Answer 8 questions to identify Azure savings opportunities across reservations, right-sizing, hybrid benefit, and governance.
30%
Avg. Azure Waste
8
Questions
3 min
To Complete
Question 1 of 8Microsoft Azure Advisory
Question 1 of 8
💰
What is your approximate monthly Azure spend?
Larger Azure spend = larger optimisation opportunity. Even small percentage savings translate to significant annual amounts.
Under $50K/month
$50K-$200K/month
$200K-$1M/month
$1M+/month
Significant optimisation potential
Question 2 of 8
📈
What percentage of your Azure VMs are covered by Reserved Instances (RIs)?
RIs offer 40-72% savings vs pay-as-you-go. Steady-state workloads should always be on reservations.
75%+ of eligible workloads reserved
50-75% covered by RIs
25-50% covered
Under 25% or no reservations at all
You are likely overpaying by 40%+ on stable workloads
Question 3 of 8
💻
Do you use Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server and SQL Server?
AHUB lets you use on-premises SA licences in Azure, saving up to 85% on Windows Server and SQL VMs.
Yes — AHUB applied to all eligible VMs
Partially — some VMs using AHUB
Not sure — we have not assessed eligibility
No — we pay full Azure pricing for all VMs
Question 4 of 8
⚙️
Have you right-sized your Azure VMs in the last 6 months?
Azure Advisor consistently identifies 20-40% of VMs as over-provisioned. Right-sizing is free savings.
Yes — regular right-sizing reviews
Occasionally — done once in the past year
Rarely — original sizes still in place
Never — VMs deployed at initial size forever
Question 5 of 8
🔄
Do you have processes to shut down non-production VMs outside business hours?
Dev/test/staging VMs running 24/7 when only needed 10 hours/day wastes 58% of that spend.
Yes — automated start/stop schedules
Some — manual shutdown for major environments
Minimal — mostly running 24/7
None — all VMs run continuously
Question 6 of 8
🔍
Do you have visibility into Azure spend by team, project, or business unit?
Without cost allocation and tagging, you cannot identify who is driving spend or hold teams accountable.
Full visibility — tags, cost allocation, chargeback
Partial — subscription-level tracking
Minimal — one billing account, limited tags
None — single invoice, no breakdown
Question 7 of 8
🚧
Do you have Azure governance policies preventing cost overruns?
Azure Policy and budgets prevent shadow IT and accidental over-provisioning before costs are incurred.
Comprehensive — policies, budgets, and alerts
Basic — budget alerts but limited policies
Minimal — some alerts, no enforcement
None — no governance in place
Question 8 of 8
📊
Have you evaluated Azure Savings Plans as an alternative to RIs?
Azure Savings Plans (launched 2022) offer flexibility across VM families and regions with similar discounts to RIs.
Yes — using savings plans where appropriate
Evaluating — comparing savings plans vs RIs
Aware but have not assessed
Not aware of Azure Savings Plans
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