Rate Optimization with Discounts and Reservations

Rate optimization refers to an activity where an organization works with the Microsoft sales team to secure better enterprise discount rates in exchange for a commitment to spend x amount over y period. An Enterprise Agreement, on the other hand, is a Volume license program where the customer is committed for a minimum of 3 years. Rate optimization can also be done via purchasing reservations. Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Storage Accounts, Azure SQL Database, Azure App Service, and many other services support reservations. Check out https://github.com/PacktPublishing/FinOps-Handbook-for-Microsoft-Azure/blob/main/Chapter-6/azure-services-list.md for the complete list.

Purchasing reservations can be challenging, especially if you don’t know what to reserve. Microsoft provides Azure Advisor, the Azure Cost Management Power BI app, and APIs to help you with recommended reservations you should purchase based on your past usage...