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Too expensive. Too slow. Too vague. Do your FinOps miss their target, too?
Everyone is shouting about it, everyone says to do it: FinOps.
But what ís it really?
One party provides dashboards, another a spreadsheet with KPIs. Yet another calls it a process approach. And if you look online for a definition, you usually don't get much wiser. It's vague. And often contradictory.
Yet FinOps is sold everywhere as the way to get a grip on your cloud costs.
The promise: a better balance between speed, cost and quality.
The practice: an old-fashioned triangle in which you have to choose what you find more important.
Low cost and good quality? Then go slow.
Speed and quality? Then your cloud bill explodes.
Low cost and speed? Then it's not velig or it falls over.
And then when you finally choose, you hear it's “optimal.”
But that's not it
Optimization is about breaking through those apparent contradictions.
It's not about choosing. It's about designing smarter.
So that your costs stay low and your systems keep running fast.
So that quality is not something you sacrifice, but something that strengthens you.
That is where FinOps ends and optimization begins.
Or ... should start.
FinOps is useful. You need to understand, measure and structure your cloud spending.
But if with that you rely on the fact that you have already optimized, then very possibly something goes wrong: the real optimization.
You only get a grip when you set up systems in such a way that they no longer get in the way.
And that requires more than just financial control models.
It requires technical optimization.
FinOps sees costs but not waste
FinOps sounds like something that puts your finances in order.
Financial Operations.
Financial Cloud Operations, if you write it out completely.
Sounds sensible. And that's exactly the problem.
Because anyone who hears “FinOps” thinks of financial grip on the cloud. But in reality, FinOps is primarily a spreadsheet. Unfortunately without the context to really optimize.
It focuses on cost items, not performance.
On contract optimization, not value creation.
FinOps shows you that VM-1234 might be too big. But not that your database is poorly structured. It sees that an application requires a lot of compute, but not why.
Let alone help you solve it.
The reflex within FinOps is simple: see high CPU? Then add some vCPU.
Not working? Then add some more.
Like making a slow restaurant faster by putting down more tables.
But what if that extra capacity is appears to be fully used by an inefficient process that contributes nothing to your business?
Then FinOps doesn't see that. Because FinOps doesn't look at utilization, doesn't look at user experience, and doesn't look at whether that crowding is necessary at all. Only at the bill.
And that's where it goes wrong.
You can only really control costs if you understand where they come from.
If you not only monitor systems, but actually optimize them.
If you set up the technical foundation under your applications in such a way that you don't have to keep adding on - but it's just right.
FinOps measures what you spend.
Optimization prevents you from spending it.
That's the difference.
Why FinOps summarizes but does not explain your cloud bill
A cloud invoice is not an invoice.
It is a spreadsheet "from hell.
Every screw, nut and virtual breather is on it.
Thousands of lines. Every single month.
Unreadable by anyone except maybe the cloud provider itself, and even there they'd rather not look at that long list of data.
And so FinOps comes up with dashboards. Summary.
€70,000 in virtual machines. €80,000 in disks. €35,000 in Fabric.
Looks clear. Sounds good. Feels professional.
But the most important question remains unanswered:
What does it actually do?
And: How dows it benefit me?
FinOps measures usage in operational terms.
Is the server running? Check.
Is the storage being addressed? Check.
But what is that server running for? And for whom? That remains out of the picture.
We come across it time and again:
Servers that FinOps says are “active” ... but do nothing except back themselves up every night.
No users, no business value, no need.
WILL cost.
WILL CO₂ emissions.
WILL delay when you do need it.
FinOps leaves that as it is. Because it runs.
Optimization takes it away. Because it doesn't do anything.
And that's the difference.
Optimization not only looks at what is running, but also at what it produces.
What is really being used and by whom.
What can be removed.
What can be reduced.
And what needs to be more powerful in order for your people to work productively.
FinOps shows you what you pay for.
Optimization shows you where you are wasting money.
And helps you solve that immediately.
Do you need another new tool for that?
No. Optimizing actually means fewer tools, not more.
Many companies think they need to buy FinOps software to gain insight. But FinOps is not higher math. It is primarily a way of looking at things: where is your money going and why?
Of course - vendors would like you to believe it's complicated. So they can justify their own billing. But if you really optimize, the information you really need will surface automatically. You'll see which costs provide value and which just take up space (and can be eliminated).
Even better: a really good optimization partner does not need expensive software to give you insight. Sciante, for example, is the only company in the Netherlands that works this way and gets five-star reviews for it.
We don't deliver a tool with a dashboard full of abstract graphs and technical terms.
But just a clear analysis. In human language. So that you know:
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Where you are overpaying
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Where you get nothing in return
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Where it can be smarter, smaller or more efficient
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And where exactly you need to invest for better performance
Optimizing is not the same as adding yet another tool to your landscape.
It is the shortest route to peace, overview and grip.
FinOps is part of that - but not the end goal.
It is a step in the analysis, not a solution in itself.
Do you really want to make a difference in costs and performance?
Then you don't start with a tool.
You start with optimization.
From insight to impact
FinOps provides insight.
But what if you want more than just knowing where your money is going, if you really want to get a grip on your spending, your performance and your technical foundation? Then it's time for optimization.
Not just another tool, but a partner who looks with you. Asks the right questions. And exposes blind spots.
So that your systems run more efficiently, your users are more productive and your cloud bill finally comes under control.
Wondering what that means for your organization?
Make an appointment.
Together we will look at where you are now and where you can be smarter, more efficient and more profitable.
📅 Schedule your appointment now.
🔍 And discover how much smarter your cloud can actually be.