How to Optimize Azure Costs and Improve Cloud Efficiency with FinOps

In this episode of FinOps on Azure podcast Michael spoke with Dustin Mullenix from KPMG. Dustin leads a team that handles Azure costs for KPMG’s audit work and if you are someone who works on cloud spending in a big company, the talk has some helpful ideas. Here is a breakdown of what they covered.

Who is Dustin Mullenix and His Role at KPMG

Dustin is based in Atlanta and leads a FinOps team at KPMG. His team manages most of the Azure spend for the audit part of the business. They also work with consulting teams who do client projects. Dustin says FinOps is not just about cutting costs; it’s about balance. He enjoys sharing ideas because there is room for everyone to help.

How Internal and Consulting Teams Work Together

At KPMG, the internal team focuses only on FinOps, while consulting teams do many types of work, including FinOps for clients. They share tools and knowledge. For example, the internal team creates guides that consulting can use. In return, consulting shows how to present info in a clear way. Dustin says there is no real competition because the field has enough work for all.

Azure Complexity Compared to AWS

Dustin talks about service tiers as a main area of complexity. He points to managed disks (premium, standard, HDD) and SQL (business critical, general purpose). These add choices that can lead to higher costs if not picked right. For example, picking premium SSD might cost three times more than HDD, but it avoids issues. He stresses looking at the full picture, including developer time.

Trade-Offs in Architecture Choices

Dustin shares examples of how choices affect costs. Sometimes, using the same setup for test and production makes things simple but costs more. He talks about a cost increase at KPMG that turned out to be good because it added business value. The key is to understand the full context, not just the bill.

Managing Knowledge in a Large Organization

With a big team and remote work, Dustin says discipline is key. They make sure everyone has the same view on efficiency practices. They use simple tools like checklists and templates in code to make things easy. For new people, they have training where they do analysis and document it. Dustin learned from watching a team member manage people well.

Backgrounds That Help in FinOps

Dustin says FinOps needs a mix of skills. Finance or engineering backgrounds help, but so do project management and operations. He thinks personality matters too, being ready to learn and explore. He notes that teaching tech to finance people might be harder than the other way around, but it depends on the person.

Auto-Scaling and Other Azure Features

Dustin mentions services like AKS, App Service, and Service Bus that have built-in scaling. Each has its own details, so teams need to learn about them. He talks about how security and availability add to costs, like with redundancy options. Changes over time, like fewer nodes needed for high availability, show how things improve.

Measuring Value in Cloud Spend

Dustin wants to focus more on value this year. He breaks costs into good and bad spend. Good spend supports business goals; bad spend is waste. He uses unit economics, like cost per user or per session, to track progress. For KPMG, they ask teams for one main metric per app and look for downward trends in costs.

Future Plans and Learning

Dustin plans to use AI tools like Microsoft Copilot to make work faster. He checks sources like Azure updates, LinkedIn, and FinOps Foundation Slack. He also takes meetings with tool companies to learn about new ideas.

Wrapping It Up

This talk with Dustin shows how FinOps works in a large setup like KPMG. It covers costs, teams, and value in a clear way.