Meet Up – How to make real impact with FinOps

The event brought together a diverse crowd of IT professionals, all with one thing in common: the cloud. Each attendee had a different reason for joining—some came to discover which insights their fellow FinOps professionals would share during the sessions, others to deepen their understanding of this relatively young discipline. 

FinOps, short for Finance and DevOps, emerged as a response to the exponential growth of cloud adoption—currently rising by over 24% annually, partly due to the success of DevOps. In 2019 the FinOps Foundation was launched to support global specialists in managing cloud costs. 

FinOps expert Rense Siegmund kicked off his presentation with a simple question: What do you hope to gain tonight? Most attendees mentioned the practical application of FinOps—particularly how to get other departments involved. 

One participant wanted to learn how to explain the importance of cost control to developers and business. Another was seeking ways to get buy-in from management. Rense responded with a powerful counter-question: "How many languages do you speak? Can you speak the language of management? Engineering? Procurement? Operations?" 

That question hits at the core of FinOps. While often seen as a toolkit for analysing cloud spend, FinOps is really a method for changing how organisations work and think. By speaking the language of various departments, FinOps professionals build bridges that drive collaboration. 

Real-life examples showed just how vital FinOps can be. It often starts with cost reduction. Low entry barriers mean engineers can easily deploy new tools—without going through procurement. As a result, a monthly cloud budget can jump from €2,000 to €10,000 in just a few months. The rise of AI only amplifies this trend.  

To regain control of these costs, it is crucial to gain insight into your usage. Some quick wins are almost always possible—like turning off unused resources or right-sizing cloud services to match actual usage. One attendee shared a customer case where these quick wins cut monthly cloud costs by 85%. 

FinOps expert Paco Bernabé focused on quick wins and cost-saving strategies for Azure environments. He too stressed the importance of cross-team collaboration. Cost savings start with encouraging individual teams to be mindful of their resources. 

One effective approach: budgeting. Team Leads forecast their expected cloud usage in advance. Their cloud budget is then tracked and refined monthly. In the early stages, the margin of error averages 20–30%. After about six months, this drops to 5–8%. 

When your cloud usage becomes easier to predict, your organisation can start making smarter use of bulk discounts. One-year commitments often bring 30% savings, while five-year deals can reach up to 50%. In other words: better forecasts, greater savings. 

FinOps isn’t just about saving money. By regaining control over your cloud usage, organisations can use new technologies smarter and more efficiently.  

Thanks to the event’s interactive format, the presentations naturally transitioned into one-on-one conversations. Over drinks, small groups exchanged experiences and shared ideas on how to amplify FinOps impact even further.