CloudThinker Use Case: Global AWS FinOps & Cost Optimization

The Challenge

In multi-region AWS environments, operational costs often spiral out of control due to several common issues:

• •Underutilized EC2 instances: Running with average CPU utilization <5%
• •Orphaned EBS volumes: Unattached volumes and snapshots older than 90 days
• •Idle Elastic IPs: Unassociated IP addresses still incurring charges
• •Unoptimized S3 buckets: No Intelligent-Tiering or lifecycle policies implemented

The Result: AWS costs can increase 20–30% monthly without proper visibility and control mechanisms.

The CloudThinker Solution

CloudThinker performs automated discovery across 21 AWS regions, delivering comprehensive visibility into your cloud estate:

Discovery Results

• •107 AWS resources inventoried and analyzed
• •31 optimization opportunities identified
• •Potential savings: $1,956/month (~$23,500/year)

Specific Optimization Recommendations

Storage Optimization

• •S3 Intelligent-Tiering: Reduce ~20–30% storage costs through automated storage class transitions
• •2 idle EBS volumes (508GB total): Save ~$50.8/month
• •Snapshot cleanup: Remove snapshots older than 90 days no longer needed

Compute Optimization

• •Rightsize EC2 m5.xlarge: Instance with 0.2% CPU utilization → downsize to save ~$120/month
• •Reserved Instances: Convert On-Demand to RIs for stable workloads
• •Spot Instances: Apply to non-production and batch workloads

Network Optimization

• •6 unassociated Elastic IPs: Release to save ~$21.6/month
• •Cross-region transfer analysis: Optimize data transfer costs

Quantified Results

| Metric | Current | Optimized | Savings | | ---------------- | ------- | --------- | ------------------ | | Monthly Cost | $4,350 | $3,261 | $1,089 (25%) | | Annual Cost | $52,200 | $39,132 | $13,068 | | ROI Timeline | - | - | Immediate–3 months |

FinOps Dashboard

CloudThinker provides a comprehensive FinOps Dashboard with critical visualizations:

Key Metrics

1. •

   Cost by Region (bar chart)

   • •Identify highest-cost regions
   • •Compare cost distribution across locations
2. •

   Cost by Service (pie chart)

   • •EC2: 45%
   • •RDS: 25%
   • •S3: 15%
   • •Other services: 15%
3. •

   Top 10 Cost Drivers (table)

   • •Detailed breakdown of most expensive resources
   • •Specific action items for each resource
4. •

   Current vs Optimized (stacked bar comparison)

   • •Visualize savings potential
   • •Breakdown by service category
5. •

   Monthly Projection (trendline)

   • •Forecast costs before/after optimization
   • •Track progress over time

AI-Powered FinOps Prompt

You are a FinOps & Cloud Optimization Expert.

Analyze my entire AWS environment across all regions and all services,
and propose cost optimization actions. In addition to structured
recommendations, also create a visual dashboard to summarize cost insights.

Context:

• •Scope: All AWS resources, all regions, all services
• •Constraints:
  • No downtime for production workloads (09:00–21:00 local time)
  • No data loss
  • SLA: web latency p99 < 200ms, RDS CPU < 70%
• •Goal: minimize AWS bill globally, provide executive visibility

Instructions:

1. •Perform a global scan and identify:

• •Idle or underutilized resources
• •Orphaned resources (unattached volumes, idle ELB, unused IPs, snapshots)
• •Overprovisioned resources

1. •Recommend pricing model optimizations:

• •Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, Spot Instances
• •Consolidated billing opportunities

1. •Optimize storage & networking:

• •S3 storage class transitions
• •Snapshot and backup cleanup
• •Cross-region transfer analysis

1. •Prioritize recommendations with:

• •Resource/Service + Region
• •Suggested Change
• •Estimated Saving ($ and %)
• •Risk/Trade-off
• •Implementation Steps (CLI/Console/IaC hint)

1. •

   Provide a global roadmap (Quick Wins → Medium-term → Long-term).

2. •

   Create a FinOps Dashboard with:

• •Cost by Region (bar chart)
• •Cost by Service (pie chart)
• •Top 10 most expensive resources (table)
• •Projected savings after optimization
• •Trend chart (monthly cost projection before/after)

1. •Conclude with top 3 highest ROI actions and estimated new
   global AWS monthly cost.

Implementation Roadmap

Quick Wins (Week 1-2)

• •Release 6 unassociated Elastic IPs → $21.6/month
• •Delete 2 idle EBS volumes → $50.8/month
• •Enable S3 Intelligent-Tiering → $300-400/month

Medium-term (Month 1-3)

• •Rightsize EC2 instances → $120/month
• •Implement Reserved Instances for stable workloads → $400/month
• •Cleanup old snapshots → $50/month

Long-term (Month 3-6)

• •Adopt Savings Plans strategically → $200/month
• •Implement Spot Instances for batch workloads → $150/month
• •Optimize cross-region data transfer → $100/month

Top 3 Highest ROI Actions

1. S3 Intelligent-Tiering

• •Effort: Low (1-2 hours)
• •Savings: $300-400/month
• •Risk: None (AWS-managed)
• •ROI: Immediate

2. EC2 Rightsizing

• •Effort: Medium (4-8 hours)
• •Savings: $120/month
• •Risk: Low (requires monitoring)
• •ROI: 1 week

3. Reserved Instances

• •Effort: Medium (planning required)
• •Savings: $400/month
• •Risk: Low (commitment-based)
• •ROI: Immediate after purchase

Key Outcomes

CloudThinker helps organizations achieve:

✅ Immediate ~25% AWS cost reduction without impacting SLAs
✅ Standardized FinOps process: Discover → Recommend → Optimize → Govern
✅ Enhanced visibility for executive teams on cloud spending
✅ Automated continuous cost optimization
✅ Governance with cost allocation tracking

Business Impact

• •Annual Savings: $13,068
• •Time Saved: 40+ hours/month in manual analysis
• •Risk Reduction: Proactive cost anomaly detection
• •Strategic Planning: Data-driven capacity planning

CloudThinker transforms cloud cost management from reactive firefighting to proactive financial engineering.