The cloud makes it easy to spin up virtual machines, databases, and storage accounts with just a few clicks. The problem? Those resources often keep running long after they’re needed. That “cloud sprawl”—the unmanaged growth of cloud resources—can quietly siphon money from your budget every month, like a subscription you forgot you signed up for. According to HashiCorp’s State of Cloud Strategy Survey 2024, the biggest reasons for this waste are skills gaps, idle or underused resources, and overprovisioning—three expensive habits that hit businesses of every size.
Why Should I Care About Cloud Resources?
Because the business impact is real (and often painful). Many organisations report cloud budgets going over plan by an estimated 17%, and without a system to control it, costs can creep up month after month. The good news: automation gives you a practical way to get back in control without relying on perfect human memory.
For example, VLink saved a significant amount on non-production cloud spend by implementing a strict cloud shutdown automation policy. Their approach automatically powered down all development and test environments not explicitly tagged as “Production” outside normal business hours (8 AM to 6 PM). The savings from this one automated action accounted for 40% off their non-production cloud spend—budget they could redirect into actual growth initiatives instead of paying for servers doing nothing.
3 Power Automate Workflows
Finding unused cloud resources can feel like hunting for ghosts. But what if you didn’t have to hunt at all? With Microsoft Power Automate, you can automate the detection (and clean-up) of waste. Here are three straightforward workflows you can use to identify and eliminate unnecessary cloud spend—automatically.
1. Automate the Shutdown of Development VMs
Development and test environments are often the biggest offenders. A team spins up a VM for a short-term project. The project ends. The VM keeps running. Your bill keeps growing. Classic.
You can stop this with a workflow that runs daily and queries Azure for all virtual machines with a specific tag, like “Environment: Dev.” The flow then checks the VM’s performance metrics. If CPU utilisation has stayed below 5% for the last 72 hours, it triggers a shutdown command. This Azure automation doesn’t delete anything—it simply powers the VM down, cutting costs immediately. Developers can still start it again when needed, but you’re no longer paying for idle time “just in case.”
2. Identify and Report Orphaned Storage Disks
When you delete an Azure virtual machine, Azure often prompts you to delete the associated storage disk too. And guess what? That step gets missed all the time. The result is orphaned disks that keep billing you month after month, quietly sitting there like digital clutter.
A weekly Power Automate schedule can help. The flow lists all unattached managed disks in your subscription, then generates a clear email report showing disk names, sizes, and estimated monthly cost. You can send it to your IT manager or finance team using the “Send an email” action, giving them an actionable clean-up list and an easy way to decide what to keep or delete. This is a simple win for Managed IT teams trying to keep Azure tidy and predictable.
3. Terminate Expired Temporary Resources
Some cloud resources are meant to be temporary: a blob container for a one-off file transfer, a short-lived database for analysis, a test environment for a limited campaign. The problem is they often outlive their usefulness because nobody circles back to remove them.
The fix is to build expiry into your process. Use a tag like “Deletion Date” whenever a temporary resource is created. Then run a daily Power Automate flow that searches for resources with that tag and checks whether today’s date matches (or is later than) the deletion date. If it is, the flow deletes the resource automatically. This hands-off clean-up prevents “temporary” from turning into “forever,” and it enforces financial discipline without relying on someone remembering to do it later.
Troubleshoot Your Automated Workflows
Power Automate is a great starting point—but you still need to implement safely. Automations that stop or delete resources are powerful, and power needs guardrails.
Start in report-only mode. That lets you test and simulate outcomes without actually shutting down or deleting anything. For example, you can adjust the “Terminate Expired Temporary Resources” flow to send an email alert instead of deleting resources for the first couple of weeks. That way you can validate logic, catch exceptions, and fine-tune rules without risk.
You can also add approval steps for higher-risk actions—like deleting large disks or shutting down certain environments. That extra layer ensures automation works for you, not against you. This is the kind of practical control we often implement as part of Managed Services, especially for businesses that want predictable cost savings without unexpected surprises.
Take Control of Your Cloud Spend
These three Power Automate workflows are a strong starting point for businesses running Microsoft Azure. They help you shift from reactive clean-ups to proactive cost control—so you only pay for what you actually use.
Stop overspending on idle cloud resources. If you want help implementing these workflows properly (and safely), our IT Support, Managed IT, and Managed Services team can help you optimise your Azure environment and start saving. Contact us today and let’s turn cloud sprawl into cloud control.
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