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Case Studies
How GoCardless Reduced $3.5M in BigQuery Costs

GoCardless found a smart way to save $3.5M when cleaning up old customer data from their systems.

I believe I’m one of those.

The company needed to remove data from 150,000 inactive merchant accounts. While deleting data is usually cheap, removing it from BigQuery (a data storage system) was going to cost $23.65 per merchant - adding up to $3.5M total.

Here's how they cut those costs down to just $6,000:

1. They only deleted data from specific sections of their database instead of searching everywhere

2. They stopped running the same search multiple times unnecessarily

3. They combined multiple delete commands into single operations

4. They kept some data they legally needed to prevent fraud

5. They switched to a different pricing model that charged based on computing power instead of data volume

The team used a tool called Alvin to check if their cost-saving methods were working. This gave them quick feedback without having to dig through complex system logs.

This project shows how important it is to carefully plan and test when working with large amounts of data, as small changes in approach can lead to big savings.

Read the Complete Story

Together with OpenOps
Open Source FinOps Automation

After years of manually wrangling Lambda and SES to make FinOps automation work, we're taking a bold step forward.

OpenOps (beta) is an enterprise-grade, no-code FinOps automation platform that is both free and open source.

Why open source? 

Because the FinOps challenges we face aren't unique. Organizations everywhere struggle to automate cloud cost optimization, and we believe a community-driven approach will solve these universal issues more effectively.

With OpenOps, you can:

⬇️ Download, use and deploy OpenOps free of cost
📖 Get access to a curated list of dozens of workflow templates
🔥 Work with us to decide which features come next

💰 Commercial offerings such as managed hosting, enterprise support etc. are still available

Early adopters are already reporting 40% less time spent on manual workflows, effective human-in-the-loop processes, reduced dependence on engineering, and improved visibility across multi-cloud environments.

Cloud financial management and governance should be accessible to all. Join us in building the future of FinOps automation!

Cost Optimization
Cloud Compute Optimization Checklist

Following his series, Oliver explains how to save money on compute through smart planning and changes. Often, cloud providers give you more computer power than you need. However, your compute resources can grow or shrink based on how busy they are. This means you only pay for what you use:

• Start small and add more power when needed

• Mix different types of computing services to save money

• Let everything scale automatically

You can reduce costs by:

• Using free operating systems instead of paid ones

• Getting special rates for long-term use

• Using cheaper "spot" instances when possible

• Moving to newer systems that need less management

Oliver shows that by looking at how you use cloud computing and making smart changes, you can save a lot of money without losing any computing power.

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FinOps Weekly Events
Million Dollar Lines of Code

Join us for an insightful webinar on "Million Dollar Lines of Code," where we explore the hidden financial impact of engineering decisions in cloud environments.

Date: April 17th, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM [Europe/Madrid Time]
Format: Online (Zoom)

Spots are Limited, Join Now!

Presented by Erik Peterson, CTO and Founder at CloudZero, this session will shed light on how small coding choices can lead to significant cost implications and how engineers can contribute to financial efficiency.

Plus me, Victor, talking and driving as always. Will I see you in there?

Cloud Migrations
GCP Guide to Cloud Migrations

The main problem is that many companies spend too much money when moving their systems to the cloud. Their costs go up instead of down.

The key solution is to plan carefully which systems to move and when:

1. Make a list of your most expensive software contracts, ordered by cost

2. Figure out which applications depend on these expensive contracts

3. Check when these contracts expire

4. Move applications that will help you end the most expensive contracts first

Most companies spend about 75% of their IT costs on software licenses (like Oracle, Microsoft, IBM). You can't save money until you completely stop using these expensive programs. Moving random applications doesn't help reduce costs if you still need to keep paying for the original software

The results:

• Companies that follow this method can start saving money by year 3

• Those who don't plan properly might not see savings until year 10

• By year 10, well-planned migrations can reduce total costs by about 25%

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FinOps
Mastering Cloud Elasticity: Key Savings Strategies

Cloud services often charge us for what we set up, not just what we use. Let's look at how we can save money by being smart about when we turn things on and off.

Think of it like your home electricity - you don't leave all the lights on 24/7. The same idea works in cloud computing.

Here's what many companies do wrong:

• They run their servers all day and night

• They keep everything on during weekends

• They pay for unused capacity

Here's how to be smarter about it:

• Weekend Savings: Turn off non-essential systems during weekends. This alone can save about 29% on costs

• Night & Weekend Savings: Turn off systems at night and on weekends. This can save about 71% on costs

• Work Hours Only: Only run systems during actual working hours. This can save up to 76% on costs

A Simple Example: A server that costs $100 per month running all the time. Could cost only $24 if used just during work hours. That's $76 in savings every month

Remember: Just because the cloud is always available doesn't mean we need to use it all the time.

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📺️ VIDEO
Guess Who’s Back?

Back again? I think he never left.

🎖️ Mention of Honour
FinOps Nexus Joins Us!

I have some exciting news to share from our team here at SmartClouds.

As the group behind FinOps Weekly, SpainClouds, and other media brands, we've now welcomed FinOps Nexus into our family. This means FinOps Nexus is coming back and will be creating content actively again.

We're especially happy that the podcast will return in the next few weeks, still managed by the one and only creator, Jon Myer.

You can also expect FinOps events to happen again, just like before. Our SmartClouds team is ready to fully support this effort. We really want you to be part of this next step with us.

So, we're asking you to do just one simple thing: Join the new Community we've set up in Slack.

For us, this is a fantastic day for the whole FinOps space. We are committed to the goal of making FinOps accessible for everyone.

🏆 Quick Wins Resources

Evergreen FinOps Resources to apply Today!

FinOps Weekly Youtube Channel
34 FinOps KPIs for SaaS
Beginners Guide to Tagging in FinOps

🆕 Announcements
Providers

• AWS Enhances EC2 Capacity Reservation Management with Split, Move, and Modify Features

• Broadcom raises minimum requirement for VMware licenses

Vendors

• Appstrato launched Azure FOCUS Toolkit

• CloudBolt Acquires StormForge

• Flexera Announces Cloud License Management Platform

• Anodot Forms 'Umbrella' Business Unit to Focus on FinOps Offering

Professional Spotlight
Gerhard Behr

AI & FinOps Knowledge

Gerhard shared great content about the role of AI in FinOps, and how FinOps could play a key factor in AI usage. Great part of the community!

Whenever You Are Ready, Here’s How We Can Collaborate

1. Master FinOps with us: Learn about Tagging & Naming Conventions with our Mastering FinOps Course, taught by FinOps Author Alfonso San Miguel.

2. Sponsor this newsletter: Promote your company in this newsletter and reach the Cloud audience that wants to maximize business value and reduce costs.

3. Collaborate with SmartClouds: Our brand expands to more than just newsletters. Podcasts, Posts, Webinars, Events, and any collaboration related to FinOps are available.