Azure Cost Visibility for Multi-Tenant MSPs

If you query the majority of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) regarding their primary challenge with FinOps, you’ll likely receive a consistent response:

“We lack a unified view.”

This issue is a significant hurdle.

In a landscape where MSPs oversee numerous clients, each with their own Azure subscriptions, tenants, and environments, obtaining a single source of truth for cloud expenditure becomes exceedingly difficult with standard tools.

Clients demand transparent reporting, predictable expenses, and prompt resolutions. However, if your team finds themselves navigating through various portals, spreadsheets, and APIs just to address a cost increase, the dialogue is already derailed.

This is where the Turbo360 Cost Analyzer revolutionises the process.

The Challenge of Multi-Tenant Visibility

Let’s be frank, while Azure cost data holds immense power, it simply isn’t tailored for the operational realities of MSPs.

You encounter issues such as:

• Dispersed Subscriptions: Each client operates within their own tenant or CSP setup.
• Diverse Billing Structures: Pay-as-you-go, CSP, EA – all featuring distinct invoice formats.
• Inconsistent Tagging Practices: Some clients excel at tagging their resources, while others do not perform this at all.
• Data Delays and Volume: Invoices often arrive late, and irregularities can go unnoticed until the month-end reviews.
• Overwhelming Reporting Needs: Every client requires cost breakdowns that resonate with their terminology – whether by department, environment, or project.

In the absence of a unified platform, MSPs often waste hours aggregating CSVs, constructing Power BI models, or maintaining convoluted Excel spreadsheets merely to provide basic insights.

This is not FinOps; it’s administrative labour.

What Genuine Cost Visibility Entails

An effective MSP FinOps approach should empower your team and clients to:

• Access all tenants and subscriptions from a single secure workspace.
• Instantly analyse costs by tag, resource, or service type.
• Create custom dashboards that align with each client’s reporting expectations.
• Automatically detect spend anomalies or unexpected usage peaks.
• Produce consistent, branded reports without requiring manual updates.

Achieving this level of transparency transforms cost management from a chore into a strategic conversation.

How Turbo360 Addresses Multi-Tenant Cost Visibility

The Turbo360 Cost Analyzer is designed specifically for MSPs and multi-client environments.

It delivers the visibility framework that Azure fails to provide, offering insights that are clear, contextual, and scalable.

Here’s how Turbo360 excels:

Centralised Cost Data Across Tenants

Turbo360 securely integrates with various tenants and subscriptions, standardising cost data across your clientele.

You can view total expenditures, filter by customer or tag, and delve into specific workloads, all from a single dashboard.

Unified Tagging and Allocation Framework

Not every client adheres to effective tagging standards. Turbo360 helps you:

• Spot missing or inconsistent tags.
• Utilise virtual tags for reporting (even where Azure falls short).
• Organise resources by cost centre, project, or environment.

This ensures you can provide clear cost allocations even when client tagging isn’t optimal.

Customisable Dashboards for Each Client

Each client can benefit from their own branded portal or report view, focusing solely on their data.

MSPs can control what each client can see, ensuring transparency while safeguarding multi-tenant details.

Real-Time Alerts and Anomaly Detection

Turbo360 diligently monitors spending trends and alerts your team (or the client) if anything unusual arises.

This proactive approach means your NOC or FinOps team is aware of a cost surge before the client inquires, “Why is my bill so high?”

Automated Reports and Scheduling

Set up automatic report generation and distribution – whether weekly, monthly, or quarterly.

No manual exports or Power BI adjustments needed. Just reliable, precise updates that your clients will appreciate.

Example: Converting Data Into Assurance

Consider managing 30 clients.

One healthcare client unexpectedly doubles their compute spending in the “test” subscription.

Without Turbo360, this spike might go unnoticed until invoice time.

However, with Turbo360:

• The spike prompts an anomaly alert.
• You pinpoint the reason as a temporary increase due to a load test.
• You document your findings and inform the client before they even inquire.

This exemplifies not just visibility, but building trust with your clients.

Why Visibility is the Cornerstone of Every FinOps Offering

Visibility isn’t merely about reporting; it’s the driving force behind optimisation, chargeback, budgeting, and anomaly detection.

Without it:

• Optimisation insights become inadequate.
• Budget alerts can overlook critical resources.
• Client trust diminishes when reports contradict.

With Turbo360:

• Each conversation is based on a shared source of truth.
• You can confidently provide optimisation and governance services.
• Your MSP evolves into a trusted FinOps partner, rather than merely a reactive cost analyst.

Key Insights

Turbo360: One Platform for Complete Cost Transparency

Turbo360 is not just another reporting solution; it serves as the FinOps visibility engine for MSPs.

This platform enables you to consolidate cost data, visualise trends, and build trust on a larger scale.

With the Turbo360 Cost Analyzer, you can offer every client:

• A transparent view of their expenditures
• Contextual information for every fluctuation
• Assurance that their cloud budget remains manageable

Join us next week: “Minimising Cloud Waste and Technical Debt Across Your Customer Base.” We will delve into how MSPs can utilise Turbo360 insights to transform cost inefficiencies into optimisation opportunities, ultimately enhancing profitability in the process.