Warehouse Cost and Architecture Assessment (Onboarding)

Warehouse Cost and Architecture Assessment (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Inventory client data sources and current storage spend

   List every database, data lake, and object storage bucket the client uses, then pull the last three months of invoices to establish a baseline cost per terabyte.

2. 02

   Map data gravity and access patterns

   Identify which sources are queried most frequently and whether workloads are read-heavy or write-heavy, since this determines whether a distributed SQL or object storage approach fits better.

3. 03

   Evaluate egress and API fee exposure

   Check the client's current provider for per-gigabyte egress charges and API call fees; flat-rate options like Wasabi can cut costs by up to 80% when these fees dominate the bill.

4. 04

   Test compatibility with existing SQL tooling

   Run a small proof of concept with a PostgreSQL-compatible distributed database such as CockroachDB to confirm that existing BI tools and queries migrate without rewriting.

5. 05

   Assess geo-resilience requirements

   Determine if the client needs multi-region redundancy for compliance or disaster recovery; decentralized storage like Storj can provide geo-distribution without the complexity of managing multiple cloud regions.

6. 06

   Compare white-label reselling potential

   If the agency plans to offer storage as a managed service, evaluate platforms like Backblaze B2 that allow full white-label reselling, which can create a new recurring revenue line.

7. 07

   Document the trade-off between complexity and simplicity

   Write a short recommendation that weighs the operational overhead of distributed SQL tuning against the ease of a managed warehouse, and present it to the client with a clear cost projection.