While every business has migrated to the cloud, majority of the organizations are drastically lacking in one area of Cloud management: Optimizing cloud spend. 28% of the total cloud spend goes to waste within the enterprise community owing to idle, oversized and over-provisioned resources. This is one of the primary reasons FinOps came into existence, allowing firms to have end-to-end financial governance and visibility over their cloud operations to enhance end business outcomes. While FinOps services have proved to be useful for maximizing returns from Cloud investments, implementing the process is not a bed of roses. There are some companies that have established their in-house FinOps teams. However, this activity not only turned out to be expensive but also required training professionals to execute a successful FinOps strategy. So, what is the solution then? Outsourcing a FinOps vendor.
Organizations that have outsourced cloud management vendors have derived maximum value from cost optimization. In fact, a recent report stated that near 100% of companies that have collaborated with a Managed Service Partner have benefited from the partnership. This proves that a FinOps vendor is essential to make informed decisions about cloud spend. However, remember that the relationship with a FinOps partner goes beyond just Cloud optimization. Want to know how? Let’s find out.
Make the Most Out of Your Cloud Transformation Journey with the Right FinOps Partner
Broadly, there are two ways of classifying Cloud FinOps vendors- FinOps vendors by platform and FinOps vendors by services.
FinOps Vendors by Platform
This includes the list of functionalities a FinOps partner can offer
|
Platform Functionality |
Platform Feature |
|---|---|
|
Compute Optimizer |
|
|
Storage Optimizer |
Optimize cloud storage by offering:
|
|
Zombie Resources Identification |
Detecting costly zombie resources like idle network gateways, load balancers and storage volumes occupying the AWS accounts |
|
Resource Level Cost Breakdown |
Identifying expensive virtual machines, used-up storage volumes, data transfer components to optimize cloud spending. |
|
Setting Notifications |
Establishing budget & commitment alerts to incite immediate actions and enforce cost-control mechanisms. |
|
Commitment Coverage and Utilization |
Monitoring the spend-based and resource-based commitments provided by cloud partners |
|
Shared Cost Management |
Enabling the provision of 'tags' to tackle cost and responsibility allocation across specific stakeholders. |
|
Real-time Decision Making |
Granting access to predefined dashboards for real-time insights and enable continuous adjustments. |
FinOps Vendors by Services
This includes a list of segmentation of FinOps service layers along with SaaS and platform capabilities
|
Service Offering |
Platform Feature |
|---|---|
|
Guaranteed discounts |
Customers have the freedom to operate on-demand resources and acquire a certain percentage of discounts on exclusive services from 10% to 50%. |
|
Improve resource utilization |
Identifying scope to control resource costs while improving the required performance. |
|
Cost allocation |
Executing the right tagging strategy to implement a chargeback and show back mechanism for end-to-end cost visibility across the enterprise. |
|
Anomaly management |
Identify, clarify, monitor and manage sudden cloud costs instantly through tools and reports to optimize an organization's spending level |
|
AWS well-architected reviews |
Certified experienced review partners analyze workloads to implement cloud service provider's best practices for secure, resilient, and efficient infrastructure |
|
Consulting and architectural guidance |
Thorough review of the architecture & recommendations to minimize overall data transfer cost and control the use of Cloudwatch logs & metrics. |
|
Budget management |
Assess the budget accurately for rapid implementation of strategic decisions |
What are the criteria to look for in a Cloud FinOps Partner?
FinOps is an excellent technique to balance cloud performance, quality, and cost. Read our blog to know how Cloud FinOps services can encourage financial accountability and generate real business value. However, putting these practices into action necessitates significant knowledge and abilities. Outsourcing could be a beneficial option due to the ongoing demand for doing things better and faster with fewer resources. Here’s what you ideally need to look for in a FinOps consulting partner.
A Gamut of Expertise and Skills:
FinOps partners should have dynamic experience in dealing with various customers. They should provide a unique viewpoint and much-needed expertise for organizations to securely navigate their cloud journey. They should be able to comprehend the issues and offer the best possible optimal solutions for the company. To stay relevant, it is critical for FinOps partners to keep themselves updated with new technological advancements. They must have the in-demand skill set to help organizations upgrade or scale the system or infrastructure so that they can thrive in a rapidly technologically evolving ecosystem.
There are numerous active FinOps vendors to choose from. These organizations provide a niche set of offerings via a SaaS or DIY platform, focusing on cloud components such as cost optimization, storage optimization, zombie resource optimization, and so on. Or they only focus on the cloud's service layer, and offer guaranteed discounts, better cost allocation and well-architected reviews.
Comes with an Active and Dependable Team That’s Available 24 Hours a Day, 7 days a Week
A few seconds of downtime can be disastrous to a business. An outsourced FinOps consulting partner should have the capability to provide help around the clock. They should also take a proactive approach to maintenance and recognize and fix any possible loopholes before they turn into a major issue.
Helps you Predict Cloud Costs Accurately
Traditional consumption- or trend-based budgeting models usually fail to capture the dynamic nature of cloud spends, resulting in cost variances. What one needs to understand is that cloud cost optimization means spending on what the organization uses. Taking the help of a FinOps partner lets you leverage improved forecasting models, automated budgeting, and advanced cloud expenditure monitoring tools. This will allow you to estimate future needs, rightsize cloud resources, and receive real-time notifications on spending limits and optimize your consumption.
Assists and Guides You to Compete in the Market
There is no doubt that businesses are complicated, and it is natural to overlook its complexities. FinOps is no exception. This is simply because no one knows enough about FinOps to run a completely automated FinOps practice on their own. The only way to get more out of FinOps is to delegate day-to-day management to a vendor, allowing organizations to focus on key procedures and investing in other potential areas.
Leave your FinOps Implementation to the Experts! Get Ahead with Cloud4C
Finally, FinOps outsourcing should perfectly match an organization's culture, objectives, technological gaps and the vendor's service. Cloud4C FinOps-as-a-Service removes the pressure from organizations in building and implementing cost management frameworks, training professionals, or hiring in-house cloud experts. We offer the necessary governance and support to ensure financial accountability, efficient cost optimization, greater cost visibility, and resiliency across the organization. To achieve long-term financial support, get in touch with us today!
