Summary

In this chapter, we looked at rate optimization using the Enterprise Agreement, MACC, and reservations. The Enterprise Agreement and MACC provide organizations with a better-discounted rate for Azure services. These commitment-based agreements are the first step for FinOps teams to work toward if they are not in place. Even if an organization does have an EA or MACC, when it’s time to renew, finance, procurement, and engineering teams can negotiate better rates by committing to sustained use of Azure services.

We looked at reservations in detail. What to reserve is the biggest question FinOps teams run into and Microsoft provides Azure Advisor, the ACM Power BI app, and APIs to get recommendations based on your usage in the last 7, 30, or 60 days. Once you purchase reservations, you should check the utilization of the reservations and monitor them for any changes that might be needed. You can either return reservations if no longer needed or you can exchange them...