The financial industry is a primary user of the cloud, and cost optimization and security are critical for its functioning. As firms have adopted cloud infrastructure for their business-critical applications, they leverage technologies such as AWS and tools to minimize cost, improve efficiency and security of the data, and compliance with the regulatory standards.
Satyam Chauhan, a top professional in his field, managed a cloud cost management platform for a global investment banking firm, that aimed at controlling costs in AWS environment. This platform was instrumental to critical applications in Trading Infrastructure, Data Pipelines for vendor data acquisition, the EDL, and Analytics Workflows for the Investment Banking (IB), Capital Markets, and Risk and Technology divisions.
The program minimized the expenses on the cloud and ensured that these critical applications stayed secure and in compliance with the firm’s data security and legal requirements. The main goal of the project was to develop a single point of access that would show AWS cloud consumption and cost data along with ensuring the security of primary business applications. The tools and technologies used were quite exhaustive and included cloud security, inventory management, data encryption, and cost. For resource monitoring and governance, Chauhan used AWS Config, AWS CloudTrail, and Prisma Cloud API; data security was achieved through AWS KMS, Macie, IAM, CloudHSM, and Secrets Manager. Further, he created Python scripts through Boto3 for automation purposes and used AWS QuickSight for data visualization.
Automated service inventory collection was one of the major activities that formed part of the project. To achieve full visibility of all AWS resources, his team connected AWS Config, CloudTrail, and the Prisma Cloud API. This made it easier to monitor the cloud resources and see where improvements could be made in terms of utilization.
Security was a priority with encryption for data in use and data in transit being used. For data at rest, he employed AWS KMS and CloudHSM to encrypt the data while for data in transit, the team employed SSL/TLS encryption. Additionally, access to the data was limited through RBAC with AWS IAM, and automatic credentials management minimized the risks of unauthorized access. AWS Macie was used to detect and prevent the use of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
Moreover, the cost optimization was another important component of the project. As a result of workload migration to Reserved and Spot Instances, his team achieved lower compute expenses; lifecycle policies in S3 also helped to decrease storage costs. By utilizing Athena and AWS Cost and Usage Reports, he obtained a detailed level of understanding of the spending habits and thus, saved $700,000 per year. The result of this project was a better, cheaper, and more secure cloud environment.
Reportedly, “The dashboard was created as a tool for tracking cloud expenditures, resource usage, and security status in real-time, thus providing decision-makers with valuable information. Furthermore, by means of optimization measures, a 50% decrease in idle resource consumption was achieved, increasing productivity” he stated. This not only helped to manage AWS cloud costs effectively but also strengthened the organisation’s security and compliance agenda. With the help of integrating cost management strategies with business requirements, the platform has helped to guarantee the dependability and expandability of the company’s core applications, enabling the firm to provide innovative financial services with assurance.
In conclusion, as highlighted by industry leaders like Satyam Chauhan, cloud cost optimization is crucial for financial firms to improve efficiency, ensure security, and meet regulatory demands. By leveraging advanced cloud technologies, the industry can streamline operations, reduce costs, and maintain a competitive edge.
