Multi-cloud environments are complex and hence managing them effectively is a daunting challenge for enterprises. Enacting a consistent and effective tagging strategy is one way of overcoming the challenge. However, centralizing the tagging effort has its own challenges as many enterprises have trouble with consistent naming and assigning responsibility.
In a multi-cloud environment, tags are metadata values that contain keys and values that help users to organize and understand cloud data. Tagging helps to optimize costs across cloud providers by assigning useful information to any resource within an enterprises’ cloud infrastructure.
The key to a successful tagging strategy is defining clear, easy-to-understand tagging policy. Furthermore, enterprises should have a consistent set of tags specifically for governance purposes that apply globally and all applications and teams in an enterprise must apply these tags consistently. However, when it comes to tagging for cloud spend management, the need for standardization poses a challenge.
Optimizing cloud spend management with tagging requires near-perfection every time. This is difficult to achieve when multiple teams across business units and multiple cloud platforms are involved as team members may miscategorize information or create redundant tags. In addition, the introduction of a new cloud platform can complicate the tags. So, how can enterprises create tags that help optimize for cloud spend management?
To create the best tagging policy, enterprises should plan a detailed strategic rollout process. The rollout process should begin by first defining the tagging policy and constituting a centralized IT team that would own the process of tagging. Enterprises should also have a system of reporting the progress of their tagging efforts at least on a weekly basis. This will ensure that the tagging efforts are measurable. In addition, enterprises should have a method to alert team members to tag resources. This would ensure all cloud resources are categorized. Furthermore, once a functional tagging strategy has been implemented and standardized, then enterprises should consider automating the process.
To ensure the tagging process is performed correctly the first time, enterprises choose to utilize cloud spend management platforms. These platforms provide a valuable foundation to build cloud optimization strategy. By creating a well-designed tagging strategy for cloud spend management, enterprises would be able to execute initiatives such as cloud cost reporting, cloud cost optimization, and cloud security efforts better.
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