Most public cloud consumers are either adopting a FinOps strategy or planning to do so. Those who aren’t? They may simply lack the bandwidth. If you’re a cloud managed service provider (MSP), you have a tremendous opportunity to help customers adopt FinOps. As a MSP, you can capitalize on this opportunity by integrating FinOps services across your entire cloud practice. FinOps can be incorporated in your managed services, application modernization, artificial intelligence, security, data and analytics, and cloud migration offerings.
Evolving with your customers’ needs
The landscape of cloud infrastructure is rapidly changing. Today’s organizations have progressed from seeking an understanding of cloud spending to adopting more strategic approaches to managing cloud costs.
Initially, the focus was on cost visibility—gaining insights into who was spending money in the cloud and on what. This emphasis on transparency laid the foundation for deeper engagement with your customers. As cloud adoption accelerated, organizations shifted into the era of cost management. In this era, organizations were somewhat siloed and reactive, aiming to identify savings opportunities through technical capabilities.
Now, we find ourselves in the era of FinOps, when organizations are adopting collaborative and proactive strategies. This approach unites technical, business, and finance teams, enabling MSPs to align more closely with their customers’ goals. The focus has shifted from merely reducing costs to maximizing the overall business value of cloud investments.
By adopting FinOps, partners can better understand and serve their end customers, fostering stronger relationships and driving mutual success. In this blog, we’ll walk through key opportunities for how MSPs can drive FinOps adoption. These opportunities are aligned with the core elements of the FinOps Framework.
MSP opportunities aligned with the FinOps principles
The FinOps principles are guiding statements that the FinOps practitioner community adheres to. These can be adapted for MSPs as follows.
- Teams need to collaborate. MSPs can capitalize on this opportunity by fostering engagement across finance, technology, product, and business teams. This interconnected approach not only enhances the overall effectiveness of services but also opens up new avenues for growth and opportunity. (See “More personas, more opportunity,” below.)
- Everyone takes ownership for their cloud usage. MSPs can seize this opportunity by helping customers drive accountability for both usage and costs across their entire organization and at the individual level.
- FinOps data should be accessible and timely. MSPs can offer real-time cost reporting and analysis to customers, ensuring they have the information they require precisely when they need it. A FinOps Certified Platform, like Ternary, can power your services.
- Decisions are driven by the business value of the cloud. MSPs can support customers in making informed trade-offs across the “iron triangle” for FinOps: AI, carbon, and cost. Specifically, you can guide organizations to balance the adoption of AI, measuring carbon impact, and controlling costs.
- Take advantage of the variable cost model of the cloud. MSPs can provide services to help customers continuously optimize their environments, ensuring they adapt to changing needs and usage patterns. These services could help customers maximize their cloud investments while reducing waste.
- A centralized team drives FinOps. MSPs can help customers build their own FinOps team. Alternatively, they can serve as customers’ outsourced FinOps team. By leading with clear, road-tested FinOps-adoption guidance, MSPs can enable customers to build an effective FinOps practice.
More personas, more opportunities
Understanding the various personas within an organization opens up new opportunities for service development and messaging. Core personas include FinOps Practitioner, Engineering, Product, Leadership, Finance, and Procurement. By recognizing the typical business challenges faced by each persona, you can tailor your communications effectively.
What about allied personas—e.g., Sustainability, IT Asset Management (ITAM), IT Financial Management (ITFM), Security, and IT Service Management (ITSM)? You should consider them in your service delivery model, too. In fact, it’s crucial to build services that foster collaboration among core and allied roles. Encouraging your customers to collaborate with stakeholders across their organization enhances your offerings’ effectiveness and drives greater business value.
Build tiered service offerings around domains and capabilities
As a partner in the FinOps space, you have a unique opportunity to build tiered service offerings centered around key domains and capabilities that align with your customers’ business outcomes. The FinOps Domains—understanding cloud usage and costs, quantifying business value, optimizing cloud resources, and managing the FinOps practice—represent the goals your customers strive to achieve. By identifying which specific capabilities to include in your service offerings, you can tailor your approach to meet their needs effectively.
Benchmark customers against the FinOps lifecycle
You can guide your customers through the FinOps lifecycle by benchmarking their progress and developing targeted playbooks. A successful FinOps practice is defined by continuous iteration and improvement, as organizations progress through three phases: Inform, Optimize, and Operate. Additionally, they may operate at different maturity levels within each capability throughout the lifecycle, following a “Crawl, Walk, Run” approach.
By aligning your services with the FinOps lifecycle, you can help organizations assess their current capabilities and maturity levels. You can also pinpoint areas for growth and help them effectively transition from one phase to the next. This strategic alignment does more than enhance the value you provide your customers. It also positions you as a vital partner in their FinOps journey.
A trusted partner for your success
Partnering with a FinOps tool vendor can further enhance your alignment with the FinOps Framework. Ternary is the leading FinOps solution for MSPs. Our team members include early leaders from CloudHealth and Cloudability. We helped drive the evolution from cost management to FinOps. We know where the market has been, and we understand where it is going. Ternary has the platform and expertise to help you accelerate business growth, boost profitability, and continuously deliver value to your customers.
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