{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"FinOps in Action","title":"The Costs Hidden in Plain Sight ft. Nick Sudarikov, InvestCloud | Ep # 65","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/c4340b4f\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1990,"description":"Why do so many FinOps practitioners miss the biggest savings opportunities, and what does getting technical have to do with it?In this episode of FinOps in Action, I sit down with Nick Sudarikov, Finance Director of Technology Operations at InvestCloud, to break down how a background in finance and capital markets can actually make you a sharper, more effective FinOps practitioner.Nick shares how he went from investment banker to hands on FinOps engineer, built a local AI powered stack to query billing data in plain English, and uncovered years of forgotten cloud spend hiding in plain sight.We also cover why most cost tools will never catch your biggest waste, how to map cloud spend to real business value, and what it actually takes to have meaningful conversations with engineering teams. Here’s what we talked about:Why FinOps practitioners should set up their own cloud accounts and get hands-on experience with the technologyHow understanding engineering workflows changes the conversation with tech teamsThe hidden cost problem that anomaly detection tools will never catchHow Nick uses DuckDB, Parquet files, and AI to query billing data in plain EnglishWhy AI is set to boost FinOps productivity by a factor of 10 and which tools risk losing market share if they don't adaptThe importance of mapping cloud spend to business value before making any optimization recommendations Chapters:00:00 - Cost Tool Reality Check00:17 - Show Intro and Guest01:36 - Why FinOps Needs Hands On03:28 - Automation and AI Effort04:23 - From Finance to Tech06:57 - Early Cloud and Cost Lessons10:58 - Startups vs Enterprise Scale12:04 - Legacy Workloads and Risk14:32 - Value Chain Before Optimizing17:30 - Finding Hidden Waste Patterns19:48 - Local AI for Billing Data26:30 - Future AI and Closing 🎧 Subscribe for more FinOps leadership conversations → https://www.finopsinaction.com/ Quote of the Show:\"If you haven't started a Docker container ever in your life, probably you're missing out on a...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/19z3-eWZl6c0TEQCJZvYXIgN4CxYIhl9_e56I_mkpWs/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8wYTdj/YWRhNmM4YzM4NzQ0/NDVlNzFhYmE2NmVi/Y2ZiZC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}