Metrics That Matter In FinOps: Co-Create Value With Engineering And Finance Collaborations

FinOps thrives on clarity, and clarity is built on metrics. Metrics give engineering and finance a shared language to understand costs, evaluate trade-offs, and guide innovation.

The most impactful metrics go beyond “how much are we spending?” and help us answer:

When we measure these things, we stretch beyond tracking progress to fueling it.

Beyond Spend: Measuring What Drives Value

Traditional cost metrics, like cost per project or cost per customer, are essential. They provide a baseline of visibility.

Pro Tip: As organizations scale, it’s just as important to measure what creates value as it is to measure what consumes budget.

Here are three places I’ve seen FinOps drive deeper insights and alignment:

With these metrics in place, FinOps shifts from simply describing spend to driving business value.

Related read: How Much Did OpenAI’s 30,000 CPU Core Optimization Save Them?

Storytime: Shutterstock’s Journey To Kubernetes Clarity

This story illustrates the power of metrics that matter, powering meaningful and collaborative action.

At Shutterstock, engineers spent years struggling to trust Kubernetes cost data. After onboarding with CloudZero, they achieved 98% cost accuracy — a milestone that changed everything.

With accurate data, engineers quickly identified unused ephemeral services, saving $2,000/month. Another team corrected a misconfiguration that unlocked $5,000/month in savings.

The real shift lies beyond savings; it’s in culture change. Now, engineers could act with confidence because the metrics were trustworthy – and there was a bonus win because finance gained forecasting precision.

Together, teams aligned around decisions that balanced efficiency with growth.

I wanted to share this story to give you a real world representation of how metrics become catalysts for innovation, profitability, and alignment.

Related read: How CloudZero Supported Shutterstock In Optimizing Costs And Meeting Savings Goals

Expanding the Metric Set: From Collaboration To Infrastructure

I’vd outlined several FinOps-aligned measurements that you can put into practice today.

Metrics like these open the door for broader alignment across leadership, product, engineering, and finance:

Together, these measurements create a well-rounded view of cost, value, and momentum.

And for our visual learners, I’ve included a chart below for the expanded FinOps metric layout:

Related read: 30+ Essential Cloud Metrics For SaaS And FinOps Teams

Final Thought: Metrics As Catalysts For Innovation

We know that metrics can describe the past.

Here’s another pro tip: When used effectively, metrics also shape the future.

By expanding beyond cost tracking into collaboration, adoption, efficiency, and pace, FinOps teams empower engineers and finance to co-create value.

With a focus on value drivers, every new measurement is an opportunity to see more clearly and act with confidence.

That’s FinOps in action — clarity turned into momentum.

Author: Thalia Elie

Thalia Elie is CloudZero’s “Friendly Neighborhood FAM” and part AWS Solutions Architect, part FinOps Engineer, and all about turning cloud cost complexity into clarity. She’s the one who brings dashboards, data, and a dash of fun to every FinOps conversation. Thalia has led projects that saved millions by blending deep technical expertise with a human-centered approach that gets engineers, finance, and product teams pulling in the same direction. Whether it’s building onboarding playbooks, crafting dashboards that actually get used, or sparking innovation with a well-timed hackathon, her mission is simple: be refreshing, relevant, and relatable through cloud, culture, and cost wins.