Hi, This is the OpsNow team!

Thank you for your continued subscription to the OpsNow FinOps blog series. In the last series, OpsNow became the first in Korea to obtain FinOps Certified Platform (FCP) certification and introduced features tailored to domestic companies and actual use cases.

In this fourth part, we'll take a closer look at how OpsNow FinOps's latest AI technology, which has received a lot of attention, is fundamentally transforming the way cloud costs are managed.

1. Prevent Abnormal Costs Discovered by AI in Advance!

Sudden spikes in cloud costs place a heavy burden on a company's financial planning. Since abnormal cost detection provided by existing CSPs such as AWS, GCP, and Azure is based on cost data that has already been incurred, there is often a delay of 1 to 2 days between when the actual abnormal cost occurred and when it was recognized. Also, other solutions that re-analyze CSP data after receiving it will inevitably require additional analysis time.

OpsNow, on the other hand, analyzes and detects signs of abnormal costs within minutes based on actual usage data of cloud resources and immediately provides AI-based analytical information. This allows companies to take immediate action and quickly prevent cost issues.

Now that we have entered the AI era, the method of providing cost analysis with a delay of 1 to 2 days based on past data is an outdated approach. Adopting an AI-based cost management system that can respond in real time in a rapidly changing cloud environment is essential.

Case Study
A domestic company instantaneously experienced a rapid increase in the resources of hundreds of servers due to a security incident in a cloud environment that was being managed by the company. Thanks to OpsNow's real-time analysis and detection capabilities, they were able to immediately identify and respond to abnormal cost signs to proactively prevent huge losses.

OpsNow Use Case: Minimizing Damage After Cloud Account Takeover

• Background
  
  • The customer experienced account takeover and malicious resource use (cryptocurrency mining) damage in a cloud environment.
    
    
• Solution
  
  • An anomaly monitoring system was established by introducing OpsNow's real-time analysis and detection capabilities.
  • OpsNow analyzed and alerted in real time for anomalies such as suspected account takeover, spikes in GPU instances, and creation of unused regional resources.
    
    
• Upshot
  
  • Through OpsNow's real-time analysis and detection capabilities, the customer quickly detected threats such as malicious use of resources after a cloud account takeover and prevented huge potential losses such as cloud cost surges, data leaks, and system failures.
    
    

2. More Reliable Cloud Cost Forecasting and Financial Management with AI

From a financial perspective, cloud cost forecasting is critical. Businesses must manage each risk when actual usage is high or low compared to estimated costs. However, cloud costs based on usage are very difficult to predict.

OpsNow's AI-based cost forecasting feature analyzes past cloud cost data and predicts future cost fluctuations to help companies establish reliable budget plans and manage cloud costs. Also, by setting budgets for projects and organizational units, when cloud costs are higher or lower than planned budgets, immediate notifications are sent to those concerned so that risk can be managed.

In addition, a dashboard is provided to financial personnel who are sensitive to cost management so they can grasp the company's cloud budget and costs at a glance and predict the runway.

For example, in the past, budget plans were based on seasonal variability or cost increases for new projects based on human experience, and cost fluctuations could not be detected in advance, so they had to take the risk of budget overruns or lack of resources. AI-based cost forecasting detects future cost increases in real time and provides budget financial simulations reflecting this, so companies can make financial plans more accurately and quickly and manage them reliably.

Case Study
Enterprise B increased annual cloud budget accuracy from 80% to over 90% by using OpsNow's AI-based budget management capabilities. They were able to effectively set an overall budget by allocating a budget for each organization and receiving recommendations for expenses to be incurred during the year based on past costs of cloud resources managed by that organization from the OpsNow budget management function. In addition, management of monthly expenses has been improved by setting notifications via email, Slack, Google Chat, etc., before monthly expenses reach the budget for each organization's budget items. This made it possible to establish a more stable financial plan.

Customer Story: Improving the Accuracy of Cloud Budget Management and Departmental Cost Analysis

• Background
  Businesses struggled to forecast cloud usage and set overall budgets, and a lack of cost analysis between departments and projects led to inefficiency in budget management.
  
  
• Solution
  
  • We've introduced OpsNow's AI-based budget management capabilities and cost analysis capabilities by department/project.
  • Through OpsNow's AI-based cost forecasting feature, the overall budget was effectively set by receiving recommendations for each organization's budget allocation and estimated annual costs based on past costs for projects of the same size.
  • We established a system to prevent cost overruns in advance by setting notifications before monthly expenses are reached for departmental budget items.
    
    
• Upshot
  
  • With OpsNow, we've improved our annual cloud budget accuracy from 80% to over 90%.
  • OpsNow enables accurate budget management by effectively analyzing and tracking cloud costs between departments and projects.
    
    

3. AI Automation Capabilities to Optimize Cloud Costs in Multiple Ways

There are many ways to optimize cloud costs. Recommendations such as resource optimization, detection and removal of inefficient resources, and Reserved Instances (RIs) and Savings Plans (SPs) are generally provided. In addition to these basic optimization features, OpsNow supports optimization across multi-cloud environments with more precision through self-developed optimization logic.

In particular, OpsNow provides cost efficiency through its own logic ‘AutoSavings’, which provides functions such as automatic RI/SP purchases and recommendations. This function is currently being operated in the US region (https://opsnow.io), and this feature will also be launched in the Korean market in the first half of the year, so more efficient cost management can be expected.

Additionally, OpsNow doesn't just maintain the current state of affairs, it continuously analyzes data to identify optimization opportunities, suggests cost-saving factors through monthly reports, and provides new recommendations. Clients operate on a performance-based model without additional costs or commitments, providing a win-win success model by sharing part of the customer's savings.

Case Study
OpsNow customers in the US are reducing cloud costs through AutoSavings.

• Healthcare Company H: Approximately 20% savings.
  
  
• Restaurant Franchise Operator B: Approximately 25% savings.
  
  
• OpsNow overall customer average: Savings of approximately 37%.
  
  
• Maximum savings rate: Approximately 65% (when optimizing Reserved Instances)
  
  

Background
Enterprise C runs multiple projects and organizations in a multi-cloud environment and faces the problem of increasing cloud costs and deepening resource inefficiency due to ineffective contract management.

Solution
After the introduction of OpsNow, Reserved Instances (RIs) and Savings Plans (SPs) were automatically analyzed and optimized through the AutoSavings feature.

Upshot
Using OpsNow’s AI automated contract management, automatic detection and removal of unused resources, and integrated management of multi-cloud environments, they reduced cloud costs by up to 37% and improved operational efficiency by 30%.

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4. New Cost Management Method in the ChatGPT Era: OpsNow Insight to Easily Ask Questions and Get Quick Answers

With the advent of ChatGPT, the paradigm of how information is obtained is rapidly changing. In particular, information acquisition through questions has dramatically reduced the traditional complex analysis process. OpsNow is also preparing to solve problems through AI-based Q&A using OpsNow Insight, aligned with these technology trends. It provides more accurate information using OpsNow’s own cost and analysis data, solving data reliability issues and avoiding errors such as LLM hallucinations. Combining visual data with numerical analysis results, OpsNow Insight delivers clear information and deep insight into cost analysis.

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Key Features of OpsNow Insight

• Cloud Cost Analysis and Visualization: Users can easily view and analyze various data on cloud costs and asset usage via chat.
  
  
• Resource Usage Monitoring: You can quickly view information on cloud resource allocation and expenditure to reduce unnecessary costs and optimize resources.
  
  
• Cost Optimization Recommendations: Suggest ways to reduce costs by providing customized information optimized for user needs in a quick and easy-to-understand manner.
  
  
• View Billing History and Analyze Real-Time Data: Shows billing history for specific accounts and provides insights through real-time data analysis.
  
  

Case Study
Since introducing the OpsNow Insight feature, Company D has increased work productivity by reducing time spent on complex data analysis by more than 50%.

Customer Story: Improving Cloud Management Efficiency

• Background
  After the AWS staff left, Company D found it difficult for new hires to understand the cloud environment, learn about unused resources, and apply cost-saving methodologies.
  The previous manager recognized the need for OpsNow training to analyze cloud costs.
  Although a CMP was used, it took a lot of time and effort to understand and become proficient with it.
  
  
• Solution
  By introducing the OpsNow Insight feature, they were able to reduce the time required to analyze complex data and report various necessary results.
  
  
• Upshot
  After the introduction of the OpsNow Insight feature, data analysis time was reduced by more than 50%, increasing productivity.
  They improved the efficiency of onboarding new personnel and managing the cloud environment.
  
  

Conclusion: OpsNow FinOps AI Opens Up the Future of Cloud Cost Management!

OpsNow FinOps' AI-based automation and interactive analysis capabilities go beyond simple cost management to maximize the efficiency of enterprise operations. With OpsNow FinOps, you can go further in cost management and increase your company's competitiveness.

In the next special edition, we'll clearly share the questions and truths about OpsNow FinOps, focusing on frequently asked questions (FAQs) from companies. Please look forward to it!

Thank you.

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Good Information to See Together

• Part 1: OpsNow FinOps, FinOps Certified Platform (FCP) Certification!
  
  
• Part 2: Introduction of OpsNow FinOps
  
  
• Part 3: OpsNow FinOps, the Optimal FCP for Korean Companies – Public Figure Authentication Solutions

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