Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - Manage and control your AWS costs (COP203)

Summary

Bowen Wang, a principal product marketing manager, and Matt Burke, a senior technical account manager, discuss strategies for managing and controlling AWS costs.
They emphasize the importance of cloud governance and cost control, distinguishing between the two concepts.
AWS Control Tower is recommended for setting up and governing a landing zone with best practices.
AWS Config, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost Anomaly Detection, and AWS Billing Conductor are tools highlighted for monitoring and controlling costs.
Sebastian Barrios from MercadoLibre shares their experience in balancing cost control with business growth, emphasizing the use of their internal development platform, Fury, and various algorithms for cost optimization.
The session concludes with a reminder that transitioning to a cost-aware culture requires leadership sponsorship and consistent policy evaluation.

Cloud governance is crucial for maintaining transparency and control over cloud investments, ensuring they align with business outcomes.
AWS Control Tower automates the setup of a landing zone, enforcing security and monitoring guardrails, and is suitable for both new and existing environments.
AWS Config can be used to audit and report on compliance with financial operations (FinOps) standards, while AWS Budgets and AWS Cost Anomaly Detection provide budgeting and spend anomaly alerts.
MercadoLibre's experience highlights the effectiveness of a centralized platform (Fury) in managing costs and the benefits of algorithms for resource optimization.
The success of cost control measures is not solely dependent on AWS tools but also on the organization's commitment to a cost-aware culture and the implementation of financial management policies.
The talk suggests that while AWS provides the tools for cost management, the real challenge lies in the cultural and policy changes within an organization to effectively use these tools.