The ongoing general crisis due to geopolitical events such as the Russia-Ukraine war, skills shortages, and recession has increased prices and, consequently, inflation in Europe.
Improving energy efficiency (47%), reducing energy demand (41%), electrifying energy loads (34%), or investing in renewable sources and production (32%), are, among others, the main actions European organizations are taking to limit the impact of rising energy prices, according to IDC EMEA, FERS Survey Europe, Wave 11: December 1 — December 10, 2022 (N=363).
There is hardly any sign of a slowdown in the accelerated cloud adoption seen during the 2020 crisis. However, organizations are now realizing that cloud costs and assessing IT’s role in meeting an organization’s sustainability-related targets are rising in priority.
Only 8% of European organizations stated that they are not wasting money in the public cloud, according to the IDC European Multicloud Survey, 2022 (N=1,077). With ever-increased cloud costs and waste and greater concern about sustainability credentials, organizations are keen to embrace FinOps and GreenOps. Both solutions are connected to reducing cloud costs and IT’s carbon footprint.
What Are FinOps and GreenOps?
FinOps
We define FinOps as a cloud discipline that enables users to maximize business value and achieve financial excellence while aiming at improving teams’ collaboration, transparency of cloud costs as well as optimizing cloud resources. Optimizing cloud use can contribute to reducing a company’s carbon footprint and help cut cloud “waste”.
GreenOps
GreenOps is defined as an operating model that integrates the technologies, techniques, and business practices designed to maximize efficiency in the cloud while reducing environmental impact. It optimizes resource usage with better cooling, greener building materials, and smarter control systems, which are fundamental in datacenters.
A common GreenOps and FinOps capability is the optimization of cloud resources through right-sizing. GreenOps practices include switching off resources during idle hours, choosing a region that utilizes renewable energy (e.g., the Nordics), developing energy efficient architecture for workloads, or using cloud-native solutions (e.g., event-driven, serverless technologies), but also implementing heat and water re-use as well as improving waste management.
Why Are FinOps and GreenOps Important?
Both FinOps and GreenOps will become increasingly important as companies look for concrete ways to control cloud costs, deliver innovation, and contribute to ambitious sustainability-related goals. Indeed, reducing operational costs is one benefit of GreenOps, as well as the capability to attract both consumers and businesses that are increasingly interested in purchasing green brands with strong environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credentials.
FinOps and GreenOps strategies will also enable cloud vendors to build and empower their digital trust with customers. In conclusion, costs and carbon footprint reductions are the challenges that European organizations are facing in this current macroeconomic environment. Only through a deep collaboration with cloud vendors can they embrace FinOps and GreenOps and then compete and keep their business running.
Join us on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, at 11am GMT, when IDC will discuss the new European cloud trends in 2023 and beyond, including trends and opportunities around FinOps and GreenOps.