How Finance and Engineering Team Up for Cloud EfficiencyBridging the Gap Between Finance and Engineering to Reduce Cloud Cost

The text discusses the importance of aligning cloud cost management with business context by fostering collaboration between engineering and finance teams. It emphasizes that focusing solely on reducing individual resource costs may not yield sustainable results in the long run. Instead, understanding how cloud spending relates to revenue, products, and customers is crucial. The author shares his experience at Stripe, where finance and engineering teams joined forces to better understand cloud spending through a data-driven strategy. The text explores the concept of "cost per transaction" as a way to translate cloud costs into business-relevant terms. It also introduces rate cards, which set prices for units that internal services or teams offer, and can be built upon one another. The author suggests keeping rate cards fixed for a year and re-calculating them only when significant architectural changes occur. The text concludes by discussing the concept of Cloud Unit Economics, which focuses on profit maximization through objective measurements. It highlights the growing focus on the FinOps Foundation, dedicated to advancing individuals practicing cloud financial management through best practices.