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By adopting the financial operations framework, the Army can control and predict costs while maximizing the benefits of cloud computing.
In 2018, then-Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy made a significant decision to support the migration of the Army's finance and logistics systems from on-premises data centers to commercial cloud computing facilities. Since then, the cloud revolution has taken firm hold across the service, bolstered by the establishment of the Enterprise Cloud Management Agency in March 2020 and the recent publication of updated guidance within the Army Cloud Plan 2022.
One of the seven strategic objectives of the plan is to provide cloud cost transparency and accountability. To prevent underutilized services and unexpected, avoidable costs, the plan says the Army will use "a combination of enterprise-provided common services and cloud consumption tracking for all cloud consumers."
One still evolving cloud financial management discipline that's slowly being adopted by the federal government, including the Army, is financial operations-coined FinOps. FinOps is an evolving cloud financial management discipline and cultural practice that enables organizations to maximize business value and collaborate on data-driven spending decisions, employing cross-functional teams to work together to maintain financial control while also ensuring rapid delivery of capability. The concept of FinOps helps organizations manage their spending on cloud infrastructure and services responsibly. It is a way of tracking and managing variable costs. This makes it easier for program, technical and financial teams to work together and make intelligent choices about the most efficient use of funds.
The Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), which migrated the Army's massive General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) to the cloud in 2020 and has conducted several more migrations since then, has put a FinOps framework and practice in place over the past two years. Through this framework, the Army is now effectively monitoring and managing cloud infrastructure and services contracts related to cloud computing. This has proven to reduce costs, improve performance and maximize strategic cloud modernization objectives.
To manage the service's cloud infrastructure budget in years to come, the Army needs the agility and scalability that the FinOps revolution provides.
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