FinOps X 2024 brought the giants of the cloud industry—AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud—under one roof. The announcements were nothing short of groundbreaking, showcasing their dedication to optimizing cloud financial operations (FinOps). Here are the highlights.
AWS shared three significant updates focused on maximizing cost optimization and increasing customization options. From our perspective at PointFive, we think these updates will greatly enhance user control and efficiency in managing cloud costs. This aligns with the industry’s move toward more sophisticated and user-centric cloud financial management tools.
Here are the three primary updates from AWS:
1. Cost Optimization Hub
AWS launched the Cost Optimization Hub, a centralized platform that consolidates recommendations from various AWS tools and services. This hub is designed to provide reliable cost optimization suggestions to ensure security, performance, and availability are not compromised.
2. Enhanced Billing and Cost Management Console
AWS introduced a new experience in the billing and cost management console, allowing users to customize what they see based on their business needs. This includes new views for deeper insights and greater flexibility in exploring cost data.
3. Trustworthy Optimization Recommendations
AWS announced new optimization recommendations for RDS instances. These recommendations cover right-sizing, CPU architectures, database engines, and idle resources, ensuring that users can optimize costs without sacrificing performance.
Microsoft’s updates emphasize deep insights and sustainability, highlighting its commitment to comprehensive cost management and environmental responsibility. PointFive is aligned with Microsoft in its focus to empower engineers with more robust tools for managing and optimizing cloud resources efficiently.
Microsoft’s updates include:
1. New Cost Analysis Views and Kubernetes Insights
Microsoft introduced new views in cost analysis to provide deeper insights into cloud spending. They also launched native Kubernetes views in Microsoft Cost Management, offering a centralized view of all clusters and namespaces. This offering in particular helps engineers manage their AKS costs more efficiently.
2. Cost Optimization Workbook in Azure Advisor
Microsoft unveiled a new cost optimization workbook in Azure Advisor that centralizes tools and proven practices from the Well-Architected Framework. This workbook helps engineers optimize rates and reduce waste to maximize cloud value.
3. Carbon Optimization
Microsoft integrated carbon optimization into their FinOps tools, allowing users to monitor, track, and analyze carbon emissions at the resource level. This includes recommendations for reducing emissions to help organizations achieve sustainability goals while optimizing costs.
Google Cloud’s updates showcase their commitment to leveraging AI and open data standards, providing powerful tools for cost analysis and anomaly detection. At PointFive, we’re advocates for making cost management more intuitive and data-driven.
The updates from Google Cloud include:
1. Open Cost Data Transformation
Google Cloud announced a BigQuery view that aligns Google Cloud cost data with the FinOps Foundation’s Focus 1.0 specifications. They also introduced a Looker view to visualize this data, making it easier for users to understand and analyze their cloud costs.
2. AI-Powered "Understand My Cost" with Gemini Cloud Assist
Google Cloud introduced an AI-powered tool that provides specific cost data insights without manual effort. This tool helps users discover what's driving their cloud costs and identify significant cost drivers, anomalies, and trends.
3. Real-Time Commitment Modeling and Anomaly Detection
Google Cloud launched new features for real-time commitment modeling and anomaly detection. The new cost scenario modeling tool allows users to exclude specific time periods and configure recommendations based on their risk preferences. Additionally, they introduced email and Pub/Sub alerts for real-time notifications of cost anomalies.
It’s great to see cloud providers listening to their customers and increasing the focus on more integrated, user-friendly, and intelligent systems that empower users to manage costs effectively and sustainably.
There’s a lot more to come in cloud cost management, and we’re excited to see how these advancements will influence culture and drive trust to generate greater efficiency and cost savings.
We were at FinOps X and saw firsthand the effort to enable organizations to maximize their cloud investments. Read our full recap.
