Due to the central importance that the monitoring and control of costs has in business and the growing ubiquity of cloud technology, FinOps is developing into its own distinct technology ecosystem that is challenging the dominance of public cloud providers’ native tools. The innovation in this field is bearing fruit as the offerings of the startups offer greater features and cross-functionality across cloud environments than those of the oligopoly, who are highly incentivized to keep clients locked into their offerings. Cross-functionality and flexibility are essential to get the most savings from FinOps; interdisciplinary teams of finance professionals, engineers, and technicians must work together so that the best tools will be those that facilitate their cooperation. These features will be even more important due to the increased deployment in the cloud of valuable but complex technologies, such as AI, machine learning, and automation. FinOps is an essential niche requiring executive-level attention since it is as essential to business as the cloud.
