The cloud brought unprecedented flexibility to companies, allowing resources to be provisioned with clicks. However, without active governance, this ease translates into inflated cloud bills and operational waste that erode business margins. This is where FinOps (Financial Operations) comes in.
In this article, we will cover practical techniques that our engineering team applies in our cloud infrastructure and FinOps consultancy to audit and optimize costs in AWS environments.
1. Identifying Oversized Instances (Right-sizing)
The most common mistake in cloud infrastructures is overprovisioning. Developers often choose instances with more CPU and RAM than the application actually needs "just in case."
How to act:
2. Cleaning Orphaned Resources and Idle Storage
Many companies pay for resources that are no longer connected to any active system.
What to audit:
3. Strategic Use of Reserved Instances and Savings Plans
For workloads that run 24/7 (such as production servers), paying the on-demand price (*On-Demand*) is the most expensive option.
The strategy:
Conclusion
FinOps is not a one-time project, but a culture of continuous improvement. By regularly auditing these pillars, your business keeps the infrastructure fast and resilient, ensuring that every cent invested in the cloud generates real value for the operation.