Cloud Providers – OCI
Oracle Cloud Supports FOCUS for Cost Reports
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) now supports FOCUS by providing cost reports in the FOCUS schema and offering tools to convert historical data.
Understanding Cloud Costs with FOCUS: The FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) standardizes cost and usage reports across cloud providers, simplifying multicloud management
Key Benefits: FOCUS enables efficient allocation, analysis, and optimization of cost data, reducing the learning curve for new cloud providers.
Multicloud Adoption: With 98% of enterprises using multiple cloud platforms, FOCUS helps FinOps practitioners prioritize cloud investments and drive business value.
Companies
Stacklet (Cloud Custodian Founders) raises $14.5M to lead Cloud Governance
Stacklet, a leader in cloud governance and optimization, has raised $14.5 million in Series B funding led by SineWave Ventures. This brings their total funding to $36.5 million. The investment will accelerate product development and expand sales and marketing efforts.
Stacklet, co-founded by the creators of CNCF’s Cloud Custodian, saw 3x revenue growth last year.
Their platform helps organizations reduce cloud expenses by up to 50% in 90 days while minimizing compliance and security risks. Clients like A+E Networks and Avalara have benefited from Stacklet’s solutions, achieving significant cost savings and enhanced efficiency.
Courses
FinOps Nexus launches GenAI Free Course by Rich Hoyer
Led by Rich Hoyer, this course explores the integration of generative AI in financial operations (FinOps) to optimize cloud cost management and financial decision-making.
Core Topics: Key topics include Prompt Engineering, Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), and Fine-Tuning AI Models for specific tasks.
Practical Applications: Learn about deploying AI models securely, using Amazon Bedrock for cloud cost management, and automating FinOps procedures with natural language SQL.
GreenOps
FinOps and Sustainability Teams Collaborate to Optimize Carbon by Microsoft @ FinOps Foundation
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) teams can benefit from the culture of cooperation and waste reduction that FinOps teams have established.
Carbon Optimization: Organizations are increasingly focusing on carbon optimization, leveraging FinOps teams’ culture of collaboration and waste reduction-
Granular Emissions Data: Cloud providers are offering more detailed carbon emissions data and tools for reporting and optimization
Collaboration: Collaboration between FinOps and sustainability teams is expected to grow, with engineers playing a key role in environmentally-conscious software development.
Tools and Recommendations: Microsoft, AWS, and Google have introduced tools and recommendations to help organizations optimize carbon emissions and costs simultaneously.
Awards & Recognitions
Venkata Sasidhar Kanumuri Wins 2024 Global Recognition Award
Exceptional Achievements: Kanumuri, Chief Cloud Economist at Sunnylabs.AI, received the 2024 Global Recognition Award for his notable contributions to FinOps and cloud cost optimization.
Innovative Frameworks: Developed the 6-Factor FinOps Formula and the “#Piggy-bank” framework, leading to significant cost savings and improved cloud financial management.
Significant Milestones: Achieved a 20% reduction in total cloud spend and reduced cloud waste from 30% to less than 5%.
New Book: Co-authored “Scaling Cloud FinOps: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Financial Success,”
Cloud Cost Optimization
Million Dollar Lines of Code
In this article, Erik Peterson shares insights on cloud cost optimization and the importance of efficient engineering.
Cloud Cost Efficiency: Emphasizes the need for cost-effective cloud solutions and the economic impact of engineering decisions.
Common Pitfalls: Highlights examples of costly coding mistakes and how to avoid them.
Cloud Efficiency Rate: Introduces the concept of Cloud Efficiency Rate (CER) to guide cost optimization efforts.
Future of Cloud: Discusses the ongoing evolution of cloud computing and the importance of adapting to new paradigms.
ITSM
Four Essential Characteristics of a Highly Effective FinOps Program
Beyond Cost Savings: A successful FinOps program should not only reduce cloud spending but also maximize the value of each dollar spent in the cloud.
Hands-On Engagement: Engaging with FinOps partners is crucial for customizing and optimizing the FinOps strategy.
Flexibility and Customization: FinOps programs must be flexible to accommodate unique organizational needs and compliance requirements.
Predictable Costs: Flat-fee pricing models make long-term FinOps costs predictable, ensuring better ROI.
Advanced Automation: Effective FinOps programs leverage advanced automation that works across all clouds and supports custom capabilities.
🎖️ Mention of Honour
Firefly Raises $23M in Funding: Overcoming a Tragic Story
Firefly’s Cloud Asset Management Success Amid Tragedy
Funding Boost: Firefly raised $23 million in funding, driven by strong demand and a fourfold revenue increase in 2023.
Tragic Loss: Co-founder and CTO Joseph “Sefi” Genis was tragically killed by Hamas in October 2023.
Tech Innovation: Firefly’s AI-driven solution scans and manages cloud assets across major providers, offering automatic remediation suggestions.
Resilience and Growth: Despite the tragedy, Firefly’s team remains committed to Genis’ vision, achieving significant growth and securing major clients.
Bonus
📰 More News
For those seeking more content, this section will provide additional resources.
An Introduction to Cloud Value Measurement (Series)
AWS Webinar: Transforming Financial Operations: Integrating Planning, Accounting, and Subscription Management for Agile Businesses
Hibernation for VMs and Standby pools for Virtual Machines in Azure now in Public Preview. Shared by Alfonso San Miguel on LinkedIn
Rethinking FinOps: From Cost-Cutting to Value-Driven Optimisation
This new episode of What’s new in Cloud FinOps? by Steve & Frank
That’s all for this week. See you next Sunday!
Let’s Collaborate!
Connect on Linkedin: I share valuable free content there. I am open to chatting with anybody interested in Cloud & FinOps.
Set up a Free Discovery Call: Let’s discuss how we can collaborate.
Sponsor this newsletter: Promote your company in this newsletter and reach the Cloud audience that wants to maximize business value and reduce costs.
