Do Not Move to the Public Cloud Without a FinOps Practice in Place!

Moving to the public cloud? Great choice! But before you dive headfirst into the cloud with no safety net, let’s talk about something that could save you from a financial freefall: FinOps. 

The reality is, while cloud computing offers businesses the flexibility, scalability, and speed they crave, it’s not a “set it and forget it” kind of deal. Without a proper Financial Operations (FinOps) practice, you might find yourself in a situation where cloud costs spiral out of control, and your financial team is left scrambling to understand where the budget went. 

Here’s why you should care about FinOps, and why skipping it could cost you more than you bargained for: 

1. The public cloud’s Pay-As-You-Go model could be a double-edged sword 

One of the main appeals of the public cloud is the pay-as-you-go pricing model. It sounds great at first – only pay for what you use. But without FinOps, you’re likely to experience cloud expenses that spiral out of control. The pay-as-you-go model which is purely consumption-based is a highly sought after model because gives you flexibility and can satisfy your rising market demands. But when you build your cloud infrastructure ignoring the spend and usage data, you will be subjected to overages because you exceeded the committed amount. According to Deloitte, companies that understand cloud costs & usage, quantify business value, optimize, and continuously improve their FinOps practice could save up to US$21 billion in 2025 alone. 

2. Accountability and Transparency are Key 

Ideally, three departments are involved in the cloud technology lifecycle – technology, business, and financial. If these three teams are working in silos, enterprises are bound to unnecessary overages. Involving them all in the cloud cost management and fostering accountability and transparency from the ground up till the C-level will reduce cloud costs considerably. Organizations moving to the public cloud must bring in people from technology, business, and finance together to make decisions based on FinOps data. Without FinOps, accountability and transparency falter and rampant cloud spending will doom business operations. Costs get mixed up between different teams, and no one truly knows who’s responsible for what. A report by Capgemini revealed that even 60% of financial services leaders struggle with managing cloud costs effectively. Synergy among these three departments will empower enterprises to gain visibility of costs and draw optimization plans based on the quantified business value. 

3. Continuous Optimization for the Public Cloud’s Evolving Nature 

The public cloud isn’t static – it’s constantly evolving and scaling based on your business needs. Therefore, your FinOps must evolve along with your cloud spending. The dynamic nature of public cloud spends will increase the nature of your usage and force you to change the metrics with which you quantify your business value. This will eventually mean that you are constantly optimizing. So, unless you continuously monitor and optimize, your cloud usage could become inefficient over time. Without a structured and evolving FinOps practice, cloud spenders will miss opportunities to optimize cloud usage, resulting in increased costs. FinOps cost optimization ensures that cloud resources remain right-sized, cost-effective, and aligned with your needs. 

4. Real-Time Insights for Smarter Decisions 

Public cloud costs tend to fluctuate since market unpredictability often forces enterprises to overspend. This will often lead to complexities in finding the origins of costs and the usage data. FinOps helps you make sense of that complexity. By providing real-time insights, it gives your finance and IT teams the ability to act quickly and make data-driven decisions on resource allocation, reducing the risk of overspending and improving the accuracy of cost forecasts. Organizations that adopt FinOps practices have seen improvements in forecasting accuracy, which can help prevent budget overruns and unexpected expenses. 

5. Proven Success in the Public Cloud 

Organizations having a FinOps roadmap have seen significant results. For example, Aspire Systems helped a global technology company reduce its cloud costs by $1 million annually through optimized cloud management practices. The fact that a huge number of cloud spenders are reporting reduction in monthly cloud spending by applying FinOps strategies is a testament to the fool-proof nature of the cloud cost management process. These examples show how FinOps can help businesses optimize cloud costs, drive better financial outcomes, and reinvest savings into innovation. 

Don’t Skimp on FinOps planning 

The public cloud is a powerful tool for modern business, but without a solid FinOps strategy, you’re entering a future that is riddled with unnecessary complexities due to cloud overspending. So, before you move to the public cloud, ensure your FinOps strategy is in place. By doing so, you’ll safeguard your cloud investment, keep your costs in check, and position your organization to maximize the full potential of the public cloud.