Use cases / Cost Optimization

Stop asking where your cloud spend went. Start understanding why.

CloudBound continuously analyzes your Azure and Microsoft 365 environment to identify unnecessary spending, licensing waste, inefficient architectures, underutilized resources and opportunities to reduce cost without increasing operational risk.

Built for IT leaders who need business recommendations, not another billing dashboard.

The problem

Cost isn't the problem. Visibility is.

Billing tools tell you what changedCloudBound explains why, with the evidence behind every number.
Thousands of resources create thousands of decisionsCloudBound prioritizes the few that actually matter.
Most savings require engineering contextCloudBound reasons across applications, identities, infrastructure, networking, SQL, licensing and security before recommending anything.

Ask, don't dig

Ask business questions instead of reading dashboards.

>Why did Azure costs increase last month?

>Which subscriptions have the most optimization potential?

>How much are we wasting on unused resources?

>Which virtual machines are oversized?

>Where can we reduce Microsoft licensing costs?

>Which SQL databases are overprovisioned?

>If we shut down development environments overnight, how much could we save?

>What are our biggest quick wins?

Every answer returns an executive recommendation: estimated savings, business impact, confidence, affected resources, implementation effort and the recommended next step.

Beyond billing

CloudBound looks beyond cloud billing.

  • Azure
  • Microsoft 365
  • Entra ID
  • Virtual Machines
  • Storage
  • Networking
  • SQL
  • App Services
  • AKS
  • Azure DevOps
  • Defender
  • Licensing
  • Power Platform
  • Identity

CloudBound reasons across all of them together instead of optimizing each independently.

Coverage

What CloudBound optimizes.

Compute

>Rightsize virtual machines

>Idle App Services

>SQL sizing

>Container efficiency

>Development environments

Commitments & rates

>Reserved Instances

>Savings Plans

>Hybrid Benefit

Storage & network

>Unused storage

>Idle public IPs

>Networking costs

>Backup policies

>Log Analytics retention

Licensing

>License optimization

>Defender licensing

>Power Platform licensing

>Identity licensing

Lifecycle & governance

>Duplicate services

>Resource lifecycle

>Tagging consistency

Twenty optimization surfaces. One reasoning engine. Savings in one domain are checked against risk in every other.

Example executive recommendation

One estate. One recommendation. Every number explained.

Projected annual savings$418,000 Based on observed usage and stated assumptions
ConfidenceHigh

CloudBound identified oversized virtual machines, duplicate Log Analytics workspaces, unused Premium SSDs, redundant Defender licensing and SQL instances running significantly below capacity. Projected savings require no application redesign.

Quick wins
  • Rightsize 43 VMs
  • Move 18 workloads to Reserved Instances
  • Delete 214 orphaned disks
  • Reduce Log Analytics retention
  • Consolidate SQL tiers
  • Optimize Microsoft licensing
View calculation
ObservedUtilization, billing lines and license assignments, last 30 days ModeledRightsized sizes, Reserved Instance rates and consolidated tiers at current Azure pricing CompositionVM rightsizing $156,000 + Reserved Instances $94,000 + orphaned disks $100,200 + Log Analytics retention $28,800 + SQL consolidation $24,000 + licensing $15,000 Total$418,000 annual AssumptionsUsage remains representative; rightsized capacity meets observed peak demand ConfidenceHigh
Review recommendations → Illustrative example only

Business outcomes

Built for the whole decision.

Outcomes

  • Reduce cloud spend
  • Improve budget forecasting
  • Optimize Microsoft licensing
  • Prioritize engineering effort

Typical stakeholders

  • CIO
  • CFO
  • FinOps
  • Cloud Platform Team
  • Engineering
CIOUnderstand where technology investments create value.
CFOReduce unnecessary spending with evidence-backed recommendations.
EngineeringReceive implementation-ready optimization guidance instead of manually investigating dashboards.

What you receive

Artifacts, not just answers.

Optimization_PlanPRIORITIZED

Every opportunity ranked by value and effort, with the evidence that found it.

DRAFTED FOR YOUR REVIEW
rightsize_recommendations.ps1POWERSHELL

Remediation drafted as scripts your team reviews, adjusts and runs on its own terms.

DRAFTED FOR YOUR REVIEW
License_Optimization_ReportMONTHLY

Unused and misassigned licenses across Microsoft 365, Defender, Power Platform and identity.

DRAFTED FOR YOUR REVIEW
Savings_AnalysisMONTHLY

What was recovered, what remains and what it funds next.

DRAFTED FOR YOUR REVIEW
ONE PLATFORM

Cost optimization is one application of the CloudBound intelligence platform. The same engine that finds the waste also briefs the board and traces the root cause.

Customer-hosted by design

Your data stays where it lives.

CloudBound runs inside your Azure environment. No production telemetry leaves the tenant unless you configure it to.

  • Customer-owned storage
  • Customer-owned identity
  • Customer-controlled access
  • Human review for optimization decisions

Understand every dollar. Optimize every decision.

CloudBound transforms your Microsoft technology estate into actionable financial intelligence, so your teams spend less time investigating and more time improving.