FinOps for beginners: cloud costs under control in 90 days
In short
FinOps is the practice of managing cloud costs jointly across engineering, finance and business. It follows three phases: inform, optimise, operate. Quick wins come from switching off unused resources, rightsizing and using reservations.
01
The three phases
Inform: make costs visible per team and application, e.g. via tags. Optimise: delete unused resources, rightsize, use reservations and savings plans. Operate: anchor budgets, alerts and regular reviews.
02
A 90-day plan
A possible start.
| Period | Goal |
|---|---|
| Day 1–30 | Tagging concept, cost overview per team, top 10 cost drivers |
| Day 31–60 | Switch off idle resources, rightsize, stop dev environments at night |
| Day 61–90 | Buy reservations, budgets and alerts, monthly review |
03
Reconcile cost reports with the invoice
A dashboard and the monthly invoice can show different amounts without either being wrong. Causes include credits, taxes, delayed postings or the allocation of prepaid services.
- 1Define the billing period, currency and included cost categories.
- 2Distinguish actual billed costs from commitment costs allocated over their term.
- 3Report unallocated costs and shared services separately.
- 4Explain differences with finance and document the chosen view.
04
Example: cost per business transaction, not just total cost
Example: A customer portal incurs higher cloud costs while also processing more successfully completed orders. The team therefore also tracks allocated cost per order to distinguish growth from inefficient resource consumption.
Use a meaningful business unit and keep its definition stable. Shared platform costs must be included using a documented rule so that changing allocations do not distort comparisons.
| Situation | Suitable perspective |
|---|---|
| Increasing usage | Cost per completed business transaction |
| Shared platform | Direct costs and a transparent allocation rule |
| New product feature | Additional cost alongside value and service quality |
05
Do not trade availability for savings
A lightly utilised service is not necessarily oversized if it must absorb load peaks or failures of other components. Before downsizing, check historical peaks, response times and resilience requirements.
Introduce changes in a controlled way and compare costs and service quality before and after the adjustment. Term commitments should follow only once baseline demand is reliably understood.
06
How MAKONIS helps
MAKONIS anchors FinOps as part of cloud governance and takes over ongoing cost control as managed FinOps.
Frequently asked questions
It depends heavily on the starting point. Without previous optimisation, double-digit percentages are common.
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