Fri Sep 20 14:11:00 UTC 2024: ## FinOps Takes Center Stage: IT Service Providers See Surge in Demand for Consulting

**Santa Clara, CA** – The buzz around FinOps, a set of practices designed to optimize cloud costs, is growing louder. While the initial momentum around FinOps was fueled by the pandemic and subsequent economic uncertainty, it appears to have weathered the storm of generative AI hype and is now firmly established as a core focus for many organizations.

According to Forrester’s 2024 Cloud Survey, 58% of the 3,493 cloud decision-makers polled have implemented FinOps practices, with another 18% planning to do so within the next year. This trend has created a surge in demand for FinOps consulting services, as businesses seek to further embed cost management and optimization practices into their daily operations.

“What we’re seeing from more customers is a demand to dive deeper into their FinOps,” said Eric Ethridge, Senior Technical Account Manager at DoiT, a multi-cloud services and FinOps provider.

The shift towards FinOps is more than just cost-cutting. Organizations are leveraging FinOps metrics to extract more value from their cloud investments and expand its application beyond traditional cloud resources. This demand for greater sophistication and breadth is driving businesses to seek guidance from IT service providers.

“When you are doing FinOps, you are asking folks to fundamentally change the way they work,” noted Tracy Woo, Principal Analyst at Forrester. “How do we stand up a practice? Where do we start?”

Service providers are stepping in to fill this need, offering a range of services:

* **Establishing FinOps governance rules and metrics**
* **Integrating FinOps with broader cloud strategies**
* **Assembling FinOps teams**
* **Facilitating cross-functional collaboration**

Key to successful FinOps implementation is embedding best practices across finance, product, and engineering teams. Consultants help to cultivate a culture where cost containment becomes a shared responsibility, fostering a more efficient and strategic use of cloud resources.

“A hands-on-keyboard developer is not always looking at strategic cost optimization,” said Ethridge. “They’re just trying to get those lines of code out… But, once we turn [FinOps] into an organizational thing, it becomes more of an automatic action for them.”

The application of FinOps is also expanding. Organizations are now leveraging it to manage SaaS subscriptions, on-premises IT investments, and even analyze unit cost, a key metric for evaluating the value of cloud investments.

“It’s more than just a function of public cloud services,” said Chris Cagnazzi, Chief Innovation Officer at Presidio, a technology services company. “FinOps is really embedded in everything around IT now.”

With the shift from cost-cutting to value optimization, organizations are adopting new FinOps metrics like unit cost, allowing them to make informed decisions about their cloud spending.

“With KPIs right now, the entire focus seems to be going to unit cost analysis,” said Kevin Garcia, Vice President of Cloud Solutions at Presidio. “That is the biggest driver.”

To support this evolving landscape, FinOps tools are also expanding their capabilities to capture and analyze more granular data. This includes collecting data beyond traditional cloud cost and usage reports, enabling businesses to assess the cost of goods sold and make more informed decisions.

Ultimately, IT service providers are playing a crucial role in helping organizations navigate this evolving FinOps landscape. They are not only assisting with implementation but also providing valuable insights and guidance to help organizations achieve their broader strategic objectives. The future of FinOps is promising, and IT service providers are well positioned to capitalize on this growing trend.

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