How can businesses navigate the complexities of cloud costs while maximizing value across their operations? In this episode, we welcome Aviram Levy, Tech Evangelist at Zesty, to explore the current state of cloud usage and waste, and how companies can effectively manage and reduce these costs.
With nearly two decades of experience in IT and cloud technology, Aviram offers valuable insights into the challenges that businesses face when transitioning to the cloud's on-demand model. He sheds light on the common pitfalls, such as the lack of visibility into cloud consumption, which often leads to unexpected and inflated bills.
Aviram discusses the critical role of FinOps in cloud cost optimization, explaining how dedicated teams and processes can bridge the gap between engineering and finance. He highlights best practices for implementing FinOps strategies, including the use of tools and automation to gain better visibility into cloud usage and to drive efficiency across cloud operations.
With economic volatility adding to the unpredictability of cloud costs, Aviram emphasizes the importance of proactive management and strategic planning.
At the heart of this discussion is Zesty's innovative approach to cloud cost optimization. Aviram introduces Zesty's solutions, which provide real-time visibility into cloud usage and offer automated recommendations to reduce waste and optimize resources.
He alsoexplains how Zesty's automation engines can dynamically scale resources based on demand, ensuring that businesses only pay for what they truly need. Additionally, the newly launched platform, "Insights," is designed to help organizations prioritize and automate optimization opportunities, making cloud management more efficient and cost-effective.
Looking to the future, Aviram shares his vision for the next wave of cloud cost optimization, which will include deep tech solutions tailored to specific workloads like databases and containers. He also discusses the growing importance of multi-cloud support and the continuous advancements in automation that will further enhance cloud efficiency.
As businesses increasingly rely on cloud services, one pressing question remains: Are you doing enough to optimize your cloud costs and maximize the value of your cloud investments?
[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Are you left wondering how much of your cloud spending is truly necessary?
[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_01]: It's something I'm hearing more and more of at the moment, but today on Tech Talks Daily,
[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_01]: we've invited Avram, a seasoned tech evangelist from a company called Zesty,
[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_01]: and they are a trailblazer in cloud cost optimisation.
[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_01]: With an impressive background spanning nearly two decades in the IT and cloud arenas,
[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Avram brings with him today a wealth of knowledge on minimising cloud waste and enhancing financial operations.
[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And as businesses navigate through these turbulent economic conditions,
[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I think understanding and controlling cloud expenses has never been more paramount.
[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to take a time out to express my gratitude to everyone who supports my mission
[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_01]: of delivering daily content to you in 165 countries.
[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't do it without you, and I couldn't do it without my sponsors.
[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And today I want to give a quick shout out to Kiteworks,
[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01]: who recently told me that defence contractors are facing immense pressure to comply with things like CMMC 2.0 security standards.
[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And finding a secure, easy-to-use file sharing platform that meets those guidelines can be a big challenge.
[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So, quick shout out to any defence contractors listening out there.
[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_01]: CMMC 2.0 compliance doesn't have to be a headache.
[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Consider Kiteworks your fast track to authorisation,
[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and as a FedRAMP moderate authorised solution, they cover nearly 90% of CMMC 2.0 level 3 requirements.
[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_01]: For you, that means less time, less effort, less cost,
[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_01]: and while others struggle with DIY approval processes and clunky apps,
[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: you'll breeze through with their Zero Trust framework, so don't let compliance slow you down is what I'm trying to say.
[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Simply visit Kiteworks.com to get started.
[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: That's Kiteworks.com to learn more about Kiteworks' secure content platform for CMMC compliance.
[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: But with my thank yous out of the way, it's now time to jump right into today's interview with our fantastic guest.
[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears to Tel Aviv,
[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: where Avram is going to shed light on how businesses can adopt FinOps practices to not only survive,
[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_01]: but thrive by simply turning cloud spending into a strategic driver of business value.
[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_01]: So a massive warm welcome to the show.
[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?
[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, thank you Neil for having me today here.
[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So my name is Avram and I'm the tech evangelist here at Zesty.
[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm part of the CTO office, which is a new research arm that we built recently here at Zesty.
[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: So I've been here in the company more than two and a half years.
[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Before being the tech evangelist, I managed three different teams here at Zesty.
[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And before Zesty, I was an AWS employee for almost five years here in Tel Aviv.
[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's basically me.
[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Incredibly cool.
[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And I love that job title of tech evangelist.
[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I always think it's the coolest job title in the world.
[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to have that on my passport.
[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_01]: But for people listening, just hearing about Zesty for the first time,
[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_01]: you just tell me a little bit about Zesty.
[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: What would you say Zesty is?
[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Great. So it really depends who you are asking, right, in the company.
[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: But for me as a technical person, Zesty is a platform for FinOps and DevOps engineers out there.
[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Right. There are many of them.
[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And this platform helps them to, of course, improve their day-to-day work.
[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But mainly around FinOps activities.
[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: So Zesty was born like six years ago, almost six years ago,
[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: with a mission to help FinOps engineers and DevOps engineers to be focused on their business.
[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Not on maintaining the cloud, reducing costs, managing budgets, improving infrastructure.
[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So this is Zesty for me. Right.
[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you ask others what is Zesty for them,
[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Zesty is FinOps and cost optimization platform.
[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: We're providing visibility recommendations and automation engines.
[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: When the founders of the company first incorporated the company,
[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: their vision was to build automation engines to support technical teams.
[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So they would be able to focus on their work and to grow their companies.
[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm glad you mentioned cost.
[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you mentioned cost optimization there,
[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: because one of the reasons I was excited to get you on the podcast today is
[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_01]: there's so much focus on the minute on ROI, business value.
[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: On every tech project, there's real close scrutiny on that,
[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and especially around unnecessary cloud costs.
[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01]: That's something I'm hearing about a lot at the moment.
[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_01]: So what would you say are the most common mistakes businesses make
[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_01]: that lead to those unnecessary cloud costs?
[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And how can they avoid them?
[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So it is a great question because as part of my roles here,
[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: in the last, I don't know, seven and a half years also in AWS,
[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I met with I think more than a thousand companies.
[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And there is a very common thing that repeats on every call.
[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So they all started to use the cloud.
[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It made sense, right?
[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it's useful, helps to scale.
[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Great.
[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Then after a few months or years, there comes the big, right?
[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that the common mistake, and again,
[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: it's not a really common mistake.
[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a behavior or like it takes time for organization to learn the patterns
[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and the usage of new things is that they probably didn't start
[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: like they were doing in their own premises, data centers, right?
[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: When you buy your hardware, even at home, right?
[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: When you buy something at home,
[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: you know how much it's going to cost you, right?
[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Because you bought it.
[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And the cloud generated a new consumption model of on-demand, right?
[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: You can use whatever you want, whenever you want.
[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We have capacity for you, no worries.
[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a problem, right?
[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a common mistake.
[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a thing, right?
[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: The cloud vendors brought us to a place or brought customers to a place
[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: where they never thought about the price until the bill came, right?
[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Like at the end of the month or the following month.
[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And right, you have a budget.
[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Now what happens when you reach the budget, right?
[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Like what you should do.
[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the panic comes, right?
[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like they are in panic or either they don't care
[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: because they are a huge enterprise and they have tons of money, right?
[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And then come the recession and COVID and like all the surprises
[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: that we have here in our own earth, right?
[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So this is a common thing, right?
[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they are only shocked, right?
[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And the big question, I suppose, for anybody listening,
[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and they're all probably nodding in agreement here
[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: because it is such a universal problem.
[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: How can these companies implement more best practices
[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: to help them save on cloud costs without sacrificing performance
[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and scalability?
[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Because it feels like quite a tricky balance.
[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, of course.
[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I do remember my first meeting with a customer when I was an AWS employee
[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and they told me, yeah, I can shut down everything.
[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care.
[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, okay.
[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And I told them, and then what happens to your customer?
[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's a very big thing, right?
[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Like usually like six or seven years ago, someone somewhere in the world
[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: gave it a name, okay?
[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: They called it financial operations, FinOps, right?
[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: So usually companies in the last five or six years
[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: are starting to implement FinOps practices around the organization, right?
[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: As part of these practices, you should implement processes.
[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: You should hire people that will be responsible for the strategy
[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: of the company, the budget, the cloud budget, of course.
[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And later to implement tools for visibility, automation,
[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: alerting, of course, guardrails, they call it.
[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a new thing.
[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a new term that AWS stated like five or six or seven years ago,
[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: guardrails, okay, in terms of finance, right?
[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Not only on the technical side.
[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So we do see like a very good move, right?
[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a positive move around the globe where companies built
[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: a cloud center of excellence.
[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And as part of the cloud center of excellence teams,
[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: they have the FinOps arm or team or human,
[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: it can be like one person sometimes.
[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And this person has like, if you're coming to an enterprise
[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: four or five years ago, they were finance guys, right?
[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they were, oh, these are the numbers, Excel sheets, great.
[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: What fun day I have today to understand what we are spending on.
[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And since then, like five years back, there are many,
[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: many tools that helps these people, these FinOps practitioners
[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: or FinOps teams to identify waste and where the money goes.
[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Later, because they are not technical, this one has a bit changed.
[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, FinOps people coming from engineering.
[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so you see a mixture of two types of persons that do FinOps, right?
[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: On the one hand, you see technical people.
[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: They are no longer like developing anything, right?
[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: But they are technical.
[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_00]: On the other side, you see those that came from financial operations,
[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_00]: right, finance.
[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's very nice to see their learning curve, right?
[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00]: The technical people become more finance guys.
[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: The finance guys started to understand, but they have like a blocker, right?
[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: They cannot learn everything.
[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: They cannot understand everything because they are not engineers.
[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So here comes for help, like many platforms, right, that we have
[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_00]: in the industry, one of them is SD-WAN, and it helps these people
[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_00]: to bridge the gaps that they have and to let them focus
[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: on the business growth.
[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, I know the world of FinOps is something you're
[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_01]: incredibly passionate about, not only yourself, but your team
[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_01]: at Zesty as well.
[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So what role do FinOps practices play in optimizing things
[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_01]: like cloud costs?
[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And how can they overall drive business value across those
[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_01]: cloud operations that we're talking about here?
[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_01]: What do you see around this?
[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's say it's a trend in the last few years that FinOps practitioners
[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_00]: inside organizations become the focal point, right?
[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00]: They are the focal points for cloud agreements later for solutions
[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: that support the cloud growth, the efficiency of usage of cloud, right?
[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes I hear people call them, okay, you are the magicians,
[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: right?
[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you are the wizards that know everything.
[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Everything is focused on your team.
[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Now you're a blocker, right?
[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a bit dangerous, right?
[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Because once you become a blocker, you need to scale or either
[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: do dropships.
[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is not a good practice, right?
[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So FinOps practitioners today become the center of knowledge
[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_00]: in the company.
[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_00]: They own the budget of the cloud, which is usually number three
[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: or two instead of each company, right?
[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Extra salaries and offices, right?
[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Like the real estate is not cheap as well.
[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And the most difficult thing for that is that this budget
[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: is determined but it's not predictable, right?
[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they cannot predict how the year will end.
[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It's very hard to do that.
[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And on top of that, they bring tons of value for almost every
[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: department in their organization because they work with engineering.
[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: They work with finance teams.
[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_00]: They also work with external suppliers, right?
[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they manage the contracts, the negotiations.
[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's not easy, right?
[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: You need to have a scope of skills, which is not understatement, right?
[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it's not, okay, I'm an engineer.
[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I know how to develop.
[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I know DevOps.
[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I know Python.
[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I know.
[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Fine.
[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Now you need also the other side.
[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: You need to understand budget constraints.
[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_00]: You need to understand the business growth, right?
[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Or decline.
[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And we saw many companies where FinOps practitioners become, let's
[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: say, the braiding behind of many activities around the organization.
[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's really, really nice trend to see.
[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm following very tightly in the last seven years.
[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: That's basically it.
[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And you're probably locked down and can't share too many names with me,
[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_01]: but I'm curious, are you able to share any success stories, use cases
[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_01]: or examples of where Zesty has maybe helped a business significantly
[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_01]: reduce their cloud expenses?
[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Because I think this will really bring the topic to life today because
[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_01]: there's so many different businesses looking at we need to reduce our
[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_01]: cloud expenses, but knowing what to do and how valuable it is and
[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_01]: without sacrificing anything as well.
[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Are there any success stories that would just shine a light on that?
[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So I like Zesty that we have like hundreds of customers around the
[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: globe directly, right?
[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And we have many, many use cases and success stories.
[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that the most successful story, like I think when I joined
[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Zesty, it was like a few months later when I joined, it was Black Friday.
[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the day of the year that everyone shop online or not online,
[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: right?
[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_00]: But cloud usually comes with online purchases.
[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And this customer is a retail company.
[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And that means that their solution helps retailers to understand where
[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: customers spend time on their website, right?
[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_00]: They are not a retail like Amazon or Macy's or any other, you know,
[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_00]: vendor that sell online.
[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So usually during holidays, they have huge spike of workload or
[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: increased demand of their platform, right?
[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So when I joined, I was able to pitch this customer, right?
[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And to support their growth during the time of the event.
[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And that means that think about they spend around $2 million a year on
[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: AWS for 10 months and for the last two months of the year, they spent
[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: additional $2 million on demand, right?
[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Meaning without savings.
[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So we were able to help them to reduce these two new million dollars into
[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_00]: $1 million.
[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so we helped them to save net $1 million within two months.
[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, and we did it with our commitment manager platform, right?
[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Which is our first ever product that we launched almost six years ago.
[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And the flexibility that they got from this product was insane for them.
[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, they told us, okay, we already allocated $2 million for their budget,
[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_00]: right?
[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_00]: You helped us to keep $1 million in the bank without intention, right?
[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Like we didn't plan it.
[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Wow, that is a powerful start, isn't it?
[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_01]: That's crushing.
[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, by the way, they are still a customer, right?
[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Like for many years, almost more than three years and yeah, very happy
[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_00]: customer, I guess.
[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And then outside of that, if we throw in things like economic volatility and
[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_01]: that impact on cloud cost management as well, are there any additional
[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_01]: strategies that businesses can use to mitigate these effects?
[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Because there's a lot going on at the moment, isn't it?
[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the uncertainty is out there, right?
[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Like we all agree on the last four years were crazy, right?
[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Starting from COVID, then the recession, war in Ukraine.
[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, tons of things happen out there and you can never know whether your
[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: business is going up or down, right?
[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And yes, so Zesty Automation Engines, and we have a few of them, helping
[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: customers to be elastic on the cloud, right?
[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So what does it mean?
[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll give you an example.
[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's say that you have now, I don't know, 1,000 servers, right?
[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Everything goes well in the business.
[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: You even think that it will be 1,500 servers at the end of the year.
[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: One day something happened, right?
[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And the business is declining.
[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_00]: With Zesty Disk and also Commitment Manager, which are two automation
[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_00]: engines, we are helping customers not only to grow, okay, but also to shrink.
[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: What does it mean?
[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's think that we have now, I don't know, 10 petabytes of data, right?
[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And now 20% of my business is no longer relevant.
[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I need to shrink to 8 petabytes.
[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So Zesty Disk helps these companies to automatically shrink the capacity,
[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_00]: the storage capacity that they use, right?
[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_00]: The block storage that they are using.
[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Say for Commitment Manager, we are adjusting the commitment to be exactly
[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: as much as the customer requires.
[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so think about it.
[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_00]: You had 1,000 instances, now you have 800 instances and you don't want
[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_00]: to pay on demand or let's say the highest price for them.
[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_00]: You want to get some discounts for them.
[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the CFO won't approve, right, cover everything because he neither
[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: understands what will be in the next coming months, right?
[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: There is a war outside or recession or I don't know what.
[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the secret sauce, right?
[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Like this is exactly where Zesty comes in and helps companies
[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_00]: to adjust their capacity.
[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And, yeah, and we are investing heavily on new engines in the next
[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: coming weeks and months.
[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, it's not going to end with compute and storage.
[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And are there any other key challenges that you see businesses facing
[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_01]: when trying to optimize their cloud costs and any tips or advice
[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_01]: you can offer any business leaders listening on how they can overcome
[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_01]: some of these obstacles too?
[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So many business leaders today have, again, a common issue, right?
[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_00]: They have a list of, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 activities that need
[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_00]: to be prioritized.
[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, it's very hard to prioritize cost optimization, not saying,
[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, new business workloads or building new infrastructure.
[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's very common to see companies just say, okay, let's push it
[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_00]: to next year, let's push this activity into the next year.
[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, maybe optimizing our database is not like first priority this time.
[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, let's do it in Q4 and not in Q3.
[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe, and Zesty also believes that, right?
[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is why we launched a new platform last week that we called
[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Insights where companies can prioritize easier, right, in a very easy way
[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_00]: what should come first.
[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, you get the list of opportunities, right, by amount of opportunities,
[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: by amount of dollars of opportunities, right?
[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's very easy for the management with this system to understand
[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_00]: how much effort you need to invest in each opportunity, then how much money
[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_00]: you might get from this opportunity.
[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And later, oh, you can do that for us.
[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, this is insane, right?
[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Just click here and an automation engine will do this recommendation
[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_00]: for you.
[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so this is the concept of our buckle, right?
[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And we do see many companies when they hear, oh, you are not only
[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_00]: showing me the list, you're also doing that for me.
[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_00]: This is like a aha moment for them, you know, like the light is going out
[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and oh, so this is the list, right?
[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to do it.
[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a FinOps engineer.
[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a DevOps engineer.
[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, but you can do that for us.
[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Interesting.
[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that business leaders today understand the value of platforms,
[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_00]: right?
[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Like automation, visibility, recommendations.
[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_00]: This is like the industry today and we've seen many companies adopt
[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_00]: these solutions.
[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Wow, incredibly cool.
[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_01]: If we were to look ahead into the future, we're already, what, only six
[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01]: months away from 2025.
[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Are there any other innovations or developments that you foresee evolving
[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_01]: in the field of cloud cost optimization?
[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, how are you at Zesty positioning yourself to lead
[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_01]: in that space too?
[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so we do see many new players in the industry that invest
[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_00]: in deep tech, right?
[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Up until now, FinOps was around processes, around cost optimization.
[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the easy things, right?
[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, commitments, clean unused resources, reduce the waste.
[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_00]: But now we see many companies invest in deep tech.
[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: What does it mean?
[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_00]: That they kind of reinvent the way that FinOps teams and DevOps teams
[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_00]: are doing optimization.
[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, now it's not enough to save money on on-demand, right?
[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you need to optimize specific workloads, let's say, on your
[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_00]: databases or your containers or any other thing.
[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's say object storage as well is out there, right?
[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And when you come to optimize these specific technologies,
[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: it's not that easy, right?
[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you need to be an expert, then you need to invest months
[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_00]: of integrations, improvements, right?
[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Sizing and here at Zesty as well, we understand that.
[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_00]: We see and we hear our customers, right?
[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And we are going to that direction as well to develop automation
[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_00]: engines, deep tech technology, right?
[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Or containers and other technologies that are out there.
[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And on top of that, of course, to become a multi-platform solution,
[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_00]: right?
[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00]: For every cloud platform.
[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is definitely the direction that we are working on.
[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It sounds like exciting times ahead for you all at Zesty.
[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And what about yourself?
[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Because I think there's a real pressure on everyone to be in a state
[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_01]: of continuous learning right now.
[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_01]: But you're a technology evangelist at a huge company like Zesty.
[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So I've got to ask where or how do you self-educate?
[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: How do you keep up to speed with the latest trends and how things
[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_01]: are evolving?
[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's very funny because just yesterday I talked with my wife about it.
[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: She's a developer, but I told her, yes, I know almost everything
[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: from everywhere.
[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_00]: How?
[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, like it's a very interesting discussion that we are having
[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_00]: these days.
[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So since I'm talking with many customers, I hear a lot about new
[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_00]: technologies, right?
[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So I have like hours and hours of field time.
[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So this is the first place that I learn from new technologies or new
[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_00]: problems that are out there.
[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay?
[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_00]: On the other side, like it's kind of me, right?
[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the person that sits here that is keen to learn on almost
[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00]: everything, right?
[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm diving, reading hours and hours in the internet, right?
[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have much time, right?
[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Like in a management position here.
[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: But every spare moment I spend in reading books, articles, books from
[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_00]: time to time.
[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_00]: But mainly I spend time here with the R&D teams, right?
[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they learn a lot every day.
[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, since I moved to the CTO office five months ago, I spent
[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_00]: hours with the R&D leadership and the R&D teams.
[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And like, I think that this is worth like, I don't know, like one hour
[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_00]: worth hundred hours of reading.
[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's a very good multiplier for me.
[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And yes, I'm lucky that I have the luxury to sit with them, right?
[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, so yeah, that's mainly.
[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I would imagine that spending time with those R&D teams are even more
[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_01]: rewarding than reading all those books.
[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That's where the magic happens when you sat down with those teams.
[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And for anyone listening, what's the best place for them to find you or
[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_01]: your team online?
[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Find out more about anything we talked about today and your work at Zesty.
[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, you'd like to point everyone listening.
[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So of course, right?
[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Like we have our own website, zesty.co, which includes everything, right?
[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_00]: All the use cases, products, all the new announcement that we have done
[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_00]: in the last few weeks.
[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And we are going to have more in the next coming weeks.
[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And we have a very good blog, right?
[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm writing a lot to this blog, spending hours with the teams here to
[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_00]: write our new announcements and trends in the industry.
[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_00]: So yes, I encourage you to go to our blog and read it, right?
[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Usually it's like three to five minutes read.
[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I will add links to that blog and everything you mentioned there
[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_01]: to make it easy for people to find you nice and easily.
[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And we covered so much today from the state of cloud usage and waste
[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_01]: for businesses, best practices for saving on cloud costs, your gold in there.
[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And also the increased FinOps practices, how they can drive business value
[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_01]: across those cloud operations, not to mention the bright future
[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_01]: for zesty as well.
[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_01]: But thank you for shining a light on this today.
[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Really appreciate your time.
[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me today.
[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Have a wonderful day.
[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I really enjoyed today unpacking the complexities of cloud cost optimization
[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_01]: and the vital role of FinOps in today's business environment.
[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's clear that as the cloud becomes an integral part
[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_01]: of our operational landscape, having the right strategies,
[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_01]: the right tools to manage these costs is indispensable.
[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_01]: But what steps will you or your organization take to ensure
[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_01]: that cloud spending contributes positively to your bottom line?
[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And as always, I encourage you to share your thoughts
[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_01]: and any questions you might have about today's discussion
[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_01]: or how you're managing cloud costs in your operations.
[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's keep this conversation going.
[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_01]: But that's it for today.
[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you as always for listening.
[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And until next time, don't be a stranger.