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Case study · FinOps · Azure

A preliminary EUR 29,000 annualised reduction in Azure costs

A subsidiary company of a Swiss energy provider needed to reduce Azure costs without disturbing the ERP, database and identity services running on its small estate. Working alongside its managed service provider, our Cloud Cost Champions applied targeted changes. One-week before-and-after windows showed ~EUR 80 a day lower costs across 36 resources within about seven weeks. The figures are preliminary as at 4 July 2026.

Company
Swiss energy provider subsidiary
Cloud estate
Two to three Azure subscriptions in North Switzerland
Scope
Azure FinOps for Windows VMs, ERP, database and storage
Engagement
Started 15 May 2026. Preliminary results to 4 July.
Client time
Two working calls totalling under 75 minutes

Preliminary measured change

~EUR 80/daycombined measured difference across 36 resources
~EUR 74/daydirect savings across 23 optimised resources
~EUR 29k/yearannualised from the reported daily difference
<75 minutesacross two customer working calls

The challenge: “make savings without disrupting production”

The client’s Azure footprint supports an Abacus ERP system, an Oracle database and domain controllers. The bill was modest in absolute terms, yet several avoidable costs were accumulating. There were few active reservations, Windows VMs carried full licence costs and unattached disks and snapshots continued to add to the bill.

The work had to satisfy two practical requirements:

  • Keep essential workloads running while changing VM sizes, licensing and storage settings.
  • Show a defensible before-and-after result that the client and its managed service provider could review resource by resource.

The approach: change the resources that matter, then measure

We focused on reservations, Azure Hybrid Benefit, VM sizing and unused storage. The managed service provider joined the working sessions, while the customer’s distributor handled reservation purchasing.

  1. Phase 1

    Finding the key cost levers

    In an initial call of just 30 minutes, we mapped subscriptions, workloads and Windows licensing. We also confirmed how shared-scope reservations could be enabled through the client’s distributor, before establishing a one-week cost baseline for each resource.

    A short list of actions tied to the resources carrying the avoidable spend.

  2. Phase 2

    Applying the changes with the service provider

    In a second working session of around 56 minutes, we switched eligible Windows VMs to Azure Hybrid Benefit and staged rightsizing and modernisation. We prepared three-year shared-scope reservations, downgraded suitable SSD storage to HDD and removed orphaned disks after snapshotting them.

    Changes were made without disrupting ERP, database or identity workloads.

  3. Phase 3

    Measuring the estate resource-by-resource

    We compared a one-week final window with the one-week baseline for 36 resources. The report separated savings on 23 directly optimised resources from cost movement on 13 resources that had not been changed – giving the customer a clear view of what the work did and did not directly affect.

    ~EUR 74 a day in direct savings and ~EUR 6 a day of indirect movement in the preliminary comparison.

In the client’s words

We needed to bring our Azure costs down without putting our ERP, database or domain controllers at risk. The team at samcloud worked directly with our managed service provider. They needed less than 75 minutes of our own time across two calls and showed us, resource-by-resource, exactly what had changed. Seeing a preliminary reduction of around EUR 29,000 a year within seven weeks gave us real confidence in the approach.

Head of IT

The results

WorkstreamStarting pointOutcome
ReservationsCompute largely at pay-as-you-go ratesThree-year shared-scope reservationsPurchased through the distributor.
VMs and licensingOversized VMs with full Windows licence costsApp VMs ~EUR 17 to ~EUR 3/daySizing and Azure Hybrid Benefit changes.
StorageOrphaned disks and snapshotsSeveral items to zeroUnused storage removed after snapshotting.
Measured estateOne-week baseline and final windows~EUR 80/day combined difference~EUR 74 direct. ~EUR 6 indirect.
Preliminary annualised run rate~EUR 29k/year

These figures are preliminary as at 4 July 2026. One reserved VM was deallocated while its reservation continued to bill, so its saving was not fully realised. The annual figure extrapolates the reported daily difference, including ~EUR 6/day of movement on untouched resources.

Why it worked

  • Focused brief, sharper outcomes

    Commitments, licence rights, VM sizing and storage carried the savings.

  • Bringing the right people together

    Changes were staged with the teams responsible for the live estate.

  • Figures they can stand by

    One-week comparisons separated direct savings from other cost movement.

Could your compact Azure estate still find room for savings?

We find the changes worth making, apply them with your team and measure the result.

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