Just about everything you interact with digitally is enabled by the cloud. Whether you’re doom-scrolling on Instagram, binge-watching on Netflix, ride-hailing on Uber, or downloading super-cool cloud podcasts (hint, hint) on Spotify, you’re using the cloud. But most people don’t have any idea what the cloud is, where it came from, or what we, as a species, spend on it.

For Amazon to survive, they needed the cloud. But they had to invent it — and creating the cloud meant overcoming obstacles fundamental to the nature of software development at the time.

An easy way to understand what the early cloud did is to think of it like a public utility. The same way buildings depend on a common set of utilities — gas, electricity, and water — software projects depend on a common set of services: compute, storage, and database. “Compute” refers to the power it takes to run the software.

Every time your company onboards a new client or releases a new product, your cloud bill will grow. In fact, it doesn’t take a large event at all to see a spike. Whenever your company changes direction even slightly, it can affect the bottom line. Add to that factors such as economic inflation and increased demand for high-speed, high-power cloud services, and it may seem like each month’s cloud bill is higher than it was before. If that’s the case for you, you’re not alone.

Kubernetes has been described as everything from “awesome!” to “I regret my life choices,” and with 84% of all Kubernetes cloud workloads running on Amazon Web Services (AWS), it should come as no surprise that AWS created Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to eliminate much of the undifferentiated heavy lifting it often takes to manage. What do companies like about Amazon EKS?

DevOps doesn’t necessarily look like it used to. Engineers used to build software designed for on-prem hardware; they had a specific methodology for efficient production and distribution schedules; and they didn’t interface very much with non-engineers, if at all. Today, all that has been flipped upside-down. Cloud-era DevOps engineers now must possess wildly different skill sets, and some previously non-negotiable skills have faded into the past.

Both CloudHealth and Cost Explorer have recently rebranded to different degrees. CloudHealth is now VMware Aria Cost Powered by CloudHealth. AWS Cost Explorer received a fresh coat of paint for its user interface. But do these traditional cloud financial management tools offer additional features now? And can the help provide the cost visibility you need to reduce cloud spending and improve profitability?

DevOps, as a combination of development and operations, is the process by which companies build and manage software and deliver it to customers. A good DevOps strategy unites team members around shared goals and gives them the support and tools they need to complete the job well. However, as with many things in the business world, successfully using DevOps principles and managing a cohesive team can be easier said than done. At least a small part of that difficulty comes down to fuzzy definitions.

For SaaS companies, cloud spending can mean the difference between profit and loss. Staying on top of cloud spend is an absolutely crucial part of running a healthy cloud-based business. But tracking even the relatively straightforward cloud costs from your primary providers can be tricky.

When businesses first transition to the cloud, they often prioritize performance and speed above all else. After all, the cloud is an exciting new world full of nearly unlimited resources ripe for the taking. Sooner or later, however, businesses must face the fact that speed and power come at a high financial price, and sometimes their original choices are not sustainable from a cost standpoint.