Tag: FinOps

If you manage invoices for dozens or hundreds of AWS payer accounts, you face repetitive console logins, individual file downloads, and manual data entry into your financial systems. Each billing cycle requires hours of administrative work as you navigate to the Console, download PDFs one by one, and organize files for compliance and record-keeping. This manual approach introduces […]

In this blog post, we cover how to manage the complete AWS Savings Plans lifecycle using the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) and SDK. AWS Savings Plans are a flexible pricing model that offers lower prices compared to On-Demand pricing, in exchange for a specific usage commitment (measured in $/hour) for a one or three […]

Your AWS bill reveals more than spend patterns; it can identify security issues. The AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) contains detailed usage data across your AWS Organization, enabling you to find cost optimization opportunities, allocate costs, and uncover potential security risks. In this post you’ll learn how you can use the AWS CUR to identify potential security issues in your environment. We share examples of potential risks, and the markers in the CUR […]

As you scale Generative AI usage with Amazon Bedrock, a common question emerges: “Which team, application, or user is driving the Bedrock spend?” Until now, answering that question required manual reconciliation correlating AWS CloudTrail logs with billing data to map API calls back to specific identities. That approach is time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult to maintain at scale. AWS has announced AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Principal-Based […]

In Part 1 of our series on improving cost visibility and observability, “Improve Cost Visibility and Observability with AWS Cost Categories – Part 1: Fundamentals and Basic Grouping Techniques”, we explored the fundamentals of AWS Cost Categories and demonstrated how to implement basic grouping techniques using regional dimensions, multiple dimensions, and split charges to enhance cost visibility across your AWS environment. Building on these fundamentals, this second installment of our AWS Cost Categories series explores advanced techniques and automation capabilities that can further enhance your cost management strategy.

Starting today, AWS Compute Optimizer introduces a new automation feature that streamlines how you optimize Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes. Instead of dedicating valuable engineering hours to optimization tasks, you can now create automation rules that continuously clean up unattached volumes and upgrade volume types based on Compute Optimizer’s data-driven recommendations, freeing your teams […]

We’re excited to announce enhanced forecasting capabilities in AWS Cost Explorer, now providing up to 18 months of future cost projections with improved accuracy and AI-powered explanations (preview). This extended forecast horizon addresses the need for long-term financial planning that aligns with enterprise fiscal cycles, while providing transparency into the drivers behind your cost forecasts.

Today AWS announced Cost and Usage data exports in FOCUS 1.2 specification. You can now create exports of your AWS Cost and Usage data in the FOCUS 1.2 schema. FOCUS (FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification), supported by the FinOps Foundation, is an open specification that standardizes Cost and Usage data to simplify cloud financial […]

AWS is committed to empowering the FinOps community with the knowledge, tools, and best practices needed to excel in cloud financial management. Our dedication to the FinOps community goes beyond providing world-class cloud services—we’re invested in your professional growth and success. Through our comprehensive digital training portfolio, we aim to equip FinOps professionals with the expertise needed to drive meaningful cost optimization, establish effective governance frameworks, and demonstrate clear business value from cloud investments. Today, we’re excited to share updates to our Cloud Financial Management training courses and introduce a specialized new course designed specifically for the growing demands of generative AI cost management.

The decision between Containers and Serverless Functions – or the implementation of both – should be driven by a thorough understanding of workload characteristics, cost implications, and operational requirements. As FinOps professionals, you should work closely with development and operations teams to analyze usage patterns, model costs under different scenarios, and consider factors like development velocity, operational overhead, and long-term maintainability. By leveraging the strengths of both Containers and Serverless technologies, you can build flexible, cost-effective cloud architectures that adapt to changing business needs while optimizing resource utilization and expenditure.