Adedeji Awolesi

On November 11 – 14, FinOps practitioners from all over the world gathered at the beautiful W Hotel in Barcelona. They came together to discuss FinOps. The event was hosted by FinOps Foundation. It brought together industry leaders, technology professionals, financial managers and FinOps enthusiasts.

In today’s blog post, I will share highlights of the event. I will also discuss key takeaways. Finally, I will discuss what to look ahead for FinOps in 2025.

Journey to Barcelona

Earlier in September, I got my ticket for the event issued by the organizers. As a Cloud DevOps FinOps consultant, I got excited. This experience will give me the opportunity to learn from thought leaders. I will also have the chance to network with my peers. Additionally, I can tour the vibrant architectural city of Barcelona (Birthday tour).

The theme for this event was clear; FinOps is a necessity for organizations adopting cloud transformation. The choice for city and venue added more brilliance to the event.

Key Highlight

• Keynote Sessions – They key note sessions for the event was insightful. Top professionals in the field took the stage. They discussed where cloud financial management is heading. They also talked about how FinOps is changing to handle the issues that come with using multiple clouds. One of the topic that caught my attention in the keynote by J.R Storment (Executive Director FinOps Foundation) was the concept of “Scopes”. FinOps is now expanding its framework scope to Datacentre and SaaS. To read more , click scopes and to learn more from the sessions, click here.
• FinOps for AI & AI for FinOps – AI adoption is a driving force for many organizations. Businesses want to leverage use of AI to meet workload and productivity. I loved the way FinOps for AI and AI for FinOps was differentiated. “AI for FinOps involves tools that help practitioners. These tools help them get the best value from the cloud. FinOps for AI consists of practices and techniques that help people when building AI applications and training their models.“

• FOCUS – Focus also took the center stage at the event. With the introduction of Focus v.1 at FinOps X 2024 in San Diego, Focus is becoming an industry standard for cloud billing. All major cloud providers (AWS, AZURE, GCP & Oracle) have now adopted it. Practical use cases were presented. The organizers created a Focus Lab space and they encouraged interaction with Focus maintainers for feedback, testing and updates. I was certified for Focus Analyst practitioner before I departed for the conference.
• Chalkboard Talks and break out session – the line up for the speakers, sessions and chalkboard was top notch. The breakout sessions I attended were insightful most especially the chalkboard. I enjoyed the engagement, conversations and peer interactions between practitioners. I have now made up my mind to always attend chalk talk sessions at any FinOps event.
• Microsoft Event – I am a Microsoft MVP in Azure Management (Azure Cost, Resource & Configuration Management). There is no way I won’t attend Microsoft events at FinOps XE. It was great to reconnect with my Microsoft friends most especially Michael Franklin. I also heard updates from the Azure Cost Management team. It was engaging and I love how Microsoft is improving Microsoft Fabric and how its being embedded into FinOps hub. Massive shout-out to the team as we won the Global Microsoft Hackathon for the FinOps Hub project.

• Networking Event and Vendors – The networking events organized by vendors and the foundation were super good . The meals, drinks has the local Barcelona touch and the guest were more than super filled up. I also had an exciting time interacting with different vendors. I saw what their FinOps product offers. These tools can help accelerate cost optimization, cost allocation and governance within multiple cloud platform. Massive thank you to Synyega as I won their most prized raffle draw of the event.

• Community Call – Being an African professional in FinOps, it has always been my dream to propagate FinOps in Africa. I have done this while interacting with technology professionals from Africa. I have also accomplished this by giving talks at tech events in Africa. Some of these events include Microsoft Lagos 2023 and MCT/MVP Conference Abuja. I used this opportunity to speak to JR Storment about my goals for FinOPs Africa. He supported my goals. He advised me to meet some regional FinOps Directors who can advice and mentor me on achieving my aim. I am happy to announce that we have now launched FinOps Africa and did our first meetup in December 2024.

Key Takeaways

• FinOps is beyond the Cloud – With the introduction of new scopes, I believe FinOps will expand beyond the Cloud. Most of the FinOps terms, frameworks, capabilities and domains will need to be updated to adjust to current realities.
• Shift Left is now a Must – Organisations will consider adopting FinOps early. This will occur in the architecture and project development of cloud innovation solutions. There will be more emphasis on cost avoidance, cost insights in application development and integration of FinOps into DevOps.
• Automation is Key – Organization will start embracing automation because it improves efficiency. It also helps to achieve cost transparency and accountability.
• Adapting to new tools – With the influx of FinOps tooling, vendors will start thinking outside the box. They will offer clients with new features and functionality which will give the businesses competitive advantage.
• Education and Awareness – Adopting and building a FinOps culture requires ongoing education. It is not just for finance or technical teams but for every stakeholders involved in decision making.

Final Thoughts

FinOps XE Barcelona was a success. However, it cannot be compared to my experience in FinOps X San Diego as it was over the bar. The FinOps foundation announced they won’t host any big conferences in Europe this year. They plan to organize smaller one day events in different regions. If interested, For more information about community events, click on this link.

I am more motivated to help organizations navigate their FinOps journey. The knowledge and connections I gained in Barcelona will undoubtedly influence my approach in the months to come.

One thing is clear, the FinOps movement is gaining momentum. Organizations are moving beyond simply managing cloud costs. They are unlocking the full value of their cloud investments. I am already counting down the days to FinOps X 2025 (Please register if interested to attend). It will be held in San Diego between June 2nd to 5th.. I cannot wait to see how the field evolves, learn and network with FinOps practitioners worldwide.