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RESOURCE CENTER · FINOPS & COST OPTIMIZATION

IT Cost Optimization & Storage-as-a-Service Strategies

Tight budgets, tighter visibility. SANDataWorks helps IT leaders regain financial control by shifting to flexible consumption models, automating data tiering, and turning telemetry into FinOps-grade reporting.

IT cost optimization
FINANCIAL CONTROL OF DATA

Stop paying for shelfware. Start paying for outcomes.

Most enterprises overprovision storage by 30-40% to hedge against capacity surprises. Modern STaaS, automated tiering, and FinOps observability put that capital back to work.

Keystone Uptime

99.999%

Service-level guarantee on NetApp Keystone STaaS, with credits if missed.

Tiering Savings

Up to 80%

Reduction on capacity costs by tiering cold data to lower-cost object storage automatically.

Workload Factory

50%

Average savings on database deployments via right-sized, well-architected automation.

Sustainability

4:1

Storage efficiency ratio achievable with ASA + ONTAP One in production.

ANSWERING YOUR COST QUESTIONS

Direct answers for the FinOps strategist

How can we shift our storage investments from CAPEX to OPEX?

Stop forecasting capacity for the next three years.

Adopt consumption-based NetApp Keystone STaaS: pay only for the storage you actually consume on a monthly basis. SANDataWorks delivers Keystone as a fully managed service — you reallocate the trapped CAPEX toward AI and digital transformation, and our team handles deployment, monitoring, and capacity management.

How do we identify wasted cloud and on-premises resources?

Telemetry — not estimation.

NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights is a SaaS-based observability tool that scans your multi-cloud and on-premises estate, automatically identifies underutilized or "stale" assets, and right-sizes workloads. SANDataWorks runs Infrastructure Optimization Workshops on top of DII telemetry to defer hardware spend and resolve drift before it causes outages.

How can we accurately report chargeback / showback to different departments?

Stop guessing. Start tagging.

Modern FinOps depends on attributing exact storage consumption to specific applications, departments, or service levels. SANDataWorks configures advanced chargeback / showback dashboards in DII so finance and IT collaborate from the same numbers — and so storage stops being mysterious overhead and becomes a transparent, manageable utility.

CORE TECHNOLOGIES

The stack we deploy for cost optimization

SANDataWorks integrates these to deliver financial transparency and operational efficiency.

STaaS

NetApp Keystone STaaS

Pay-as-you-go OPEX model. Dynamically scale file, block, and object across hybrid cloud on demand.

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Observability

Data Infrastructure Insights

SaaS observability across on-prem and multi-cloud. Identifies waste, right-sizes workloads, predicts capacity exhaustion.

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Console

NetApp Console

Single pane for chargeback, showback, and policy enforcement across the entire estate.

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Automation

NetApp Workload Factory

IaC-driven workflows that right-size cloud workloads with built-in best practices — 90% fewer config errors.

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Optimization Workshop

Let our team find the waste before next quarter's planning.

SANDataWorks runs Infrastructure Optimization Workshops on top of your existing telemetry — identifying specific stranded capacity, drift, and opportunities to defer capital expenditure.

SANDATAWORKS GUIDANCE

Three actionable best practices

Practice 1

Implement automated data tiering

Actionable tip: let SANDataWorks configure FabricPool tiering policies to move "cold" data automatically to lower-cost object storage — up to 80% capacity savings while maintaining accessibility.

Cold-tier architecture
Practice 2

Demand guaranteed storage efficiency

When deploying modern all-flash, ensure your architecture takes full advantage of inline deduplication, compression, and compaction. ASA + ONTAP One delivers a real 4:1 efficiency ratio in production.

ASA + ONTAP One
Practice 3

Book an Infrastructure Optimization Workshop

Actionable tip: let SANDataWorks analyze your environment's telemetry. We'll identify wasted resources, tune performance, and provide a concrete roadmap for deferring capital expenditures.

Book the workshop
FROM COST CENTER TO COMPETITIVE EDGE

Storage shouldn't be a fixed cost. It should be a lever.

SANDataWorks turns Keystone STaaS, automated tiering, and DII observability into a self-optimizing engine — managed by us, measured by you. Free Optimization Workshop available now.


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Authorized NetApp Partner SANDataWorks · a division of BlueAlly