How Harness Simplifies Multi-Cloud Cost Management?

Managing cloud costs across multiple providers—AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes—can be complex and unpredictable. Organizations struggle with visibility, cost attribution, and optimization, often leading to overspending. Effective cloud cost management requires real-time visibility, intelligent automation, and strong governance to control expenses without slowing innovation.

In this blog, we share insights from Avyka Cloud Experts on how businesses can streamline multi-cloud cost management with Harness Cloud Cost Management. By leveraging AI-driven optimization, granular cost reporting, and automated governance, Harness empowers teams to reduce waste, maximize savings, and maintain financial accountability across cloud environments.

The Challenges of Multi-Cloud Cost Management

As organizations scale across AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes, managing cloud costs becomes increasingly complex. Without the right tools, teams struggle with:

• Lack of Cost Visibility: Engineers and finance teams often operate in silos, making it difficult to track and understand cloud spending in real-time.

• Complex Cost Attribution: Assigning costs to specific teams, workloads, or applications is challenging, leading to inefficiencies and budget overruns.

• Manual Cost Optimization: Identifying and eliminating idle resources or right-sizing workloads requires significant manual effort.

• Governance and Compliance Risks: Enforcing policies, preventing budget spikes, and maintaining compliance without automation is resource-intensive and error-prone.

  
  

A recent survey of 300+ organizations found that 78% estimate 21-50% of their cloud spend is wasted, revealing massive savings opportunities. Additionally, preventable mistakes—often caused by manual processes and AI complexity—can cost enterprises over $50,000 per month, with 15% reporting losses exceeding $75,000.

With global public cloud spending projected to reach $805 billion in 2024 and double by 2028 (IDC), businesses must adopt smarter, automated strategies to control costs and maximize cloud efficiency.

How Harness Simplifies Multi-Cloud Cost Management?

Harness Cloud Cost Management (CCM) provides a comprehensive, automated approach to controlling cloud expenses. By combining granular cost visibility, AI-driven optimization, intelligent governance, and Kubernetes efficiency, organizations can maximize savings and streamline cloud financial operations.

1. Granular Cost Visibility & Attribution

• Cost Perspectives – Organize cloud costs by teams, applications, and workloads for better financial accountability.

• Hierarchical Cost Attribution – Enable chargeback and showback to allocate costs accurately.

• Anomaly Detection – Get real-time alerts on unexpected cost spikes to prevent budget overruns.

  
  

2. AI-Driven Cost Optimization

• AutoStopping Technology – Detect and shut down idle resources, reducing non-production costs by up to 70%.

• Automated Recommendations – Optimize compute, storage, and database resources across AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes.

• Commitment Orchestrator – Uses machine learning to automate the management of Reserved Instances (RIs) and Savings Plans, ensuring maximum commitment utilization and cost efficiency.

  
  

3. Intelligent Cloud Asset Governance

• Governance-as-Code – Automate policy enforcement to maintain security, compliance, and cost efficiency.

• Cloud Asset Governance – Applies policy-as-code to eliminate cloud waste, enforce security policies, and maintain compliance across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

  • Includes pre-built policies for cost optimization, such as upgrading Amazon EBS volume types.

  • Harness AI Development Assistant (AIDA™) simplifies rule creation with natural language prompts for easier governance.

• Budgeting & Forecasting – Set, track, and manage cloud budgets in real-time with proactive alerts.

  
  

4. Kubernetes & Cluster Optimization

• Cluster Orchestrator for AWS EKS – Workload-driven auto-scaling combined with Spot orchestration enables up to 90% savings on compute costs.

  • Distributes workloads across Spot and on-demand instances for efficiency without compromising availability.

  • Automates cluster scaling based on real-time demand.

• Container Cost Visibility – Optimize containerized workloads for better cost efficiency.

Optimizing Multi-Cloud Spending with Avyka

Harness CCM offers powerful automation to optimize cloud spending, but using it effectively requires the right expertise. Avyka’s cloud specialists help businesses set up cost attribution models, automate savings with AI-driven optimization, and fine-tune governance policies. With Avyka’s guidance, organizations can reduce waste, improve efficiency, and maintain financial accountability across their cloud environments.

5 Best Practices for Harness Cloud Cost Management

Harness Cloud Cost Management (CCM) helps organizations optimize cloud spending through automation, AI-driven insights, and governance. Avyka has guided numerous businesses in implementing these best practices for visibility, efficiency, and control.

1. Establish Granular Cost Visibility

A clear understanding of cloud costs is essential for optimization. Harness CCM’s Cost Perspectives categorize expenses by teams, applications, and workloads. Chargeback and showback models ensure precise cost attribution, promoting accountability. Anomaly detection provides real-time alerts on unexpected cost spikes, helping teams prevent budget overruns.

2. Automate Cost Optimization

Manual cost management is inefficient and costly. AutoStopping Technology automatically shuts down idle resources, reducing waste. AI-driven recommendations help right-size compute, storage, and databases for optimal efficiency. Commitment Orchestrator automates Reserved Instance and Savings Plan management, ensuring maximum savings.

3. Strengthen Governance and Compliance

Uncontrolled spending can lead to security and compliance risks. Governance-as-Code enables automated policy enforcement to eliminate waste and optimize configurations. Cloud Asset Governance ensures continuous compliance, while the AI-powered Harness Development Assistant (AIDA™) simplifies policy creation and validation.

4. Optimize Kubernetes Costs

Kubernetes cost management requires automation for efficiency. Cluster Orchestrator for AWS EKS enables intelligent node auto-scaling based on demand. Spot orchestration helps teams save up to 90% on compute costs by running workloads on discounted Spot instances. Container cost visibility provides deeper insights for better cost control.

5. Proactively Manage Budgets and Forecasting

Budgeting and forecasting prevent unexpected cost spikes. Harness CCM allows teams to set budget thresholds with automated alerts, ensuring financial control. Spend forecasting provides data-driven insights, helping teams optimize cloud investments. Continuous monitoring ensures alignment with business needs.

Conclusion

Managing multi-cloud costs is complex, but with the right tools and strategies, organizations can take full control of their spending. Harness Cloud Cost Management (CCM) provides the automation, AI-driven insights, and governance needed to optimize costs, prevent waste, and improve financial accountability. By implementing best practices such as granular visibility, automated cost optimization, and intelligent governance, teams can maximize efficiency while staying within budget.

To stay ahead in cloud cost management, organizations need a proactive approach. Harness CCM empowers businesses to optimize their cloud investments, ensuring they can scale efficiently without unnecessary expenses.

How Can Avyka Help?

Avyka’s cloud experts specialize in helping organizations streamline cloud cost management with Harness CCM. With deep expertise in multi-cloud environments, Avyka provides tailored guidance on optimizing cloud resources, implementing governance best practices, and automating cost-saving strategies. 

Whether you need help setting up cost visibility, automating optimizations, or enforcing governance policies, Avyka can guide you through every step. Partner with Avyka to unlock the full potential of Harness CCM and take control of your cloud spending.