Managing Cloud Costs: Banks Find Value in FinOps

Adrian Bridgwater, Forbes Senior Contributor, discusses the importance of managing cloud costs and introduces the concept of FinOps, a financial operations practice that combines principles of financial management with cloud engineering and operations. 

Cloud Cost Management & Solutions 

Bridgwater emphasizes the significance of cloud costs in the current business landscape, especially considering factors such as global geopolitical upheavals, supply chain disruptions, and increased awareness of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) goals. 

FinOps Framework 

FinOps, consisting of three pillars — inform, optimize, and operate — is presented as a framework that enables organizations to thrive in the cloud. Specifically: 

Inform

• The inform pillar emphasizes the importance of Business Intelligence (BI) functions, analytics, and reporting tools for informed decision-making related to budgeting, forecasting, and resource allocation. Bridgwater highlights transparent communication and a culture of finance as essentials for agile and responsive operations. 

Optimize

• The optimize pillar is described as the linchpin for maximizing efficiency and resource utilization in the FinOps framework. Banks are encouraged to strategically allocate resources to areas generating the most value, using advanced technologies and data-driven insights. Bridgwater cites cloud savings instruments like Reserved Instances (RI) and savings plans as tools for optimizing operational costs without compromising performance or innovation. 

Operate

• Bridgwater presents the operate pillar as the component that breathes life into the FinOps framework, orchestrating financial workflows like business operations. He emphasizes agile financial processes, automation, and collaboration across departments to ensure operational excellence, enabling organizations to respond swiftly to market changes and regulatory demands. 

Leveraging AI and Automation in FinOps

Bridgwater acknowledges that while all pillars are indispensable, the current bank emphasis in the FinOps space is on the inform aspect. He predicts the future trajectory of FinOps as focusing on leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and automation for optimization and operations. Innovations in these technologies are expected to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance overall financial performance. 

The Future of FinOps 

Bridgwater also suggests that FinOps banks are increasingly embracing the cloud management framework, with a growing emphasis on using emerging technologies for optimization and operations.  

He sees the future of FinOps being anchored in ongoing developments in technology that will empower banks to navigate the complexities of modern cloud-based finance and achieve sustainable growth.  

The complete Adrian Bridgwater article on FinOps and the ways they’re managing cloud costs is at Forbes.