FinOps Monday

December 1, 2025

Unlocking Azure Cost Efficiency

I wrote this someplace else, but feel like it should go here as well.
As we kick off the week, let’s talk about something that sets the tone for every successful cloud strategy: cost visibility and accountability in Azure.

Why FinOps Matters…in Azure

  • Cloud spend is accelerating: Organizations often underestimate the pace at which costs scale in Azure. Without governance, budgets spiral quickly.
  • FinOps bridges finance and engineering: It’s not just about saving money—it’s about aligning technical decisions with business outcomes.
  • Azure-native tools are evolving: Services like Cost Management + Billing, Advisor recommendations, and Policy enforcement are becoming more powerful tools your organization can use to deliver cost effective solutions.

Three Insightful Moves for Azure

  • Start with tagging discipline: Ensure every resource has consistent tags for owner, environment, and cost center. This unlocks granular reporting and accountability.
  • Review reserved instances and savings plans: Mondays are perfect for checking utilization rates. Are your commitments aligned with actual workloads? Get them behind reservations and check them on FinOps Friday 🙂
  • Enable anomaly detection: Azure Cost Management now supports alerts for unusual spend patterns. Catching spikes early prevents end-of-month surprises. Be careful with this, as it sometimes alerts for spikes of 40 cents or something intangible, just because the change fits in their detection.

Storytelling with Data

FinOps isn’t just about crunching numbers—it’s about turning spend data into narratives executives can act on. For example:

  • Show how a Kubernetes cluster’s autoscaling reduced costs by 18% last week.
  • Highlight that shifting from premium storage to standard saved $12K annually.
  • Frame every insight in terms of business impact, not just technical metrics.

Call to Action

This week, challenge your org to:

  • Audit unused resources—VMs, disks, and IPs that are quietly draining budgets.
  • Revisit governance policies—are they preventing shadow IT and sprawl?
  • Share wins across departments—celebrate cost optimizations as business victories, not just IT housekeeping.

FinOps is a journey, not a destination. Where we are going, we don’t need….roads?