Case Study

Financial Services Group: FinOps

Establishing a single source of truth for FinOps and changing the perception of Cloud’s value​​.

At a Glance

DigiRen partnered with a leading financial services group to identify over $2M in potential cloud cost savings and establish a clear FinOps roadmap. By analysing Azure usage, aligning stakeholders, and designing a future-state Cloud Operating Model, DigiRen uncovered 26 cost-saving initiatives and defined 5 future capabilities to improve governance, operations, and cloud value perception—shifting the organisation from reactive spend to proactive cost management.

>$2m
Potential Cloud cost savings identified over three horizons​​
-$1m
Potential Cloud cost savings in first 6 months​
26
Initiatives defined to realise savings​
5
Future capabilities defined for experience, operations & governance​

Challenge

Our client provides global and digitally-enabled financial services, from equities, pensions and superannuation to investments. It is the largest provider of services in Australia's superannuation administration industry.​​

The client embarked on a cloud journey to resolve scalability challenges, improve technology delivery speed in a cost-effective manner, and enhance end-customer perception. ​​

With increasing Azure costs, the cost-effectiveness of the Cloud was called into question. The Group’s partners positioned a savings report; however, a disconnect between the report’s findings and native Azure tools meant genuine cost-saving opportunities remained unsubstantiated and an execution pathway undefined.​

The challenge for DigiRen

To help the Group define executable cost-saving opportunities and a roadmap for realizing them.

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Approach

The client engaged DigiRen to provide expert insights into the way Cloud is offered to consumers, identify realistic cost savings opportunities within the APAC Azure tenant and define an integrated implementation roadmap.​ DigiRen integrated a pod of three highly experienced leaders into the roles of Delivery Lead, Operating Model SME and FinOps Specialist to:​

  1. Design the Target Operating Model: Collaborated with 16 stakeholders across Australia and the UK to assess Cloud delivery practices using the DigiRen COM blueprint and design a fit-for-purpose future state Cloud Operating Model.​
  2. Propose cost-savings initiatives: Investigated 10 Azure (AU) subscriptions to identify cost-savings opportunities, apply vendor-prescribed rules to eliminate savings overlaps, and define tactical and strategic initiatives to realise savings.​​
  3. Showcase partner cost-savings: Engaged two partners within the Group’s ecosystem to assess pre-existing recommendations and performed a comparative analysis to showcase realistic savings for the group.​

Outcomes

Supported by strong executive sponsorship and stakeholder engagement, DigiRen delivered the COM & FinOps project over four weeks, showcasing:​

  • $2m+ of potential Cloud cost-savings in total, with ~$1m of potential savings within the first 6 months.​​
  • 5 key findings positioned with executives and endorsed. These directly inform design of the future state operating model and roadmap. ​​
  • 26 new cost-saving initiatives identified to realise all potential savings and shift to cost-prevention practices.​​
  • 5 new capabilities defined and recommended to deliver Cloud operations, governance excellence, and improved Cloud consumer experiences.
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