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UK Finance
Driving Continuous Azure Cost Optimisation with FinOps
How a global financial services organisation gained visibility, accountability and control of Azure spend
25% savings realised within 6–8 weeks of commencement
35% total optimisation opportunity identified
Zero unexpected Azure billing surprises through proactive monitoring
The Customer
UK Finance
Client:
Large - Enterprise
Size:
United Kingdom
Geography:
The Challenge
As Ocorian accelerated its adoption of Microsoft Azure, cloud expenditure increased significantly across multiple subscriptions and services. Existing cost management processes relied heavily on manual analysis through the Azure portal, making it difficult to understand spending trends, identify optimisation opportunities, or establish accountability across the organisation.
At the same time, internal cloud engineers were responsible for supporting day-to-day operations and delivering strategic projects, leaving limited capacity to proactively manage cloud costs. With the business operating a hybrid infrastructure spanning both Azure and on-premises data centres, Ocorian required a specialist partner to introduce structured FinOps practices, optimise cloud expenditure, and establish ongoing governance to support future growth.
Key Activities
Azure estate assessment
Cost optimisation analysis
Reserved Instance strategy
Azure subscription review
Azure governance review
Continuous cost monitoring
Monthly operational reviews
Quarterly service reviews
FinOps advisory
Knowledge transfer
Technologies
Microsoft Azure
Azure Cost Management
Azure Reservations
Azure Landing Zones
FinOps methodology
Venture 1 Azure Cost Optimisation Service
The Solution
Venture 1 delivered a managed Azure Cost Optimisation service designed to provide immediate savings while establishing a long-term FinOps operating model.
The engagement began with a comprehensive assessment of the Azure estate to identify immediate cost optimisation opportunities, rightsizing recommendations, reservation opportunities, and governance improvements. Rather than waiting until the assessment concluded, recommendations were shared as they were identified, enabling Ocorian to begin realising savings from the outset.
Alongside immediate optimisation activities, Venture 1 implemented continuous monitoring, proactive alerting, budget management, and governance processes to provide ongoing visibility and control of Azure expenditure. Monthly operational reviews and quarterly strategic service reviews ensured optimisation opportunities continued to be identified as the Azure environment evolved.
The service also introduced clear ownership of Azure spend across subscriptions, enabling individual business units to become accountable for cloud costs while equipping technical teams with the knowledge and expertise required to embed FinOps principles into future cloud planning and governance.
Benefits & Results Derived
The Azure Cost Optimisation service delivered a significant reduction in cloud expenditure while establishing a sustainable framework for ongoing financial governance.
Within the first three months of the engagement, Ocorian reduced Azure costs by 25%, with a further 10% of savings identified for implementation over the following three to six months. By sharing optimisation opportunities throughout the assessment, Venture 1 enabled the organisation to begin realising benefits immediately rather than waiting until the project concluded.
Beyond the financial savings, the engagement transformed the way Azure costs were managed across the organisation. Continuous monitoring, proactive alerting and structured operational reviews provided complete visibility of cloud expenditure, enabling teams to identify anomalies early, improve budget forecasting and eliminate unexpected billing surprises.
The introduction of FinOps governance established clear ownership of Azure subscriptions across the business, embedding accountability into operational planning while giving technical teams access to specialist expertise to support future cloud growth. Ocorian now benefits from a proactive, continuously optimised Azure environment that supports both financial control and long-term cloud adoption.
See the Video Testimonial Here