Day 2 of the FinOps X Conference 2024 continued with a series of insightful keynotes and panel discussions, building on the momentum from Day 1. For those who missed the sessions, here's a detailed overview of the key takeaways from the day's speakers.
Keena Blunschi and Noreen Dever from American Express shared their experience of integrating finance and technology to enhance cloud cost management and drive business growth.
Keena, CFO for Enterprise Services, discussed the importance of FinOps in senior executive meetings, particularly emphasizing the company's leadership's focus on cloud adoption and significant attention given to cloud costs.
Noreen, who leads the platform economics capability, provided a concrete example of how real-time cost monitoring enabled them to quickly identify and address a spike in costs during a data migration, demonstrating the practical impact of their FinOps practice.
Their joint narrative underscored the significance of collaboration between finance and technology teams in achieving cost efficiency and innovation, while also highlighting their progress through the "crawl, walk, run" phases of FinOps maturity.
Mike Fuller, CTO of the FinOps Foundation, discussed the critical role of tooling and services in developing a robust FinOps practice. He emphasized that while building custom tools can be beneficial, leveraging the existing ecosystem of FinOps tools can streamline the implementation of effective cost management practices.
Mike highlighted that by integrating native tools with tailored solutions, organizations can more effectively align their FinOps strategies with their unique needs, ensuring a comprehensive approach to cloud cost management.
This approach aims to simplify the integration process and enhance interoperability, making it easier for organizations to adopt and scale FinOps practices effectively.
AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure all shared significant updates illustrating their dedication to the future of FinOps.
Sarah McMullin, Group Product Manager at Google Cloud, announced several key updates to Google Cloud's FinOps tools, aimed at enhancing data openness, AI-powered insights, and sustainability. One of these updates included the introduction of Gemini Cloud Assist, an AI-driven tool designed to provide immediate insights into cloud costs and optimization opportunities.
Jimin Li, Partner Group Product Manager at Microsoft, detailed new developments in Azure’s FinOps capabilities, including enhancements to Azure's cost estimation tools, which enable engineers to access detailed cost estimates before deploying resources.
Jimin also introduced updates to Microsoft Fabric, a unified data analytics platform that integrates cost data from multiple sources, facilitating comprehensive FinOps reporting and analysis. The introduction of AI-powered tools, like Co-Pilot in Azure, further exemplifies Microsoft's commitment to empowering users with advanced data-driven decision-making capabilities.
James Greenfield, VP of the AWS Commerce Platform, unveiled AWS's latest FinOps tools, focusing on flexibility, trustworthiness, and standardization. James announced the general availability of cost optimization recommendations for RDS instances, which include right-sizing, architecture optimization, and idle resource management. He also introduced the AWS Focus 1.0 data export, designed to help users seamlessly integrate AWS cost data with other cloud providers.
Each of these updates from the three major cloud providers illustrates their focus and dedication to providing reliable and customizable FinOps tools that meet diverse customer needs.
Day 2 of the FinOps X Conference 2024 showcased significant advancements in FinOps practices and tools from leading cloud providers. The focus on integrating finance and technology, leveraging AI for cost management, and prioritizing sustainability underscores the evolving landscape of cloud cost management.
The collaborative spirit and shared insights at FinOps X promise to drive further innovations in the field, solidifying FinOps as an essential discipline in managing cloud expenditures.
Learn how PointFive enables collaboration between FinOps and engineers to maximize cloud cost savings potential.
