The report, titled "Now is the Time for FinOps," reveals that nearly three-quarters (74%) of organisations are struggling to optimise their cloud spending, with over half (51%) anticipating a change to their cloud strategy in response to cost pressures. Findings are based on a recent survey conducted by Censuswide of over 700 business and technology leaders at Head or C-suite level across the UK and US.

The primary goal of FinOps (financial operations) is to ensure that cloud resources are used efficiently, minimising waste and maximising value. An effective FinOps strategy could mean the difference between bankruptcy and survival for many businesses.

The combined influences of the rapid advancements of generative AI, inflationary cost pressures, and sustainability concerns are forcing organisations to look closely and scrutinise ballooning cloud costs as their utilisation increases. As a result, the research finds that more and more organisations are turning to FinOps for the first time.

Businesses have faced a spate of price hikes in recent years, including a 2.8% price increase year-on-year in data processing and hosting. While many organisations surveyed report deploying a range of methods to curb expenses (65% focus on storage optimisation and 59% increase cost visibility and monitoring), these processes only offer short-term solutions.

While many organisations have looked towards a multi-cloud strategy to drive greater efficiencies, two thirds (66%) of respondents state that having a multi-cloud strategy is more complex than they had anticipated. With better visibility, organisations believe they could reduce cloud spending by up to 20%.

In addition to financial pressures, companies are also facing growing demands from investors and the public to reduce carbon emissions amidst environmental concerns and rising energy prices. Four in five respondents (81%) state that their organisations have a focus on Green Ops (green operations) this year.

As a result, more and more CIOs are considering FinOps as a holistic approach to tackle these issues. However, just under half (45%) of organisations characterise their FinOps maturity as 'being at the ability to walk', and 36% believe they have progressed to 'the ability to run'.

Matt Lockyer, Platforms Practice Lead at esynergy said: “FinOps is the smartest thing a CIO can do. It is clear from our research that few people have a good understanding of FinOps, despite how crucial it is to business profitability in a digital age. Having a good understanding of your systems and costs is make-or-break for companies.”