Inside the Execution Gap: Are We Really Ready to Expand FinOps?

Part 1 of our series unpacking the 2025 CloudBolt Industry Insights (CII) Report 

FinOps teams are feeling good. In our 2025 CloudBolt Industry Insights (CII) Report, 72% of senior IT leaders say they’re confident their FinOps practice is ready to take on new scopes like SaaS, private cloud, and AI. Nearly all respondents (96%) believe they’re at least moderately prepared. 

It’s a promising sign of how far FinOps has come. But it also prompts a more sobering question: 

Are teams actually ready to expand their scope…or just eager to? 

When you look deeper into the data, confidence begins to blur. While there’s no shortage of appetite, many teams are still struggling to fully manage the scope they already have. 

In this first post of our Inside the Execution Gap series, we’ll explore the disconnect between perceived readiness and real capability—and why jumping into new FinOps domains too early could undermine long-term maturity. 

Confidence Is Rising. Capability? Not So Much. 

Let’s start with the good news: FinOps has crossed the chasm. 

Two years ago, when we ran a similar survey, most leaders were in wait-and-see mode. Leaders were cautiously investing in FinOps, still unsure if it would deliver real value. Today, there’s no debate—it’s working. FinOps has momentum. 

But that momentum is pushing teams into more complex territory. The FinOps Foundation is expanding its framework to include SaaS, internal services, and on-prem environments. New working groups are tackling app rationalization, ITAM, and containerized workloads. 

However, expansion is outpacing operational maturity.  

In a recent webinar, Beyond the Dashboard: Why FinOps Must Evolve for AI, Automation, and Reality, we framed the conversation around three questions every organization should ask before expanding scope: 

• Are we effectively managing our current cloud scope? 
• Are we optimizing cost in practice not just in theory? 
• Are we proving ROI from our cloud investments? 

These aren’t theoretical. They’re readiness filters. And when applied to the CII Report data, they reveal a deeper gap between how teams feel and what they’re actually equipped to do. 

We’re Still Struggling with the Core Scope 

Start with Kubernetes. 

It’s not new. It’s not niche. And yet 91% of respondents said they’re still struggling with Kubernetes cost management. Common issues included: 

• Inconsistent optimization practices (49%) 
• Poor workload-level allocation (33%) 
• Inaccurate cost reporting 

Meanwhile, 65% said over 20% of their optimization recommendations go unimplemented—and those that do often take weeks to complete.  

These aren’t fringe problems. They’re foundational.  

If teams are still stuck managing Kubernetes—which has been in the mainstream for years—how will they handle SaaS with opaque billing, private cloud with variable cost models, or AI workloads that spike unpredictably? 

As Kyle Campos, CloudBolt’s CTPO, noted during the session: “The risk of not automating and optimizing these complex scopes far outweighs the risk of trying. That’s exactly why we’ve invested so heavily in solving it—not just allocating costs for things like Kubernetes, but continuously optimizing them as well.” 

The Complexity Gap Is Widening 

Expansion is inevitable. The question is how teams expand and whether they have the structure to support it. 

Tracy Woo, Principal Analyst at Forrester, said it plainly: “We’re seeing FinOps teams take on app rationalization, on-prem software license costs, and even labor analysis. But the big question is are they doing it well, or just adding more responsibility without the support to handle it?” 

In many orgs, FinOps teams are small (often 1–2 people) and overloaded. They report into different departments, react to anomalies, juggle tooling, and still get asked to deliver strategic business insights. 

Piling on scope without support doesn’t just stretch capacity. It risks outcomes. Optimization slips. Allocations miss the mark. Confidence erodes. 

Maturity First. Scope Second. 

If you’re facing pressure to expand into SaaS, private cloud, or AI, this is the moment for a maturity check. Before diving in, ask: 

• Do we have accurate, actionable visibility into our public cloud usage? 
• Are we consistently closing the loop on optimization, especially in complex environments like Kubernetes? 
• Do we have the telemetry and cross-functional engagement to support new scope areas? 
• Are our tagging, forecasting, and commitment strategies truly embedded or still best effort? 
• Will expanding scope improve business outcomes or just add more noise? 

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll explore one of the biggest blockers to FinOps maturity today: the illusion of automation. Because often, the most advanced-sounding strategies fall apart in execution. 

Download the full 2025 CloudBolt Industry Insights Report for more data and insights from today’s FinOps leaders.