Elevate Your FinOps Maturity
Insights from the CFM Capability Assessment
Steph Gooch
Amazon Employee
Published Apr 25, 2025
In this episode of the "Keys to AWS Optimization" show, hosts Stephanie Gooch (Senior Solutions Architect Advocate) and Savanna Jensen (Senior FinOps Success Manager) guide us through the key takeaways from the AWS Cloud Financial Management (CFM) capability assessment. They are joined by Wade, a member of the OPTICS team, to provide an in-depth look at this valuable tool for quantifying and improving FinOps practices.
1. The CFM capability assessment is a comprehensive evaluation that examines 39 different capabilities across an organization's FinOps practice, providing a benchmarked score and roadmap for improvement.
2. The assessment involves both technical and business/finance stakeholders, promoting cross-functional collaboration and breaking down silos.
3. Conducting the assessment periodically (e.g., annually) allows companies to track their progress and demonstrate improvements to executive sponsors.
4. The assessment results in tailored recommendations for the next 6-12 months, empowering organizations to take targeted action towards FinOps maturity.
5. Effective FinOps requires a balance of technical and business metrics, with a focus on unit-level cost metrics to align with business growth.
6. Leveraging AWS tools like Compute Optimizer, AWS Budgets, and anomaly detection can help identify cost optimization opportunities and proactively address spending anomalies.
7. Building an executive-level sponsor for FinOps initiatives and networking with industry peers (e.g., through the FinOps Foundation) are key to driving sustainable change.
2. The assessment involves both technical and business/finance stakeholders, promoting cross-functional collaboration and breaking down silos.
3. Conducting the assessment periodically (e.g., annually) allows companies to track their progress and demonstrate improvements to executive sponsors.
4. The assessment results in tailored recommendations for the next 6-12 months, empowering organizations to take targeted action towards FinOps maturity.
5. Effective FinOps requires a balance of technical and business metrics, with a focus on unit-level cost metrics to align with business growth.
6. Leveraging AWS tools like Compute Optimizer, AWS Budgets, and anomaly detection can help identify cost optimization opportunities and proactively address spending anomalies.
7. Building an executive-level sponsor for FinOps initiatives and networking with industry peers (e.g., through the FinOps Foundation) are key to driving sustainable change.
"The CFM capability assessment is a way for us to quantify a FinOps practice at a customer. It tries to look at all areas of their FinOps practice across 39 different capabilities." - Wade, OPTICS team
If you're interested in conducting a CFM capability assessment for your organization, reach out to your AWS account team or explore the options for working with an AWS-certified partner. Stay tuned for more insights and best practices by subscribing to the "Keys to AWS Optimization" YouTube channel.
Youtube link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_2bzTYDdGqg
Any opinions in this post are those of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of AWS.