AWS re:Invent – Kion, the leading automated CloudOps platform for multicloud, will be showcasing its vision for the integration of FinOps and CloudOps practices to deliver more efficient, secure, and cost-effective cloud operations at AWS re:Invent 2024. With the rise of AI and multicloud expansion, the future of FinOps is going to require more governance related efforts to help organizations maintain control of spend and automate cloud operations efforts. Kion aims to promote a culture of innovation through increased collaboration of FinOps and CloudOps teams and processes to deliver on requirements for increased visibility, automated policies, and financial enforcements.
While dedicated FinOps teams remain crucial in fostering cost-awareness and educating stakeholders, the future of FinOps will focus on less reactive optimization and more proactive governance to avoid waste, better manage cloud spend, and govern AI innovation. CloudOps teams are uniquely suited to implement governance processes and automation – uniting the success of FinOps practices with the capabilities and collaboration of CloudOps teams. Without the right resources and approach, organizations could face cost overruns, overprivileged access, and time-intensive tasks.
“Despite the laser focus on business value of technology projects, 97% of organizations IDC surveyed in 2024 admitted to ‘wasting’ or ‘underutilizing’ public cloud spend with a quarter of organizations citing over 30% of their cloud spend as waste. Time to value is extremely crucial when implementing FinOps practices and solutions,” said Archana Venkatraman, Senior Research Director, Cloud Governance and Cloud Data Management, IDC Europe. “This means capitalizing on existing CloudOps-based skills and governance frameworks can become a solid starting point to implement FinOps. CloudOps, with experienced professionals, guardrails and automation capabilities like those from Kion, help extend cost accountability quickly without burdening the DevOps team. In fact, cost savings and efficient/optimized IT were the top two business outcomes expected from CloudOps in the survey, indicating the symbiotic synergies between CloudOps and FinOps.”
By embracing automation and proactive governance, organizations can achieve greater efficiency and cost savings while innovating faster. Combining CloudOps and FinOps practices also helps eliminate risk, securing your cloud and your budget. Kion refers to this as the ‘governance by default’ approach, making the following possible:
- Visibility into security and financials across your organization
- Guardrails to control and define what accounts or roles can or can’t do
- Automation to enforce guardrails and stop the busy work
- Enhanced security to reduce the risk of overprivileged access
- Cost management strategies that prevent cost overruns before they happen
With a ‘governance by default’ approach, the interconnectedness of identity, compliance, and cost are realized and managed together. This creates real value and enables your FinOps practice to be more successful.
“The future of FinOps needs CloudOps. At Kion, we believe the future of cloud operations includes an increase in responsibilities related to FinOps. This is because CloudOps teams, both historically and going forward, are asked to focus on governing the cloud,” said Brian Price, CEO at Kion. “Traditionally, that tends to look like provisioning accounts or monitoring for compliance concerns, however the future of FinOps is going to require more governance related efforts to help organizations proactively maintain control of their spend. This is why Kion’s vision is focused on solving governance holistically within a single platform – uniting the priorities of cloud operators, FinOps practitioners, and compliance professionals.”
In addition to recent FinOps, Identity and Access Management, and compliance capabilities within the platform, Kion is also expanding support for artificial intelligence (AI) use cases with proactive governance through a Kion AI Jumpstart. The AI Jumpstart enables administrators to control access and usage of AWS/Azure AI services, preventing AI services from being created in specific accounts or across the organization. Additionally, Kion has released additional guardrails for AWS Bedrock applications that safeguard against harmful generative AI content, as well as monitor and enforce token usage to curb costs.
“Many businesses are finding themselves back at a reset stage where they’re once again faced with out-of-control cloud costs, and AI exploration is a primary culprit. The intersection of FinOps and AI has become critical,” said Tatum Tummins, Senior FinOps Product Manager at Kion. “As a FinOps practitioner, I am eager to share my perspective with AWS users on how the future of the FinOps practice hinges on its unification with CloudOps. Embracing FinOps as part of CloudOps ensures organizations can achieve cost savings, in addition to a well-maintained cloud infrastructure that promotes innovation while also eliminating risk.”
Kion at re:Invent
- Join Tummins for a Lightning Talk titled “The Future of FinOps is CloudOps” on Tuesday, December 3 at 4:30PM PST in Theatre 4, located in the Data and ML Pavilion.
- Visit Kion on the expo floor at booth #1957 between the AWS Village and Keynote area. Schedule a meeting or demo with Kion at the booth.
About Kion
Kion automates CloudOps with a single platform providing policy-based identity, FinOps, and compliance for multicloud infrastructure. Kion helps organizations achieve ‘governance by default’ through improved visibility, automation, guardrails, and guidance across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI environments. This helps enterprises reduce complexity, eliminate chaos, and minimize manual work so they can innovate faster with less risk. Wherever they are on their cloud journey, Kion empowers organizations to confidently provision accounts, maintain financial control, and ensure compliance with security regulations. Kion serves leading commercial, higher education, and government agencies including Indeed, Verizon, NASA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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