FinOps Shows Cloud Maturity

It arguably shows some new level of maturity for cloud computing when execs start looking at managing cloud costs as an integral part of the larger information technology budget. That is a more-refined level of analysis than the earlier question of whether enterprises should move compute functions away from owned infrastructure and “to the cloud.”

As a practical matter, execs now confront the possibility that dispersed ordering of cloud capabilities is inefficient, as when multiple contracts for cloud resources are let by different organizations within a single enterprise, for example. In other cases the issue might revolve around which cloud features need to be purchased. 

“FinOps is essentially an operating model for the cloud world,” says J.R. Storment, executive director of the FinOps Foundation. “It brings together a prescriptive set of actions, best practices and culture that enable disparate teams like engineering, finance, IT and business to come together to get the most value out of every dollar that they spend in cloud.”

Hybrid computing approaches add more weight to the value of FinOps, as computing operations become more decentralized.  

Modern Computing Alliance Aims for "Silicon to Cloud" Seamless Enterprise Computing

What Precisely C Suites Need to Know about AI is a Difficult Matter

One reason it often is hard to get telecom executive attention about artificial intelligence is that it is a feature of other products that are purchased to support networks, or features of products sold to customers, but not a discrete product in and of itself. 

Qualcomm, for example, notes how AI is used by its chipsets to improve the accuracy of signal propagation, and therefore the positioning of antennas to support indoor networks. Useful, of course, but telecom executives do not buy chipsets or even network elements but “networks and platforms.” 

source: Qualcomm 

While AI is useful for operations as well, such as call centers and customer service; or marketing analytics, it is not the sort of “thing” the C suite typically has to know much about. 

All of that makes AI content a tricky topic for organizers of telecom events. It is quite easy to err on the side of “AI hype,” which arguably is not useful, or in the direction of “how it works,” which also is generally unhelpful. 

The only thing that really matters to C suite executives is how AI materially affects all the other parts of the business model the C suite is responsible for, from product development to marketing, sales and support; network management to capital investment and overall operating costs. 

None of that is easy to do, right now. Edge computing and internet of things are easier to program, since they immediately raise the issue of incremental new revenue, which does get attention.