Enterprises rush to implement FinOps but aren't yet seeing value from it

FinOps is increasingly being adopted, with 98 percent of respondents to a new survey from Cloudbolt either having a FinOps strategy or planning to implement one. But while 71 percent of companies have expanded funding for FinOps resources in 2023, 99.8 percent say they are still waiting to see any value from it.

In case you haven't been paying attention, FinOps is an operational framework that brings technology, finance, and business together to drive financial accountability and accelerate value through cloud transformation.

"Rarely in the history of business has there ever been a new discipline that has emerged and been adopted as rapidly as FinOps," says Craig Hinkley, CEO of CloudBolt Software. "Our study shows that 98 percent of companies either have a formal FinOps practice or are planning to implement one. That’s partly due to the amazing work of the FinOps Foundation. But it is also an indication of just how vitally important cloud financial management has become."

The findings are based on a survey of 500 executives, engineers, and developers at companies with over 5,000 employees in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, conducted by Wakefield Research. They show that 82 percent of companies now have a formal FinOps team in place and another 16 percent are actively considering adding one. The average size of a FinOps team is now 4.1 people, with a 'director-level' post being the most senior on the team 53 percent of the time.

FinOps is seen as a silver bullet for reining in the complexity of cloud cost management by 89 percent of respondents. 68 percent of respondents highlight the importance of FinOps within their organization's strategic priorities for 2023. And 71 percent say that achieving this year's IT goals without a FinOps practice would pose a significant challenge.

But alongside this rampant enthusiasm there's a good deal of skepticism. 45 percent of respondents question the efficacy of FinOps in the real world. Specifically, 15 percent flag FinOps as being 'theoretically easy but harder in practice', 13 percent regard it as 'much ado about nothing', 10 percent say it is 'nothing more than a suggested framework', and seven percent believe FinOps is 'a necessary evil'.

"FinOps has rapidly evolved from a niche concept to a critical discipline embraced by organizations worldwide," says Kyle Campos, CTO of CloudBolt Software. "While there are challenges to overcome, the growing adoption of FinOps teams and the increasing recognition of its strategic importance demonstrate the market need and potential. By leveraging the right tools and fostering a culture of shared responsibility, companies can accelerate FinOps impact to the business -- no one can afford the risk of falling behind while waiting 2-3 years or more to see results. Entropy, waste, friction -- these are the default traits of an enterprise (really any organization). The winners forcefully and decisively push against that to create virtuous cycles, efficiency, and velocity."

The full report is available on the Cloudbolt site.

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