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FinOps · 04 of 4

FinOps Practice

Why it matters, how an engagement runs, the principles, the roles, the monthly rhythm and the lessons learned.

One sample plan NGT proposed
~2 monthsassess, plan and propose
~3 monthspilot
~7 monthslaunch and adoption
01

From surprise bills to owned costs

The five problems customers bring most often, and what changes once a FinOps practice runs.

Without FinOps With an NGT FinOps practice
Uncontrolled spendSurprise bills from auto-scaling, unused and oversized resources; no forecastBudgets and forecasts per account and project, with threshold and anomaly alerts
Idle and oversized resourcesIdle VMs, oversized instances, orphaned storage, unused licencesRightsizing, schedules and clean-up agreed with each owner
No transparencyBills too complex to split across teams; tags missing or wrongA tagging standard and cost per team, project and environment
Teams pulling apartEngineers tune for performance only; finance has no current viewShared dashboards, monthly reviews, cost inside the engineering workflow
Missed discountsNo Reserved Instances, Savings Plans or Spot capacityCommitments for steady load; Spot where work can be interrupted
02

The journey to a FinOps practice

Four steps with a gate after each. One sample plan NGT proposed: about 2, 3 and 7 months.

  1. 01Assess
    • Rates and spending trends
    • Account hierarchy and tagging
    • Workload usage
    • Pain points, outcomes, gaps
    Findings and target outcomesReview – adjust – align – comply
  2. 02Plan and propose
    • Form a FinOps team
    • Strategy and roadmap
    • Environments in scope
    A FinOps planReview – adjust – align – comply
  3. 03Pilot
    • An MVP on the scoped environments
    • Measure what it changed
    A proven practiceReview – adjust – align – comply
  4. 04Launch and optimise
    • FinOps across the organisation
    • Forecasting and cost analytics
    • Training and knowledge sharing
    • Continuous optimisation
    A running FinOps practice
03

Principles we work to

NGT follows the FinOps Foundation's principles; this is how each shows up in our work.

04

Who does what in a FinOps practice

NGT can run the FinOps team first and hand it over through training; the owners' role never moves.

Step
Workload owners
FinOps team (NGT with the customer)
Cost tools and platform
AI assist
01Assess
Workload owners
  • Explain workloads, peaks, constraints
FinOps team (NGT with the customer)
  • Analyse rates, trends, hierarchy, tags, usage
  • List pain points and gaps
Cost tools and platform
  • Billing exports, cost explorers, pricing APIs
AI assist
  • No role yet: first findings checked by hand
02Plan
Workload owners
  • Agree targets, scope, budget owners
FinOps team (NGT with the customer)
  • Form the FinOps team
  • Tagging standard and roadmap
Cost tools and platform
  • Budgets and dashboards configured
AI assist
    03Pilot
    Workload owners
    • Apply agreed actions in scoped environments
    FinOps team (NGT with the customer)
    • Run the MVP: dashboards, alerts, estimates in pipelines
    Cost tools and platform
    • Cost estimate on every plan
    • Threshold alerts
    AI assist
    • Saving suggestions drafted from billing and configuration; owners decide
    04Operate
    Workload owners
    • Act on alerts and recommendations
    FinOps team (NGT with the customer)
    • Monthly rate and trend reviews
    • Training and knowledge sharing
    Cost tools and platform
    • Anomaly detection
    • Realised-savings tracking
    AI assist
    • Suggestions refreshed as usage changes
    05

    The rhythm of a FinOps practice

    Most of the work happens in small moments; the reviews make sure it adds up.

    WhenWhat happensWho
    Every changeCost estimate on the plan; approval above the thresholdEngineer and approver
    As it happensBudget threshold and anomaly alertsWorkload owner
    MonthlyRates and trends; savings from potential to realised; actions agreedFinOps team, owners and finance
    YearlyCommitments renewed, budgets planned, rates reviewedFinance and the FinOps team
    06

    Lessons learned in cost work

    What cost assessments and optimisation in FPT Software programmes have taught, and how NGT applies it.

    The usual mistake What NGT does
    AllocationOptimising before anyone owns the costCost per owner first, so each saving has someone to act on it
    ReportingEstimates reported as savingsEstimates labelled; a saving counts once it shows on the bill
    Where to startProduction first, at the highest riskNon-production first: schedules and idle resources
    CommitmentsCommitments bought on oversized resourcesRightsize, then commit
    Who changesA central team edits workloadsOwners apply through code; write access stays with them
    Keeping itSavings drift back within monthsGuardrails in templates and pipelines change the defaults

    Questions about running FinOps

    The questions this part raises, and their answers.

    A small central team drives it: standards, dashboards and the monthly review. Workload owners own their usage and make the changes.

    NGT can play the central role at the start and hand it over to your team through training.

    SourcesNGT FinOps Service Offering (Mar 2025)NGT Cloud Operation Service Offering v0.2 (Jan 2025)NGT Azure Service Offering v1.0 (Dec 2024)NGT Google Cloud Service Offering v0.1NGT DevOps–AI Service Offering (Oct 2026)FPT Software Cloud Transformation Capabilities (2024)FinOps Foundation: FinOps Principles