Exhibitor Videos

In this in‑depth conversation, Stuart from ERGOS sits down with Stuart from Surveil to explore how SMEs can finally take control of Microsoft cloud costs, improve governance, and unlock smarter adoption of tools like Microsoft 365 and Copilot.

Read our blog post here: https://ergos.uk/essential/how-uk-bus...

Chapter Timings

00:00 – Introductions Two Stuarts, one conversation. Setting the scene and introducing Surveil's origins.

00:23 – What is Surveil? How Surveil evolved from an internal cloud consultancy tool into a full analytics and optimisation platform. “We initially built Surveil for our own internal use… to automate the discovery part of that process.”

01:20 – From Analytics to Optimisation How early automation led to optimisation algorithms and eventually a commercial product. 02:04 – Focus on Microsoft Azure & 365 Surveil's core areas: Azure resource mapping, Microsoft 365 licence optimisation, adoption and security insights.

02:33 – CapEx to OpEx: Why Cloud Costs Shock SMEs The shift to consumption‑based billing and why Azure spend is so hard to understand.

03:51 – Elasticity vs. Responsibility “As with all great powers, there comes great responsibility… costs just get out of control.”

05:13 – The First Value: Reducing Waste How Surveil replaces the old SAM audit cycle with continuous optimisation.

06:19 – Staying on the ‘Optimised Rails' Blueprints, alerts, and ongoing governance to prevent cloud drift.

07:25 – Anomaly Detection & Real‑World Hacks How Surveil flagged a Friday‑night crypto‑mining attack within hours. “We alerted… it turned out to be a hack.”

08:21 – Security Insights Through Data Login maps, global admin counts, uncategorised data — and the governance impact. 10:24 – The Health Check A snapshot of savings, risks, and optimisation opportunities — and the Belarus login incident that stopped a meeting cold.

12:06 – Inform, Optimise, Operate (FinOps Model) Surveil's alignment with FinOps methodology and 24‑hour data freshness.

14:31 – Democratizing FinOps for SMEs Why optimisation matters more for smaller businesses. “The savings are smaller but… more valuable.”

15:57 – Cross‑Charging & Smart Tagging How Surveil enables departmental cost allocation and fixes messy Azure tagging.

18:15 – Why Finance Teams Love Surveil Heat‑map billing, natural‑language queries, and instant clarity.

21:02 – Reducing Tension Between IT & Finance Data‑led conversations that remove ambiguity and build trust.

23:05 – Azure Billing Heat Maps The moment most FDs say: “I've seen enough.”

25:42 – Microsoft 365 Licence Optimisation Identifying unused features, right‑sizing licences, and driving adoption.

27:26 – Teams Analytics & Collaboration Insights Understanding who communicates with whom — and who doesn't.

28:45 – Using Savings to Fund AI & Copilot How optimisation frees budget for innovation.

29:25 – Copilot Adoption & Likelihood Scoring Surveil predicts who will benefit most from Copilot based on usage patterns.

31:19 – AI Manager & Token Spend Tracking Monitoring agent‑driven resource creation, token consumption, and AI cost spikes.

32:53 – Caveman Mode & 85% Cost Reduction The surprising impact of removing “fluff” from LLM responses. “You'll see up to an 85% reduction in resource costs.”

Why This Matters Most UK SMEs lack visibility into cloud spend, security posture, or licence usage. Surveil gives them enterprise‑grade insight - safely, read‑only, and in plain English.

ERGOS uses Surveil to help clients: Reduce Azure and M365 waste Improve governance and security Forecast and budget accurately Strengthen IT–Finance alignment Unlock AI adoption with confidence Surveil began as an internal tool for cloud consultants, built to automate discovery and optimise Azure deployments. As Stuart Blakeman explains, “costs just get out of control… CFOs and FDs are pulling their hair out” — and Surveil exists to fix exactly that.