I've worked in cost optimization initiatives in several teams, and how they get themselves in a money pit has different causes (e.g. lack of skills in the team,

I've worked in cost optimization initiatives in several teams, and how they get themselves in a money pit has different causes (e.g. lack of skills in the team, speed to market, etc.). From experience most teams that haven't done cost optimization have huge opportunities for savings (in one of my teams we reduced cost by 90% while 3x our traffic, and we still had a few optimization opportunities that we decided not to pursue). On prem has less flexibility on cost reduction, and if cost has already been incurred, at best they can reduce their bill moving forward.