Arraya Solutions cuts costs by 50% with Data-Driven's CloudMonitor, built on Microsoft products

As an international cloud solution provider with offices in the United States and the Philippines, Arraya Solutions is continually working to improve its cloud consultancy for Microsoft customers.

Arraya’s challenges revolved around providing more detailed insights into its customers’ security, compliance, and costs. To begin, Arraya wanted to determine the methodology for optimizing its cloud estate. Then, based on those findings, Arraya would extend those lessons to its customers.

A solution built on Microsoft tools

Based in Australia, with offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Data-Driven implements advanced analytics projects and delivers innovative data and AI solutions. Its CloudMonitor product, available in the Azure Marketplace, extends the Azure Portal Cost Management tool with a suite of cost analytics dashboards using Microsoft Power BI. Additionally, it uses a bot powered by Microsoft Teams to surface recommendations into the development workflow as soon as resources are spun up.

Many of Data-Driven's customers have sprawling Azure estates and are unaware if resources are correctly scaled or even in use. CloudMonitor helps them determine these things and optimize them.

The straightforward process of downloading and implementing CloudMonitor from the Microsoft commercial marketplace significantly influenced Arraya’s decision to work with Data-Driven, and it enabled efficient adoption of the specialized FinOps tool.

Greater visibility and enhanced reporting

By incorporating CloudMonitor, Arraya was able to use its reporting capabilities to obtain a holistic view of the company’s Azure infrastructure. The tool provided insights into obsolete or unused resources, deployment trends that resulted in unnecessary expenditures, and inconsistencies across various resource types.

“As a growing service provider, we need the flexibility that comes with Microsoft Azure along with the visibility and insights of tools like CloudMonitor,” said Thomas York, Chief Operating Officer of Arraya Solutions. “Using CloudMonitor on Microsoft Azure gives us actionable data that translates to better organization of cloud resources along with incremental cost savings. Those cost savings support further cloud investment and reduce the time to market for adding new and innovative service products into our platform.”

Arraya subsequently applied the lessons it garnered and integrated them into consultations with clients. The customers found significant value in the visual presentations, trends, recommendations, and additional meta details about their resources. Arraya realized this standardized approach could be adopted by any organization operating in the cloud, and it successfully extended this methodology to numerous customers, who then experienced its benefits.

By incorporating the changes in company culture alongside CloudMonitor, Arraya managed to achieve savings of 50 percent. The company was subsequently able to undertake projects without concerns of being overwhelmed by rising costs. Arraya extended the same strategy to its clients, and on average, this aided customers in reducing costs by 15 percent to 20 percent, enabling them to allocate the savings toward other initiatives. This approach also contributed to maintaining a financially sound environment.

“Partnering with Arraya Solutions has been a journey marked by shared commitment and innovation," said Rodney Joyce, Managing Director of CloudMonitor at Data-Driven. "Arraya's insights and feedback have been instrumental in helping us streamline CloudMonitor's features, thereby enhancing its effectiveness. It’s gratifying to see how CloudMonitor has contributed to optimizing cloud operations and spending. The success achieved by Arraya with CloudMonitor reflects our dedication to empowering businesses with actionable insights for Azure management.”