stronger cost conversations.