No names on the bill
All you can see is the total, not which key is doing the spending.
(Illustrative scenario, not a real incident)
Finance takes the bill to the head of engineering:“Why is it so much higher this month?”
The head of engineering says:“We barely use it. Maybe it’s Product.”Product says:“We only use the chat interface.It must be the integrations.”
Ask all the way down the line,and no one can say who spent the money.
This thirty-person startupshares a single AI platform account for the whole company.Under it sit several keys:one for the customer-service bot in production,one for engineers to test with,and a few more,created by different people at different times,for purposes no one remembers.
Open the console,and all you get is one curve of total usage.To break it down by key, by model,you have to export it yourself and sort it out slowly.
And some people signed up for other services on the company card.Those aren’t in this console at all.
What you see is a line curving upward.What you don’t seeare the keys no one has claimed.They aren’t just spending money.They may also be a sign of a leak.
Even between brothers, keep the accounts straight.Only when the books are cleardo you know where to cut back, and where it’s worth spending.
- One purpose, one key, with a clear name.
- Tag every key with an owner.
- Disable the ones no one can explain, and see who comes asking.