Musings from FinOps X 2024
- Suite vs. Point Solutions – There is ongoing debate about whether the market will consolidate into a few full solution providers or remain diverse with many specialized vendors. Concerns exist that a proliferation of feature vendors could lead to a fragmented market, similar to the security space, where customers struggle to assess the value of individual, overlapping products.
- Legacy Players – It is universally recognized that CloudHealth within Broadcom and Cloudability within IBM face challenges and may be vulnerable to maintaining their positions in the market. We’ve heard that CloudHealth, under new leadership, is moving its support function to Arrow which raised some eyebrows.
- Do-It-Yourself – Some large enterprises continue to evaluate DIY as opposed to third party solutions despite compelling evidence to the contrary. Some have identified that a number of enterprises incur considerable unnecessary spend because they do not manage purchasing centrally and are not in sync.
- AI – AI is clearly a significant future opportunity, though many enterprises aren’t yet using it in earnest, and some advise against overstating its current impact. Others are exploring applications like GPU data analysis, chatbot LLMs, and predictive modeling for recommendations.
- Go To Market – There is a common push to sell through channel partners like MSPs, system integrators, and value-added resellers. Though it appears this is relatively new for most vendors; some will use it in specific markets while others will scale through a focused effort on channel partners/MSPs.
