Gartner surveyed 58% of infrastructure and operations leaders who face challenges in cloud optimization due to insufficient skills and resources. During summer months when engineers take time off, scaling down cloud resources is critical to maintain low OPEX and high utilization. Managed service providers and solutions can help bridge the cloud skills gap by bringing know-how, process maturity, and established toolsets that improve cloud usage. Automation tools with abstraction layers free teams from complexity, allowing them to focus on more impactful activities. Cloud automation solutions automate tasks such as provisioning resources, rightsizing instances, scaling, and decommissioning, reducing management overhead and cost savings. Equipping engineers with automation solutions can prepare their cloud infrastructure for the summer season, ensuring a cost-effective operation.