Building a Winning Organisational Culture for FinOps Success

Digital Team
Jun 26
4 min read

Why culture matters for FinOps success

FinOps is more than just a financial tool—it’s a culture shift. As governments and public agencies shift more services to the cloud, it becomes vital to manage costs in a smart and transparent way. This is where FinOps (short for Financial Operations) comes in. It helps teams across finance, IT, procurement and leadership work together to make better decisions with cloud spending.

But FinOps only works well if the right organisational culture is in place. It’s not just about tools or data—it’s about people, collaboration and clear processes. In this article, we explain how to build the kind of culture needed for FinOps to succeed. Whether you’re just getting started or already on the journey, these steps will help you create a strong foundation.

1. Lay the groundwork with good planning

The first step in building a FinOps culture is to understand your current situation. Start by asking:

What cloud systems and services are in use?
Who is responsible for managing cloud costs?
What are the common pain points (e.g. overspending, lack of visibility)?

You’ll also need to:

Identify executive sponsors who support the change
Find supporters in IT, finance and procurement teams
Research tools, funding processes and security rules that may affect FinOps work

With this information, you can build a realistic plan. This should include goals, early adopter teams, tool needs, training, and a draft communication plan. It’s also important to set initial KPIs (key performance indicators) that show progress.

2. Socialise FinOps across the organisation

FinOps is a team sport. To make it work, you need to spread awareness and support. This means talking to all the different groups involved:

Executives need to understand how FinOps links to their strategic goals
Finance teams need to see how it improves budget control
IT teams need to understand their role in tagging and reporting
Procurement and contracting staff need to see how it fits into existing processes

Run short sessions, like “lunch and learns” or workshops. Explain the benefits, show a future roadmap, and highlight quick wins. Socialising FinOps helps people feel part of the process and builds trust.

3. Create a shared FinOps model

Once people are on board, you can define your FinOps model. This includes how the teams will work together and what your cloud strategy looks like. Here are some key points to include:

What is your tagging strategy? (This helps identify who is using what cloud services.)
How will you show or charge back costs to departments?
What tools will you use to manage and report on spending?
What are the rules for making commitment-based purchases like reserved cloud instances?

It’s important to align this model with existing structures like a Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE), PMO, or IT strategy office.

4. Use automation wisely

Automation is an important part of FinOps maturity. But don’t try to automate everything at once. Start small. Use automation to support things like:

Tagging resources at the point of creation
Identifying unused or idle services
Sending alerts for cost spikes or over-budget areas

As your confidence grows, expand your automation efforts. Make sure you include automation goals in your FinOps roadmap.

5. Build a solid tagging strategy

Tagging is the backbone of FinOps. Without it, you can’t track who’s using cloud services, what they’re doing, or how much it costs. Your tagging strategy should:

Follow a clear taxonomy that fits your organisation (e.g. by team, project, contract line)
Include containers, serverless and other less visible services
Assign clear roles for maintaining and updating tags

Tagging doesn’t have to be perfect right away. Start with key tags and build from there.

6. Link costs to funding and operations

In the public sector, cloud contracts often roll up into just a few budget lines. But within those contracts, many different teams may be using the same services. FinOps helps sort this out through showback and chargeback:

Showback gives visibility to what each group is spending, without billing them directly
Chargeback sends actual costs to each group’s budget

Both methods help teams take ownership of their cloud costs and improve forecasting.

7. Involve the right people at the right time

FinOps success depends on getting the right people involved. This includes not only IT and finance but also:

Executives focused on mission and compliance
Procurement and legal staff
Cyber security teams
Programme managers
Cloud vendors and resellers

Define who does what and document it. This avoids confusion and makes collaboration easier.

8. Choose the right tools

There are many tools that can support FinOps—both third-party and cloud-native. Look for tools that:

Support tagging and reporting across multiple cloud providers
Help with chargeback/showback
Offer dashboards for different user needs (finance, technical, executive)
Forecast future cloud costs and track commitment-based discounts

Check with your security and procurement teams to make sure tools meet your requirements.

9. Prepare for real FinOps operations

After planning, socialising, and building systems, you’re ready to start operating FinOps for real.

This involves:

Finalising KPIs and dashboards
Creating self-service views for teams to see their usage
Setting alert thresholds for budget changes
Regular meetings to review progress and address blockers

Start with pilot teams and early adopters. Use their successes to encourage wider adoption.

10. Keep maturing your FinOps practice

Building a FinOps culture isn’t a one-off project. It’s a journey. Use the Crawl, Walk, Run model to pace your rollout. Regularly check your progress and update goals as needed. Keep learning from other agencies and use resources like the FinOps Foundation to stay up to date.

Conclusion: culture is the key to FinOps success

Tools, tags and dashboards matter. But at the heart of FinOps is a strong culture of collaboration, transparency and shared responsibility. By planning carefully, involving the right people, and creating clear processes, public sector organisations can build a FinOps culture that delivers real results.

If you’re starting or scaling your FinOps journey, don’t do it alone. Share your progress, learn from others, and stay flexible as your needs evolve.

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