FinOps Weekly Podcast

Why FinOps for SaaS Is the Biggest Gap in Cloud Cost Management (And How to Tackle It)

Discover why SaaS spend is a black hole in FinOps with no tool to scrape it all into a single pane of glass. In this FinOps X interview, Peter Greenshaw shares actionable tips on building a single source of truth, optimizing licenses, working with procurement, and applying a FinOps mindset to SaaS renewals to cut waste and save money.

00:00 - Intro & Welcome to FinOps X San Diego
00:35 - Peter's Chalk Talk on FinOps for SaaS
01:06 - Why Chalk Talks Are So Valuable
01:23 - The Massive Gap: No Tool Scrapes SaaS Data
02:03 - FOCUS Adoption & Vendor Challenges
02:42 - Too Many SaaS Providers vs AI Vendors
03:11 - Poll Results: How Many SaaS Vendors Do You Have?
03:35 - Licensing Complexity: Concurrent vs Named Users
04:05 - Hyperscalers Are Solid, SaaS Is the Black Hole
04:38 - A Problem Since the 90s That Won't Go Away
05:14 - Tip 1: Build a Central Source of Truth
05:46 - Tip 2: Deep Dives on Big Spend & Contracts
06:07 - Make It Iterative, Not a Once-a-Year Task
06:57 - The Role of Finance & Procurement
08:11 - Offboarding: Stop Paying for Unused Vendors
08:53 - SaaS License Waste & Oversizing
09:37 - The Adobe Example: Match Licenses to Real Use
10:50 - Concurrent License Optimization Strategy
13:21 - Tools for Single Source of Truth (Spreadsheets!)
15:21 - Why Vendors Won't Solve This: An Industry Problem
16:17 - Advice: How to Get the Most Out of FinOps X
17:24 - The Power of Hallway Conversations & Networking
17:45 - Putting Faces (and Legs) to Names

More about FinOps Weekly

Newsletter: https://newsletter.finopsweekly.com/subscribe
Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/finopsweekly/shared_invite/zt-3pfhfat8l-~LgZCTy~1YtK8BZ87_ySPw
20% off on FinOps Certifications. Use code: FINOPSWEEKLY_20 at https://www.finops.org/training-certification
FinOps Weekly Courses: https://learn.finopsweekly.com
Collaborations: https://cal.com/smartclouds/finops-weekly

What does the future of FinOps and AI spend optimization look like heading into 2027?

In this interview recorded live at FinOps X in San Diego, we sit down with Zach Johnson to break down the biggest announcements, trends, and challenges shaping the FinOps landscape.

From token economics and AI ROI to data integration, automated dashboarding, and the alignment of engineering and finance, this conversation covers everything FinOps practitioners need to know to stay ahead. Learn why optimizing AI spend before it happens is the next frontier, what Tokenomicon 2027 might bring, and how to get the most out of FinOps X as a practitioner.

00:00 - Intro & Welcome at FinOps X San Diego
01:30 - Token Economics & Tokconomicon Announcements
04:00 - Defining ROI on AI Spend
06:30 - Normalizing Token Costs Across Providers
09:00 - How Data Integration Accelerates FinOps Decisions
11:30 - AI Replacing Manual Dashboards & Reports
13:30 - How to Get the Most Out of FinOps X
15:30 - FinOps Community: Sharing Knowledge & Benchmarking
17:00 - Predictions for AI Cost Optimization in 2027
18:30 - Wrap Up & See You at Tokconomicon 2027

More about FinOps Weekly

Newsletter: https://newsletter.finopsweekly.com/subscribe
Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/finopsweekly/shared_invite/zt-3pfhfat8l-~LgZCTy~1YtK8BZ87_ySPw
20% off on FinOps Certifications. Use code: FINOPSWEEKLY_20 at https://www.finops.org/training-certification
FinOps Weekly Courses: https://learn.finopsweekly.com
Collaborations: https://cal.com/smartclouds/finops-weekly

What Every FinOps Practitioner Needs to Know About Using AI to 10x Their Productivity

In this interview recorded live at FinOps X in San Diego, AWS FinOps expert Ricardo shares how he went from barely using AI to making it a core part of his daily workflow — tripling his productivity in just 3 months. From automating cost reports and detecting anomalies to building personal FinOps AI personas, this video covers the real, practical AI use cases that are transforming the FinOps practice today.

00:00 - Intro & Welcome at FinOps X San Diego
01:30 - Ricardo's AI Journey: From Certified to Actually Using It
03:30 - Using AI During Business Cadences for Cost Insights
05:30 - Automating Savings Plans Reports with Claude & CLI
08:00 - AI for Anomaly Detection & Root Cause Analysis
10:30 - AI Trends in FinOps: What's Coming Next
13:00 - Human-in-the-Loop: Fact-Checking & Staying Accountable
15:00 - Prompting Tips & Building Your FinOps AI Context
17:30 - How to Get the Most Out of FinOps X
19:30 - The Power of Sharing Knowledge in the FinOps Community

More about FinOps Weekly

Newsletter: https://newsletter.finopsweekly.com/subscribe
Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/finopsweekly/shared_invite/zt-3pfhfat8l-~LgZCTy~1YtK8BZ87_ySPw
20% off on FinOps Certifications. Use code: FINOPSWEEKLY_20 at https://www.finops.org/training-certification
FinOps Weekly Courses: https://learn.finopsweekly.com
Collaborations: https://cal.com/smartclouds/finops-weekly

How to get High Savings with Commitments using a Free FinOps Tool

Are you afraid to lock into a 3-year cloud contract because AI tech changes so fast? Buying on-demand burns your cash, but long commitments can trap your budget. Watch this FinOps X interview with Sarah from Archera to see how to get maximum cloud savings without the long-term risk.


0:00 – The trap of 3-year cloud commitments vs. on-demand pricing.
1:25 – How to get high savings with only a 30-day lock-in.
2:21 – Why the AI boom makes long-term cloud contracts dangerous.
3:50 – How "Guaranteed Commitments" work like insurance for your cloud bill.
5:05 – The Release or Rebate option: Getting a check for unused resources.
7:21 – Case Study: How Art.com saved $471,000 using this model.
8:39 – Why there is no SaaS fee and how to use the free open-source tools.
10:00 – How to get a free cost analysis in 24 hours.

https://www.finops.org/training-certification

Tokenomics & FinOps AI: Managing AI Costs in 2026

How tokenomics is reshaping FinOps in 2026: Ben from Vantage breaks down AI cost management, MCP, AI gateways, agentic workflows, and the new Canvas product launch at FinOps X San Diego.

Learn more about Vantage: https://hub.finopsweekly.com/company/vantage?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=finopsx_interview

Try Canvas at: https://www.vantage.sh/features/canvas?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=finopsx_interview

Learn how to manage and allocate AI and token costs with FinOps in this FinOps X interview. We cover the new Tokenomics Foundation, AI gateways like OpenRouter and LiteLLM, MCP integrations, agentic workflows, and Vantage's new AI-native Canvas product for building cost reports with a single prompt. Essential watch for anyone tracking cloud and AI spend in 2026.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro at FinOps X San Diego
00:58 - Most useful AI features for FinOps
02:28 - MCP support as table stakes
02:48 - Agentic workflows & autonomous agents
02:41 - The Cambrian explosion of AI providers
03:25 - The Tokenomics Foundation announcement
04:11 - Is tokenomics part of FinOps?
05:29 - Supporting customers with token costs
06:11 - Investing in AI before it was a story
07:30 - New providers: Neoclouds & inference
09:23 - Getting visibility first on AI costs
10:32 - AI models as the new EC2 instances
11:51 - Keeping up with constant model updates
13:24 - Standardizing on AI gateways
16:24 - Why gateways help enterprises
18:08 - Vantage's big launch: Canvas
19:54 - Building reports with a single prompt
23:27 - MCP adapters & new use cases
26:00 - What keeps Ben up at night
29:00 - The pace of AI change in FinOps
30:36 - The energy at FinOps X 2026
31:53 - Wrap up & goodbye

More about FinOps Weekly

Newsletter: https://newsletter.finopsweekly.com/subscribe
Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/finopsweekly/shared_invite/zt-3pfhfat8l-~LgZCTy~1YtK8BZ87_ySPw
20% off on FinOps Certifications. Use code: FINOPSWEEKLY_20 at https://www.finops.org/training-certification
FinOps Weekly Courses: https://learn.finopsweekly.com
Collaborations: https://cal.com/smartclouds/finops-weekly

The Hidden AI Cost: Why Block Storage is Ruining Your Cloud Bill

Are you buying too much cloud storage for your AI projects? When teams get new GPUs, they often buy double or triple the storage they need just to be safe.

In this FinOps Weekly interview, live from San Diego. Ryan from Datafy reveals why block storage is a silent budget killer. While AWS offers discount plans for compute resources, attached storage has no savings plans. This makes it a top cost on your cloud bill. Ryan shares his insights from working 5 years at AWS. He explains exactly why shrinking a cloud volume is so hard and how to cut the waste with zero downtime.

Stop paying for empty space. Watch to learn the simple command you can run this Monday to see if your file system is sitting empty and wasting your money.

0:00 – The silent block storage cost explosion.
1:02 – Why teams double or triple their AI storage space.
2:13 – The big problem with AWS EC2 and attached storage.
3:50 – How storage waste multiplies across your golden images.
5:35 – Why it is so hard to shrink cloud volumes without losing data.
8:23 – How the AI boom and LLMs force storage costs to grow.
11:21 – The exact Monday morning check you must run to find waste.
12:08 – Ryan's inside view from 5 years working at AWS.

Newsletter: https://newsletter.finopsweekly.com/subscribe
Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/finopsweekly/shared_invite/zt-3pfhfat8l-~LgZCTy~1YtK8BZ87_ySPw
20% off on FinOps Certifications. Use code: FINOPSWEEKLY_20 at https://www.finops.org/training-certification
FinOps Weekly Courses: https://learn.finopsweekly.com
Collaborations: https://cal.com/smartclouds/finops-weekly

What's going to happen with FinOps in 2027 explained by an industry Veteran.

The cloud bill is changing fast. Soon, your biggest costs will not be servers, but AI tokens bought by HR and sales. Watch this interview with Erik Peterson at FinOpsX 2026 in San Diego to prepare for Tokenomicon 2027 and protect your budget.

0:00 Live from FinOps X: The massive shift to "Tokeconomics"
03:45 Why HR and Sales are now writing code (and spending your money)
08:20 Tokenomicon vs FinOps X: The big community debate
12:50 AI is coming for your job (Why this is a promotion)
17:35 Cloud waste vs. AI waste: What is the difference?
21:10 The Build vs. Buy trap with AI tools
24:45 Why you need a "Financial Control Plane" right now
28:30 Jevons Paradox: Why cheaper tokens mean a higher cloud bill
30:45 What you must do before Tokconomicon 2027

More about FinOps Weekly

Newsletter: https://newsletter.finopsweekly.com/subscribe
Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/finopsweekly/shared_invite/zt-3pfhfat8l-~LgZCTy~1YtK8BZ87_ySPw
20% off on FinOps Certifications. Use code: FINOPSWEEKLY_20 at https://www.finops.org/training-certification
FinOps Weekly Courses: https://learn.finopsweekly.com
Collaborations: https://cal.com/smartclouds/finops-weekly

How to Cut Data Platform Costs on Snowflake, Databricks & BigQuery with FinOps and Autonomous AI Optimization

Data platform spend has exploded from 5% to 30–50% of the total cloud bill, and most teams have no idea where the waste is hiding. In this FinOps Weekly interview, Kunal (CEO of Unravel Data) breaks down why data FinOps is completely different from cloud FinOps, how query inefficiency silently burns millions, and how autonomous AI agents are closing the execution gap for enterprise data teams at scale.

00:00 - Intro & Guest Presentation
01:02 - Why Data Platform Spend Has Exploded to 30–50% of Cloud Bills
02:05 - Data FinOps vs. Cloud FinOps: Key Differences
03:17 - How Query Inefficiency Drives Massive Cost Waste
04:48 - The Scale Challenge: Petabytes, Millions of Queries & Non-Expert Users
06:55 - Visibility in Business Context: Attributing Costs to Users & Workloads
08:27 - Detecting Inefficiencies & Prioritizing by Financial Impact
10:22 - Why Developers Are Not Incentivized to Optimize Cost
11:07 - Performance and Cost as Two Sides of the Same Coin
12:13 - Explaining Problems in Plain English to Close the Knowledge Gap
14:03 - The FinOps Execution Gap: From Insight to Action
15:02 - Autonomous Enforcement: Human-in-the-Loop vs. Fully Autonomous
16:25 - The Watchdog: Validating Fixes and Protecting SLAs
17:34 - AI-Powered Code Rewriting and Why LLMs Alone Are Not Enough
19:22 - Integrating with GitHub for Shift-Left Cost Prevention
20:39 - Infrastructure Optimization: Dynamic Cluster Sizing in Snowflake & Databricks
22:30 - Interactive vs. Job Clusters: A Hidden 4x Cost Mistake
24:03 - AI Workloads on Data Platforms: The Next Cost Explosion
27:51 - Persona-Based Autonomous Agents for FinOps, DataOps & Quality
31:29 - Building the Full-Stack Data FinOps Product
32:16 - Wrap-Up & Final Thoughts

The FinOps Value Map: How to Connect Your Cloud Bill to Real Revenue

Are you doing "half FinOps" by just cutting costs without showing the real business value? Saving money is great, but if you cannot prove the return on investment to your executives, your cloud budget is still at risk. Watch this FinOps X interview with Pankaj to learn how to build a 6-layer Value Map that connects every dollar spent to real business results.

Video Breakdown

0:00 – Live from FinOps X 2026: The "Half FinOps" trap.
2:48 – Why absolute dollar savings are meaningless to your business.
5:21 – The 6-Layer FinOps Value Map explained.
8:51 – How to use this free tool for an online marketplace.
11:41 – FinOps X 2026 takeaways: The massive shift to AI and Tokens.
15:05 – The future of cloud ROI and measuring unit costs.

You have the data, but your cloud bill is still too high. The real problem is the execution gap. Watch this interview with Roni from Wiv to see how AI agents can automate your cloud tasks without writing a single line of code. 

Video Breakdown
0:00 – Live from FinOps X 2026: AI and the Execution Gap
1:52 – Why the "Execution Gap" is the biggest cloud cost challenge
4:57 – How AI prompt engineering is replacing old BI dashboards
8:15 – Build custom cost automation without waiting for a developer
10:11 – The blast radius: Why your AI agent needs a human co-pilot
13:48 – How to build specific AI agents for database and compute costs
18:34 – The Sora warning: Why companies will stop paying for useless AI
20:56 – Tokenomicon 2027: Will AI agents replace your cloud job?

About This Video

Are you stuck looking at cloud dashboards without actually saving money?In this episode of FinOps Weekly, we sit down with Roni from Whip at FinOps X San Diego. We dive into the biggest problem in cloud cost management today: the execution gap. You will learn how to use AI to build custom automation workflows instantly. You no longer need to wait for a DevOps engineer to write the scripts for you.Roni explains how to use AI agents safely, keep the error radius small, and control the explosive growth of AI token costs. If you want to stop doing manual tasks and start managing your infrastructure budget the smart way, this conversation gives you the exact blueprint.

Newsletter: https://newsletter.finopsweekly.com/subscribe
Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/finopsweekly/shared_invite/zt-3pfhfat8l-~LgZCTy~1YtK8BZ87_ySPw
20% off on FinOps Certifications. Use code: FINOPSWEEKLY_20 at https://www.finops.org/training-certification
FinOps Weekly Courses: https://learn.finopsweekly.com
Collaborations: https://cal.com/smartclouds/finops-weekly