Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Making dollars and sense out of FinOps (SEG202)

Summary

Chris Hennessy, an Enterprise Finance Strategist at AWS, discusses the importance of FinOps and how to start, grow, and scale FinOps within an organization.
He draws parallels between the fall of the Roman Empire and modern enterprises, emphasizing the need for long-term planning over short-term gains.
Hennessy shares his experience from Capital One and AWS, highlighting the cultural and skill changes required for successful FinOps.
The session covers the transition from on-prem to cloud, focusing on cost flexibility, scalability, transparency, and simplification.
He stresses the importance of collaboration between finance, IT, and business teams.
Hennessy outlines the three components of FinOps: managing and optimizing, collaboration, and linking back to business value.
He introduces a framework for assessing FinOps maturity: mindset, skillset, and toolset.
The talk includes strategies for cloud cost management, such as establishing a foundation, formalizing teams, selecting tools, forecasting, and allocations.
Hennessy provides insights into how Amazon.com manages its cloud spend through a cloud credit score and cost to serve metrics.
He encourages the use of AWS's cloud financial management capability assessment and engagement with AWS resources and account teams.

FinOps is becoming increasingly important for organizations to manage cloud costs effectively and avoid financial waste.
Cultural change and new skills are critical for finance teams transitioning to the cloud, as traditional on-prem financial management practices do not directly translate to cloud financial management.
Collaboration between finance, IT, and business is essential for successful FinOps, as it fosters better decision-making and accountability.
Organizations should adopt a tailored approach to FinOps, considering their unique culture, objectives, and the maturity of their cloud journey.
The use of KPIs and metrics is crucial for monitoring and optimizing cloud spend, and organizations should focus on key areas such as utilization rates and waste reduction.
Amazon.com's approach to managing cloud spend, including the cloud credit score and cost to serve metrics, can serve as a model for other organizations.
AWS offers various resources and tools to assist with FinOps, including free training, the FinOps Foundation, and the cloud financial management capability assessment.
Engaging with AWS account teams and leveraging AWS resources can provide additional support and insights for organizations looking to improve their FinOps practices.