FinOps reskilling offers opportunities

Worsening economic conditions mean organisations need to see better returns — financial, efficiency and otherwise — from their technology spend. There’s no time to wait for today’s investments to drive returns in months or years — that luxury dissipated before 2023 even started.

Cutting costs has been the historic reaction to finding value, whether that means slashing budgets for new initiatives or putting projects on hold while balances stabilise. However, organisations don’t need to come to a standstill to dampen the blow of inflation, rising costs and skills shortages. Extraordinary macroeconomic circumstances demand extraordinary shifts to the way companies operate. ‘Business as usual’ has shrivelled to irrelevance.

Today, that requires changing mindsets around the role technology plays. ‘Digital’ has evolved far beyond a tool of convenience for business — it’s now integral to doing business. That means it needs to sit close to business stakeholders and in correlation to the financial decision-makers who manage the levels of investment needed to convert on business strategy. FinOps is driving this crucial ‘closeness’ between technology, finance and the rest of the business.

Defining FinOps

The FinOps Foundation defines FinOps as “an evolving cloud financial-management discipline and cultural practice that enables organisations to get maximum business value by helping engineering, finance, technology and business teams to collaborate on data-driven spending decisions”.

Underscored by visibility and accountability, it establishes a clear framework on the requirements of stakeholders and the level of digital services needed to achieve objectives, whether it’s a standalone project or a comprehensive transformation.

In the past, the biggest challenge in adopting this type of approach has been to motivate people to care about the company’s money, particularly in larger organisations. Many have had the attitude that they get paid either way and won’t need to shoulder the consequences of not having FinOps. Others have felt reducing expenses could lead to decreased performance and possible outages, directly impacting their jobs and lifestyle.

Having technology or finance employees upskill or reskill to become FinOps practitioners develops those individuals into huge assets, helping existing and future employers combat the deficits of economic headwinds. Given the state of the jobs market, employers are increasingly selective in the talent they hire — offering FinOps skills in addition to previous career experience serves as leverage in the recruitment process. A candidate who can build a structure that offers near-term cash savings — funds that can be reallocated to add headcount across the business or to advance high-value projects — is essentially more hireable, as they pay for themselves.

From principle to practice

For companies with no practical experience in FinOps, the concept may appear to require sweeping reform, extensive resourcing and reorganisation. On the contrary, it only takes one person to ask “what do you think we can save?” or “is there a better way we can manage costs?” and begin applying FinOps principles to the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of an organisation’s investments.

That will not only lead to cost savings, but lower ongoing operational costs and increased ability to add functionality at a later stage. In larger enterprises, consistent progress in FinOps execution can create significant annual savings. Once the foundation is set, formulas can be easily extended to other parts of the business, multiplying the value.

While a FinOps practitioner is leading the charge, they shouldn’t be expected to deliver on their own. FinOps must happen frequently, especially in its early stages, via direct engagements between stakeholders to ensure objectives are clear and that progress is consistent. While ramping up, communication is key. Without that commitment from all parties, project deadlines can’t be met, and FinOps will become a technical feat that remains separate from the business.

FinOps is not only an attractive proposition to organisations, it also pays dividends to the individuals who run it. The value of practitioners is immediately clear for all organisations, as economic constraints now demand a fast return on investment (ROI) from technology spend. In the context of financial pressures, these workers offer compounding degrees of stability.

Image credit: iStock.com/simoncarter