Financial operations (FinOps) is a management practice that encourages shared responsibility for a business’ cloud computing infrastructure and costs. According to Global Market Estimates, the FinOps market is set to grow to more than $2.75 billion by 2028. If you need further proof of its growing significance, the FinOps Foundation – a non-profit supporting those in cloud financial management – has seen its community rocket from zero to 23,000+, with 48 of the Fortune 50 represented in just five years.

As software development professionals know, access to the cloud and its resources is vital. It allows for collaboration and usage of critical apps no matter where a team member is. Cloud computing powers entire enterprises by shuttling data where it needs to go, elevating efficiency and lowering IT management. All the while, users are able to harness the latest and greatest technology provided by their cloud service provider (CSP).

That’s not to say FinOps is easy. Management can be tough, particularly for lean businesses, and the fallout from failure can be vast. Resources get consumed without oversight, software tests are missed, and internal services that are no longer used continue to run and rack up a bill. With the AI boom, new tools and services for mining mountains of data have been enlisted and poor management is causing compute costs to soar.

Cross-departmental collaboration between essential business functions – such as finance, technology and engineering – can result in a much greater understanding and remove cloud complexity. This drives balanced performance, workload quality and expenses across departments and services. If you want to develop a healthy FinOps program, consider the following six tips.

Mind the Gap

There’s usually a gap between those who handle budgets and those who create costs because their goals differ, sometimes by a wide mark. By teaching stakeholders to communicate on multiple topics, like DevOps and finance, you can bridge functions and gain better cloud control. To help this along, check into tools that facilitate reporting from key leaders so all can share and understand data, creating a common language. 

Create a Culture

Often when it comes to FinOps, a business’ culture may need to be tweaked or even entirely altered to ensure every person is accountable for costs and driving improvements. This means employees, and especially leaders, must not rely on a central authority to find and handle operational changes – they must enforce the change themselves. Distributed ownership is really what drives cost efficiency, and it scales fast when you make it part of your culture. Create a cost-aware culture amongst a dozen employees, and the next 50 you add will ramp right into it because it’s already in place.

Boost Behavior

Reporting tools can provide a money trail but they do not address bad habits, especially around those employees with an unfettered license to spend. A smart approach is to pair reporting tools that pinpoint these spenders and set objectives and goals that will boost their behavior. Employees better optimize and control expenses when they have data that will support decision-making. Do this as early as possible because trying to gain control over an already-scaled environment is more difficult. 

Make a Shift

Those in software development know what it means to shift left, which essentially is what businesses are doing when they pursue FinOps. Traditionally, shifting left has been about software quality and testing processes, and a desire to test earlier in the development cycle. Using this approach, FinOps can move cost consciousness up and to the forefront. However, because this isn’t topping their individual priority list, there should be particular follow-up to make sure developers are acting responsibly and taking ownership. 

Get Them Talking

It’s imperative that there is a two-way constant communication between departments. To spur this, have heads of departments – such as finance, engineering and product development – meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Without question, these will produce ongoing cloud savings. Just be sure that these result in action: Begin with unearthing opportunities and then set tasks and dates for resolution. 

Look Outside

Looking outside your company can help you control your cloud. FinOps is complicated, requiring a blend of intelligent technology and expertise from those who know about cloud analytics, optimization and architecture. Consultants should have a proven understanding and relevant certifications to demonstrate their capabilities. When it comes to technology, they can guide you to a FinOps platform that will help you better understand and control cloud costs.

Clear Your Cloud

The cloud is constantly evolving and cloud service providers regularly unveil new features and functions. To be fully optimized means staying on top of these developments. Remember, your bill doesn’t tell a complete story – and it’s easy for costs to go unnoticed and stack up. That’s why the cloud must be treated as a quantifiable, trackable expense that is tied to conducting business. Burning development cycles to keep workflows properly labeled and functioning as part of your FinOps practice should be seen as a necessary cost, or else the previous work can quickly be undone.

Not a One-Off Activity 

Just remember, FinOps is not a one-off activity. With business goals changing frequently and cloud innovations coming so quickly, FinOps must be continuous and ongoing (some would say “a cycle”). Still, it’s well worth it, and by following its practices and principles along with some help from the tips above, you’ll be able to clear up your cloud costs and raise performance.