Scaling FinOps: How One Enterprise Saved $19M While Scaling Cloud Growth
As enterprises push forward on AI and cloud-first strategies, one variable remains stubbornly opaque: cost accountability. IT budgets balloon. Forecasts falter. CFOs and CIOs are left scrambling to explain where the money went and why the returns lag behind expectations.
FinOps offers a way forward. Not just as a technical function or financial reporting layer, but as a cross-functional discipline that links cloud investment with business execution. One global pharmaceutical manufacturer proved what’s possible when FinOps is not treated as an afterthought, but built into the rhythm of operations.
From Cloud Migration to Financial Chaos
Recently, this organization committed to exiting 14 data centers and consolidating down to three, moving the rest of its operations to the cloud through a major lift-and-shift. Optimization was slated for later. That “later” never came.
Soon, cloud costs skyrocketed. Forecasts were shattered. Visibility evaporated. This scenario is all too common: according to Gartner, 72% of enterprises overspent on cloud in the past fiscal year, and over 60% reported that their budgets were routinely exceeded.
Building the FinOps Engine from the Inside Out
With no clear owner and a ballooning problem, internal leaders stepped up. What began with two analysts and a spreadsheet quickly turned into a dedicated FinOps effort. The first year alone saw $8 million in savings, achieved through tagging discipline, discount commitments, and organizational focus.
And the opportunity was far from unique. According to McKinsey Digital, most enterprises have 10–20% in untapped cloud savings available through better FinOps maturity and operational coordination.
Scaling FinOps Through Automation and Accountability
After the initial triage, the team scaled. Reporting moved into Cloudability. Optimization was automated through IBM Turbonomic, with changes routed via ServiceNow for compliance. A single report recommendation could initiate a change, trigger review and approval, and then implement optimizations without manual overhead. Every step respected the regulatory guardrails of a heavily governed pharmaceutical environment.
Going beyond just scaling the work, automation embedded control and auditability into the FinOps process.
The Hard Part: Motivating People to Act
Even the best tools don’t press buttons. Hundreds of application owners still had to engage. So the team turned to motivation. Gamification. Public dashboards. Departmental challenges.
The results? Over 100 stakeholders leaned in, and cumulative savings hit $19 million. But they weren’t alone in facing this cultural hurdle. As the FinOps Foundation reports, 40% of FinOps teams cite “motivating people to act” as their biggest challenge. Even more than tooling or process gaps.
Change Management Is the Make-or-Break Factor
Once the easy wins dried up, progress depended on consensus. Application teams, compliance leaders, finance controllers, and IT ops all had to agree. That meant negotiation, compromise, executive sponsorship, and persistence.
This change demanded operational commitment, not just technical adjustments. The teams that made it work redefined how decisions got made and ensured dashboards reflected action, not just reporting.
What This Teaches Us About Scalable FinOps
Sustainable cloud savings don’t come from one team—they come from orchestrated action. This enterprise absorbed 18% of its cloud growth through FinOps-fueled savings, even while maintaining healthy expansion to support innovation.
The tools you choose matter less than the organizational conditions you build around them. When aligned with strong accountability and culture, those tools can drive real action.
Don’t Wait for a Crisis to Get Strategic
FinOps maturity builds resilience. It clarifies ownership. It disciplines growth. The time to build it is before a budget crisis, not after.
Whether you’re managing a few million in cloud costs or hundreds of millions in digital infrastructure, intelligent orchestration begins with visibility and ownership. From there, automation, accountability, and alignment can scale.
