Essential FinOps Metrics That You Must Be Tracking

Conducting cloud assessments is essential, but they are ineffective if you are not looking at the right metrics.?

There are many factors to consider when going over your cloud infrastructure and metrics each month, quarter, and year, and depending on your cloud goals, you could be looking at different metrics than another business might be. However, there are some standard metrics that every business should be tracking when reviewing their FinOps assessment.?

1. Cost Per Customer?

The cost per customer tells you the total cost to serve a customer. This includes not only the acquisition but also the cloud infrastructure and support necessary to keep them in the system.?

Knowing this metric is essential to gaining insights into each customer and the profitability from their onboarding. It will also help you pinpoint high-value customers so you can focus on retaining them, spot cost-saving opportunities, and make informed pricing decisions.?

2. Resource Utilization Rate?

Your resource utilization rate is an essential metric measuring how efficiently and effectively your business utilizes its cloud resources.?

This metric will help you understand whether you are getting the absolute most out of your resources and pave a course of action if you are not. Monitoring this metric will help you cut costs and remove unused or unnecessary resources from your cloud environment to ensure you stay optimized.?

3. Reserved Instance Coverage?

Reserved instances allow you to use a certain number of resources for a set period. It is essential to monitor this metric to ensure you are comparing your available resources with the number you are actually using.?

Tracking this metric can help maximize your cost-saving potential, as it will compare how many resources you use to how much your reserved instances plan allows. If you use less than the plan, you can downsize, saving money.?

4. Wasteful Spend Percentage?

You should consistently track the percentage of your cloud budget that goes toward idle resources or over-provisioned services. Doing this lets you visualize what you are spending and what can be reduced.?

Additionally, you will want to track untagged spending. Proper tagging in your cloud environment is essential to avoid untagged or untaggable resources mixing in with your tagged resources, distorting your spending patterns. By properly assessing this metric, you can keep your tags organized and optimized.?

5. Monthly Cloud-Spend Variance?

While tracking your forecasted and actual cloud expenses for the month is important, it can be even more essential to compare the two numbers and find your monthly cloud-spend variance.?

This metric gives you the opportunity to test the accuracy of your cloud forecasting and budgeting processes. If there are constant, significant variances month to month, it is time to reassess your forecasting procedures and make the proper budget adjustments.?

These are only five of the many FinOps metrics you should be tracking. With an increased number of trackable metrics, you can stay optimized in your cloud environment. If you have further questions or wish to conduct an assessment of your cloud infrastructure, send me a message or contact the team at FinOps Oversight.?