FinOps tools and services
Establish standards and methods for effectively integrating FinOps tools and services into the framework capabilities to empower FinOps practices.
Management Tools and Service Policies
Match tools and services with organizational goals.
Identify organizational policies that apply to tools and services.
Take inventory of the tools and services your organization currently uses.
Evaluate the pros and cons of developing tools in-house versus purchasing ready-made products or cloud services.
Evaluate potential tools and services
Develop and update selection requirements for tools and services.
Evaluate available tools and services for selection and procurement.
Compare organizational needs with tool features and service offerings.
Assess the pros and cons of developing tools in-house versus purchasing commercial products.
Deploy selected tools and services
Configure the tool or service and onboard the team.
Provide necessary training and support for users.
Deploy tools and services according to organizational units, FinOps roles, and capability priorities.
Definition
A wide and growing variety of tools and services can help organizations achieve FinOps capabilities. Each cloud service provider offers a range of cost management tools. Software vendors also provide various FinOps platforms and specialized tools. Many organizations also build their own tools that use cloud data in formats such as FOCUS to integrate with internal systems.
A FinOps tool is any cloud service provider or third-party software package that supports any FinOps capability. Tools range from broad FinOps platforms that are compatible with most FinOps capabilities to specialized tools that support specific activities or cloud use scenarios. A FinOps service is a third-party service that delivers outcomes related to FinOps capabilities. These services include training, consulting, managed services, and partial or full outsourcing of FinOps practices.
The FinOps tools and services capability guides an organization in reviewing its need for tools and services to improve its FinOps maturity and practices. An organization should develop a policy to guide the use of tools and services. This policy should consider the organization's cloud strategy, its goals for the cloud, tool management policies, consulting service management policies, available or in-use tools, strategic vendor relationships, the cloud platforms the organization uses, and its appetite for building, integrating, or adopting new tools. Understanding this basic information is important before considering FinOps tools and services. This avoids wasting time and effort on tools and services that are unusable, misaligned with organizational strategy, or in conflict with existing systems.
When selecting a tool or service, an organization should create a set of requirements to clarify which areas need help. The FinOps Landscape on the FinOps Foundation website compiles a range of tools and services. The landscape can be filtered by capability and other selection criteria to help FinOps teams identify suitable tools or services. No single FinOps tool or service is objectively the "best". Different situations require purchasing or developing a different combination of tools and services.
As an organization's needs change and mature, its tool and service policy and its decision criteria for tool selection also evolve. The FinOps team should regularly review tool usage, especially when considering or making significant changes to cloud usage.
Every organization uses a combination of tools to support the strategic execution of FinOps. These include native tools from cloud service providers, third-party or open source tools, in-house developed tools, and third-party services. As FinOps practices mature and cloud computing usage increases, the combination of tools, processes, and third-party support changes to deliver greater business value.
Some tools are critical for performing FinOps activities, but an organization cannot rely too heavily on any single tool. When used correctly, many FinOps tools can automate or simplify daily tasks. However, without a skilled and knowledgeable FinOps team, these tools cannot solve problems or interact with teams. Key challenges include engaging the organization in tool usage, providing the most appropriate information for each role, and ensuring that the investment in tools creates value for the organization. Do not underestimate the effort required for training and understanding the data managed by the tools. The rollout of a tool requires careful thought, including who has access, how it is used, and which departments or teams will adopt it first.
Similarly, using consulting, managed, or outsourced services can quick-start a FinOps practice or enhance and accelerate value creation in specific areas. However, over-reliance on external services can also cause problems. A balance must be struck between using tools and services and the organic growth of the team's FinOps capabilities. A successful FinOps practice ultimately depends on creating value by supporting the organization's own goals.
Maturity assessment
Crawl
This phase is the entry point for organizations that lack FinOps operations, teams, or culture. Although the organization may have various needs, they are usually related to visibility and basic optimization. In this phase, the organization may not have a detailed understanding of its tool or service needs beyond initial basic requirements. An organization in the Crawl phase may have the following characteristics:
A requirements-gathering process is minimal or non-existent.
Acceptance criteria are low.
Minimal or no market research is conducted.
Few roles are involved in requirements gathering or vendor selection.
A build-versus-buy analysis is not performed.
An implementation plan or integration into processes is minimal or non-existent.
Minimal or no training is provided for new employees on how to use the tool.
A mechanism for continuous evaluation based on changing needs is not in place.
Walk
In this phase, the organization or practitioner has a basic understanding of FinOps capabilities and is beginning to put them into practice. This leads to a deeper understanding of FinOps requirements, the tools and services needed to meet them, and the stakeholders involved. An organization in the Walk phase may have the following characteristics:
Effective requirements gathering from FinOps, finance, or engineering teams.
Basic requirements gathering from other potential stakeholders.
A reasonable amount of research is conducted on tools and services in the market.
A basic build-versus-buy analysis is completed.
A return on investment (ROI) plan is developed after the requirements are met.
A deployment plan is developed and integrated into processes.
Some training on tools and services is provided for new employees.
Long-term evaluation is considered after tool and service deployment.
Run
In this phase, the practitioner or organization has made significant progress in their FinOps practice. As a result, they have a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the needs of all stakeholders. They will also develop automation plans for tools and services and integrate them into processes to improve existing workflows. An organization in the Run phase may have the following characteristics:
Detailed requirements are gathered from all stakeholders.
Detailed research is conducted on tools and services in the market.
A detailed build-versus-buy analysis is completed with an expected ROI.
An ROI plan that meets the gathered requirements within a specified timeframe.
A detailed deployment plan is developed and integrated into processes, including automation.
Appropriate training on tools and services is provided for new employees, with continuous updates and iterations.
A comprehensive evaluation is conducted after tool and service deployment, with a comparison to alternative solutions.
Functional activities
FinOps practitioner
Ensures all stakeholders are involved in requirements gathering to make sure the deployed tool or service is suitable for the entire organization.
Works closely with all user roles on execution, training, operation, and continuous evaluation.
Engineering
Supports building requirements for engineering, security, and compliance.
Provides expertise in automation and integration.
Provides performance and usage data when needed.
Finance
Supports building requirements from a financial perspective.
Assists in developing and implementing budgets and forecasts related to tools and services.
Supports the continuous evaluation of FinOps tools and services.
Procurement
Manages the requirements-gathering process and commercial negotiations when necessary.
Uses real-time evaluation data in subsequent commercial discussions.
Product
Supports requirements gathering and continuous evaluation.
Management
Provides high-level support for adopting new tools and services.
Ensures alignment with organizational goals.
Collaborates with stakeholders to develop and evaluate success criteria and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and to analyze the ROI of tools and services.
Success metrics and KPIs
The success of this capability is measured by the extent to which FinOps tools and services meet business requirement expectations and whether the organization's investment has a positive ROI.
To fully leverage the benefits of FinOps tools and services, an organization should regularly perform gap analyses between its current state and its needs. The organization should promptly identify and bridge these gaps. It should also conduct annual performance assessments and needs reviews for FinOps service providers and consultants.
Other success metrics may include adopting high-quality guidance tailored to the organization's business processes and operational environment, and promoting continuous and frequent use of tools and services by each role. To ensure that cloud stakeholders can achieve high productivity and performance when using their tools and services, successful organizations allocate a budget for training.
One of the basic criteria for success is the number of people in different roles who use the tool to complete parts of their work.
Success metrics should reflect the value of the cloud and be measured by one or more KPIs. These KPIs can include the following:
Total annual cloud cost savings from tools and services.
Percentage of successful adoption of tools and services among the target audience.
Customer experience score from end users, measured by a positive Net Promoter Score (NPS) or a similar metric.
A post-deployment evaluation of tools and services to determine if the needs of all stakeholders are met.
Inputs and outputs
Cloud policy documents
Security and compliance policies
Procurement processes
Most other FinOps capabilities require tools or services.
FinOps Vendor Landscape
For more information about vendors, see the FinOps Landscape.