In partnership with

FinOps Foundation
State of FinOps 2025: Cloud+, AI Costs & Sustainability

The latest FinOps Foundation survey shows how big companies handle their cloud spending, with data from organizations managing over $69 billion in cloud costs.

Companies are expanding what they watch. Most now track software costs, and about half keep an eye on licensing fees. Some even look at private data centers to get a complete picture of their tech spending. The main focus remains on making cloud use more efficient. Companies want to:

• Cut waste in how they use cloud services

• Make sure all cloud costs are properly assigned

• Get better at predicting future spending

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting more attention. 63% of companies now track AI spending, up from 31% last year. Almost everyone expects AI to affect their work next year.

Teams are being asked to do more with what they have. Many are joining forces with other tech management groups to handle the growing workload.

Looking ahead:

• Setting up rules and policies is becoming more important

• Managing AI costs is moving up the priority list

• Teams want better tools and training to handle their expanding duties

Check the complete State of FinOps by FinOps Foundation

FinOps Weekly Webinars
How to Manage Tagging and Naming Conventions for FinOps

Tagging, one of the most controversial topics in FinOps.

Naming conventions or the things that nobody does.

Yet two of the most powerful things in Cloud.

Automate those, and governance is done.

Forget about them, and chaos will reign.

We bring Alfonso San Miguel, author of the book "Efficient Cloud FinOps" to explain us the core concepts of tagging and naming conventions.

We’ll provide you with a surprise at the end of the webinar.

Something that will only be available for the ones attending.

Nobody else will have it.

Literally nobody.

So earn the privilege and register today.

Get ahead of everyone in FinOps Governance.

See you all March 6th, 6:30 PM Madrid Time

FinOps
Beginner’s Guide to FinOps

Cloud computing has changed how businesses handle their computing needs. Instead of buying and maintaining their own servers, companies now rent what they need from cloud providers.

In cloud, Companies pay based on what they use, which can lead to surprise bills. Teams might forget to turn off test servers or use more resources than needed. About 28% of cloud budgets are wasted each year on unused resources. This is where FinOps comes in. It's a way to track and control cloud spending by asking:

• How much are we spending?

• Why are we spending it?

• What benefits are we getting?

Success stories show how well this works, like Airbnb cut storage costs by 27%, Lyft reduced cloud costs by 40% in six months or Etsy decreased computing costs by 42%.

FinOps needs different teams working together:

• Leaders who set goals

• Finance teams who watch the budget

• Engineers who use the cloud services

• FinOps experts who help everyone work together

The role of a FinOps expert is growing more important as more businesses move to the cloud. They help teams use resources wisely while keeping costs down.

Read more

AWS
Automate AWS Cost Optimization with AWS Config

AWS has shared a new way to keep track of cloud costs using AWS Config. This helps companies make sure they're not spending more than they need to. The solution works by checking three main things:

1. It finds storage volumes that could be cheaper with a different type

2. It spots unused storage that's still being paid for

3. It checks if data storage has proper cleanup rules

The system can fix some issues on its own. For example, it can switch storage types to save up to 20% on costs.

This works across multiple AWS accounts at once, making it easier for big companies to manage their spending. All the results show up in one place, so teams can easily see where they might be wasting money.

The best part is that it runs automatically and constantly, rather than waiting until the end of the month to find cost savings. This approach turns cost management from a once-a-month task into an ongoing process that helps companies save money all the time.

Read the complete content

Open Source
Optimize GCP & AWS Costs with OpenSource FinOps Tools

This week I found two open source cloud cost management tools for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The first tool is the GCP Organization Recommender. It helps companies save money by:

• Finding unused resources like virtual machines and databases

• Suggesting better sizes for your cloud services

• Sending alerts to Slack about ways to save money

• Running without needing servers to manage

The second tool is the AWS Resource Cleaner. It helps by:

• Finding and removing unused AWS resources

• Working across many AWS regions at once

• Sending email reports about what it cleaned up

• Having safety features to prevent accidental deletions

Both tools are built to run automatically and can be set up using Terraform, which helps manage cloud resources. They need proper security permissions to work correctly.

Take a look

Big Companies
Swiss Enterprises Prioritize AIOps & FinOps for Cloud Efficiency

Swiss companies are changing how they use cloud services, making them smarter and more cost-effective. A new report from Information Services Group (ISG) shows that Swiss businesses want two main things from their cloud providers:

1. AIOps - Smart computer systems that can fix problems on their own and help run things better

2. FinOps - Tools that help watch and control spending on cloud services & improve the business value of the cloud.

Companies in Switzerland are putting more of their work into multiple cloud systems. This makes things more complex, so they need help managing it all. Some key findings from the report:

• One-third of Swiss companies use at least one cloud service

• More companies are using several cloud systems at once

• Security and data protection are top priorities

• Companies can cut their work by 30-50% using smart automation

• Many businesses still need to update their SAP systems before 2030

The report looked at 65 different service providers. Swisscom stood out as a top performer in six categories, while other companies like Accenture and UMB also did well.

Check the complete report

🎖️ Mention of Honour
Calculate Cloud Savings with Effective Saving Rate

Effective Saving Rate: Think of it like comparing grocery store deals: "buy 2 get 1 free" saves you 33%, while "buy 3 get 2 free" saves 40%. The math shows which deal is truly better.

Running servers all the time isn't always smart. Sometimes turning them off (like on weekends) can save more money than keeping them on with a discount.

Let's look at a real example:

A company has 20 computers in the cloud. They turn some off on weekends. Even with a big 65% discount on reserved instances, they needed to figure out the right number to buy.

The surprising result? Having fewer reserved instances (around 75% coverage) saved more money than trying to cover everything (90% coverage).

The main point: Don't just look at how many reserved instances you have. Instead, use ESR to find the perfect mix of reserved instances and regular pricing. If math isn't your thing, there are tools that can handle these calculations automatically.

Bottom line: The best way to save money isn't always buying the most discounts - it's finding the right balance.

Great article by Oliver

📺️ VIDEO
Shadow Waste Uncovered Webinar

The Insider trying to save your money in AWS, interviewed by the team of FinOps Weekly about how to optimize AWS Service costs.

🆕 Announcements

Lucidity Secures $21M → Read

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) now adds full snapshot size information in Console and API → Read

🏆 Quick Wins Resources

Evergreen FinOps Resources to apply Today!

• Cloud Cost Optimization Guide for 2025

• Vantage tool to decode AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) billing codes

Action Items: Read today’s newsletter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Professional Spotlight
Jeremy Chaplin

FinOps Thought Leadership

An Authority related to FinOps, Jeremy was a name a heard a lot back then when I started in the field. Now I know why. It was a pleasure to watch his talk in FinOps XE!

Check the Professional of this Week

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