One of the primary goals of any business is to increase profitability while serving its customers. Cost is the key parameter of discussion when a project is initiated. Having an application upgrade and adding new product features heavily depends upon the amount of funding it can get. The product's cost is everyone's responsibility and needs to be considered in every phase of the product life cycle (from planning to post-production). This chapter will help you understand the best practices for optimizing costs for your IT solutions and operations.

Cost optimization is a continuous process and needs to be managed carefully without sacrificing customer experience. Cost optimization doesn't mean cost reduction but rather reducing the business risk by maximizing return on investment (ROI). You will need to understand your customer needs before planning any cost optimization and act accordingly. Often, if customers are looking for quality, they are ready to pay a higher price.

In this chapter, you will learn various design principles for the cost optimization of your solution. The cost aspect needs to be considered at every phase and component of the architecture. You will get an understanding of the right selection of technology to ensure cost optimization at every layer. You will learn the following best practices of cost optimization in this chapter:

• Design principles for cost optimization
• Techniques for cost optimization
• Cost optimization in the public cloud

By the end of the chapter, you will have learned about various techniques to optimize cost without risking business agility and outcome. You will have learned various methods to monitor the cost and apply governance for cost control.