Cloud FinOps: Collaborative, Real-Time Cloud Financial Management

This is THE book to help you establish, maintain and improve the FinOps practice at your company. There is so much useful information and real-world examples in this book, written by people who are deeply experienced in the industry. Unlike other books out there, this is platform- and service-agnostic, so you can get a well-rounded understanding of the principles of FinOps to apply to whichever provider(s) you are utilizing.

Do not hesitate to buy this book for yourself and copies for your team/ colleagues! You will be an evangelist and expert in no time!

When I started looking at what was truly different about cloud for a CIO, the ability to manage the freedom you have to re-purchase every single piece of hardware in your virtual datacenter every single day in a different size, different scale, different place, different speed, different technology or different level of support seemed to be the one big thing CIOs had never had to do before.

FinOps gives you the tools to do it, and the book provides a framework for thinking about how to set up a FinOps practice in your org that will help you do this effectively. This isn't a discipline to muddle through. If you're spending money in the cloud, you are wasting some of it. Read the book and learn how to get the visibility you need and take the actions that will let you use cloud effectively.

If you're looking to save money in the cloud, FinOps will help you. But if you're looking to MAKE money in the cloud, FinOps will help you even more.

I wouldn't really recommend any other related books to FinOps because this renders all others obsolete. Truly a priceless resource.

Really helped educate me on the topic and to pass the exam

"Cloud FinOps" by J.R. Storment, Mike Fuller, and Corey Quinn offers a comprehensive guide to managing cloud costs and optimizing financial operations in a cloud environment. Here's a summary of the key data points and concepts presented in the book:

FinOps Foundation: The book introduces the FinOps Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing best practices for cloud financial management. It provides a framework for organizations to manage cloud costs effectively.

Three core FinOps principles: The authors outline three core principles that guide the FinOps approach: Collaboration, Visibility, and Optimization.

Collaboration: FinOps encourages cross-functional collaboration between finance, IT, and business teams to align financial and technical goals.

Visibility: To make informed decisions, organizations need visibility into their cloud costs. The book suggests setting up dashboards, tagging resources, and tracking costs by service, department, and project.

Optimization: The authors emphasize the importance of cost optimization strategies like rightsizing instances, leveraging reserved instances or savings plans, using auto-scaling, and adopting spot instances.

The FinOps lifecycle: The book presents a lifecycle for FinOps that consists of three phases: Inform, Optimize, and Operate. This lifecycle helps organizations iteratively improve their cloud financial management.

Cloud cost allocation: The authors discuss various methods for allocating cloud costs to the appropriate business units or departments, such as chargeback and showback models.

Budgeting and forecasting: The book offers guidance on creating budgets and forecasts for cloud spending, taking into account factors like historical data, projected growth, and business objectives.

Cloud cost monitoring and enforcement: The authors stress the need for monitoring compliance with cost policies and addressing any violations to ensure effective cost management.

Training and education: To ensure success in FinOps, the book highlights the importance of ongoing education and training for team members to stay current with cloud cost management best practices.

In summary, "Cloud FinOps" provides a practical guide for organizations looking to manage their cloud costs effectively and optimize financial operations in the cloud. The book covers a wide range of topics, from collaboration and visibility to optimization and enforcement, offering valuable insights and strategies for navigating the complexities of cloud financial management.

The book is clearly written and effectively provides you a full course on FinOps. From the history to the technicals its all here on a subject that in my opinions the Cloud industry still is not sure how to manage Cloud Financials.