State of FinOps 2025: 5 Expert Takeaways from Our Live Panel Discussion

The landscape of FinOps is shifting fast. AI-driven cost management, governance at scale, and the expanding scope of responsibilities are transforming the way organizations approach cloud financial management. The latest State of FinOps 2025 Report sheds light on these rapid changes, revealing the priorities and challenges facing teams today. 

To break it all down, CloudBolt hosted a LinkedIn Live panel featuring industry experts who shared their insights on where FinOps is headed next. The discussion, moderated by CloudBolt CEO Craig Hinckley, featured CloudBolt CPTO Kyle Campos, StormForge COO Yasmin Rajabi, CloudEagle.ai CEO Nidhi Jain, and Mode3 CTO Omar McIver. Together, they explored what these trends mean for organizations striving to stay ahead. 

Here are the five biggest takeaways from our conversation—and why they matter for the future of FinOps. 

1. AI and automation are now essential for scaling FinOps 

Today, FinOps extends beyond cloud spend management—it’s about keeping up with an explosion of new variables, from AI-driven workloads to multi-cloud complexity. The report revealed that AI cost management is accelerating, with 96% of practitioners expected to manage AI spend within the next year. 

Yasmin Rajabi underscored the urgency: “As cloud infrastructure gets more complex, automation isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. You simply can’t scale FinOps without it.” She pointed out that platform engineering teams are already overwhelmed, and without intelligent automation, cost-saving recommendations often go unexecuted. “Operators aren’t ignoring FinOps insights—they’re just drowning in priorities. Automation removes the burden by embedding optimization directly into workflows.” 

Without automation, teams are trapped in a cycle of reactive reporting, spending more time gathering insights than acting on them. To address this, teams must adopt AI-driven analytics and automation to process massive data volumes in real time, reducing manual effort and accelerating decision-making.  

2. The optimization model is broken—FinOps needs a new approach 

Cloud budgets are spiraling out of control. Seventy-three percent of companies report budget overruns of 10% or more annually, and an astonishing $9.2 billion in committed-use savings go unclaimed each year. Yet many FinOps teams are stuck in a loop—identifying inefficiencies but struggling to execute optimizations. 

Kyle Campos didn’t mince words: “The current optimization model is broken. If we keep relying on static reports and manual interventions, we’re going to keep seeing the same challenges year after year.” He pointed out that engineers often push back against cost-saving recommendations, not because they don’t care, but because the impact isn’t clear. “Optimization isn’t just about cutting costs—it’s about balancing efficiency with performance. If we don’t provide engineers with real-time, actionable insights tailored to their specific workloads, nothing will change.” 

Cost reports provide a snapshot, but true transformation happens when insights trigger real-time action. FinOps teams must embrace continuous automation, much like DevOps did for deployment. Real-time orchestration and intelligent automation will be critical to turning insights into action, rather than leaving cost savings trapped in spreadsheets.  

3. FinOps is expanding—but are teams keeping up? 

The rapid expansion of FinOps responsibilities is creating new challenges for teams already stretched thin. According to the report, practitioners are now managing an average of 12 different capabilities, from cloud cost allocation to SaaS governance and AI cost forecasting. As FinOps teams take on more, the pressure to deliver results with limited resources is mounting. 

Kyle Campos pointed out, “FinOps teams are being asked to do more than ever—optimize cloud costs, manage SaaS spend, and now even track AI expenses. The question is: do they have the resources and automation needed to keep up?” He warned that without automation, FinOps risks becoming a bottleneck rather than an enabler. “If teams remain reliant on spreadsheets and manual workflows, they won’t just struggle to scale—they’ll struggle to remain relevant in a rapidly changing environment.” 

Scaling FinOps successfully requires more than just keeping up—it demands a shift toward proactive decision-making powered by automation. Automation and AI-driven insights will be critical to scaling capabilities without overburdening teams. Otherwise, FinOps risks becoming reactive rather than strategic in its expanding role. 

4. Governance and policy is the new FinOps battleground 

Governance and policy enforcement emerged as the top priority for FinOps teams in 2025, jumping three spots in the report. But governance isn’t just about oversight—it’s about enabling efficiency at scale. 

Kyle Campos challenged outdated governance models, stating, “Governance shouldn’t be about stopping progress—it should be about enabling it. The best governance frameworks make the right thing the easiest thing to do.”  

Yasmin Rajabi reinforced this, emphasizing that policy enforcement should be embedded into existing workflows. “FinOps policy can’t live in a spreadsheet. It needs to be integrated into Slack, Jira, and automation workflows, so teams don’t have to think about it—it just happens.” 

When integrated seamlessly, governance doesn’t slow teams down—it accelerates efficiency by embedding best practices directly into workflows. CloudBolt’s intelligent policy automation ensures that best practices are built directly into engineering workflows, eliminating inefficiencies. 

5. Expanding scope—SaaS, on-prem, and private cloud are now in the FinOps mix 

Managing cloud costs is no longer enough—today’s FinOps teams must oversee an expanding universe of technology expenses. According to the report, 65% of FinOps teams now manage SaaS spend, 49% oversee licensing, and 39% handle private cloud costs. As the lines between cloud and SaaS blur, FinOps teams must adapt. 

Nidhi Jain highlighted the shift: “SaaS is bought by nearly every team in an organization, which means FinOps isn’t just about controlling spend—it’s about governing an entire ecosystem of technology investments.” She pointed out that many organizations still treat SaaS cost management as an afterthought, leading to uncontrolled sprawl and compliance risks. “You can’t manage what you can’t see. Without proper visibility, companies are leaking money on unused licenses and redundant tools they don’t even realize they’re paying for.” 

With this expanded scope, FinOps must evolve from a narrow cost management role into a broader financial strategy function. Unifying cost visibility across cloud, SaaS, and private infrastructure is critical to preventing financial blind spots and maintaining full financial control. 

The road ahead 

FinOps is entering a new era, with teams facing mounting expectations to deliver more value, faster. With AI-driven workloads, expanding SaaS investments, and increasing governance challenges, teams must rethink how they operate and optimize. 

As our LinkedIn Live panelists emphasized, success in FinOps will depend on shifting from reactive cost tracking to a more proactive, automated approach. Organizations that embrace automation, embed governance into workflows, and leverage AI-driven insights will be better positioned to drive efficiency and innovation. 

For those who want to dive deeper, watch the full LinkedIn Live discussion for expert insights into these shifts and what they mean for the future of FinOps.