Cost and Value Lab

Where cost and architecture actually connect

A realistic scenario, not a pricing calculator. See what drives cost, what's comparable, and what isn't.

Illustrative example

Data platform for a mid-size enterprise

15 TB of governed data300 BI users50 data engineersGrowing AI workloadsSAP integration requiredEU data residency required

The largest and least predictable driver once AI workloads scale beyond pilots.

Moving data across regions or platforms to satisfy residency requirements adds cost that's easy to underestimate.

300 BI users querying concurrently drives compute differently than a smaller, steadier workload.

SAP integration depth changes implementation cost more than the platform choice itself.

Exposure: mostly fixed

Commitment: Bundled with existing SAP commercial agreements, less exposure to standalone consumption spikes.
Data movement: Lowest data movement cost for SAP-native data, since it stays close to source.
Operations: Lower operations overhead, more of the platform is managed.

Exposure: mostly variable

Commitment: Consumption-based; AI workload growth directly drives spend unless actively governed.
Data movement: Moderate, depends on source system proximity to the chosen cloud region.
Operations: Higher operations overhead, more configuration and tuning responsibility.

Exposure: mixed

Commitment: Credit-based consumption with optional capacity commitments that reduce unit cost.
Data movement: Moderate, cross-cloud data sharing can add movement cost.
Operations: Lower operations overhead for core analytics; AI workloads add more.

Exposure: mixed

Commitment: Capacity-based pricing; needs sizing before commitment to avoid over- or under-provisioning.
Data movement: Lowest if already inside the Microsoft ecosystem, higher if not.
Operations: Lower operations overhead where Microsoft tooling is already standard.

List prices alone, without factoring in existing commercial agreements and discounts
AI compute costs across platforms without a defined workload profile, since usage patterns vary widely
Implementation cost estimates without a validated integration scope

A real Decision Sprint builds this model from your actual contracts and usage, not a generic estimate.