7 Reasons You Don’t Want to Save Money on Snowflake
One of the hot topics in the data cloud world last year was how to save money on Snowflake, especially after what happened at Instacart. I wrote extensively on the subject, including the tools Snowflake has and what top Snowflake customers do. Here at Keebo, we are the only fully-automated Snowflake optimizer, so we talk to Snowflake customers every day. Most of them are keenly interested in saving money. Who wouldn’t be? Amazingly, not everyone seems to share our enthusiasm. Here are the reasons why.
1. I’m too busy with other stuff
This is certainly understandable as we all seem to be responsible for more each day. This is why Keebo is fully automated. We set up in 30 minutes and you’ll see results in a couple days. From there you don’t need to do anything else. There are lots of products that claim to “automate” Snowflake optimization, but on closer inspection you’ll find that all they are doing is automating reports on usage and sometimes making recommendations. From there, you must take the actions yourself and then hang around to make sure it all works. Then repeat this constantly. As you’ve said, you don’t have time for that. Don’t give up–Keebo is the only fully-automated Snowflake optimizer.
2. I can’t optimize Snowflake until I clean it up first
This reminds me of me! When I’ve hired someone to clean my house, I can’t help but tidy-up and organize a bit before they arrive. My thinking is that they won’t be able to effectively clean if they are having to work around a bunch of clutter. My obsessive need to pre-clean doesn’t apply to optimizing Snowflake for 2 reasons. First, Keebo optimizes warehouse-wide parameters, not individual queries (unless you are using our Query Acceleration product). This means duplicate data or poorly-designed schema doesn’t get in the way of saving money. Second, Keebo accesses usage metadata to optimize Snowflake and we don’t even see any user data. Your user data could indeed be a mess, but it doesn’t affect us.
3. I’m trying to optimize using the tools that come with Snowflake
Most of us in the IT business have a strong DIY ethic. Even if you can find the time to learn and implement all of Snowflake’s tools, the optimizations you make today are likely obsolete tomorrow and perhaps even counter-productive. Unless you can react 24×7 to changing conditions, you should hand optimization off to a friendly robot assistant like Keebo. Keebo is also unique in that what you pay will be based on what you save. So there’s really nothing but upside to taking optimization off your DIY list.
4. I don’t have time to babysit a Snowflake optimization robot
Maybe you agree with me that Snowflake optimization is not a good DIY job. But if you hand it off to a robot, even a friendly robot dog like Keebo, you might wonder what the robot is doing. Can you control it? Is there any way to know what it has done? The answer is yes! You can set parameters and rules to guide Keebo, including our unique slider bar that helps our optimization algorithms balance cost-savings and performance. Plus, there is complete transparency on every action we take. Read all about our control and audit features in this article.
5. Saving money on Snowflake isn’t a priority right now
OK there moneybags, maybe we can free up some of your valuable time instead by taking Snowflake optimization off your list. Also, can we be friends? OK, so maybe saving money isn’t your priority right now, but it is certainly on someone else’s list in your organization. In my multi-decade career in IT, I have found it valuable to get ahead of this, especially in uncertain economic times. Because what you pay Keebo is based on what we save you, and we are fully automated, there is no reason not to get started now.
6. I’m not in the mood to get something approved by IT or Finance
Even if you are convinced that Keebo can help you, it can be a bit tiresome to get a new vendor approved. Fortunately, we make it easy in two critical areas. First, we don’t access any user data–only usage metadata. In our experience, the approval from your security team will be easy. Second, Keebo’s price is based on what you save, so this makes it easy for finance to see the return right away. Our goals will be aligned financially.
7. We’ve already locked-in our Snowflake spend for a while
If you’ve signed a contract with Snowflake, especially if it is multi-year, the tendency is to ignore it because you are locked-in. Right? Well, this is true for a minimum spend. But as your data, users, and apps increase, you will be charged for any overage above your contract. This is why you should get Keebo in place–so you can use Snowflake without worrying about surprise bills.
Conclusion
When I look at all the reasons above, I think it is clear that people do want to save money on Snowflake, but they think it isn’t possible for them at this time. Hopefully I’ve shown you that with a fully-automated solution like Keebo, that is priced based on what you save, there is no reason to wait. Take a look at a few of our customer stories to see how it has worked out for them, and then contact us for a demo and free trial.
