Answers:
• CPU utilization
Correct: CPU utilization is an important metric as it directly correlates with instance costs. High CPU
utilization may indicate effective resource usage, while low utilization could signal an opportunity for cost
optimization.
• Number of employees in the organization
Incorrect: The number of employees in the organization is not directly related to cloud costs and is
therefore not a relevant metric in a FinOps initiative.
• Cost per API call
Correct: Cost per API call is an important metric for understanding the financial impact of service usage.
This can be crucial for optimizing costs in microservices architectures or serverless computing
environments.
• Average time spent in meetings
Incorrect: The average time spent in meetings is not a metric that directly impacts cloud costs and is
therefore not relevant in a FinOps initiative.
• Data transfer costs
Incorrect: While data transfer costs can be significant, they are not a metric themselves. Rather, they are
a cost item that would be tracked as part of broader cost management efforts.
General explanation:
In a FinOps initiative, it's important to focus on metrics that directly impact cloud costs and can provide
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insights for optimization. Metrics like CPU utilization and cost per API call are directly related to cloud
resource usage and are therefore important to track. Other metrics like the number of employees,
average time spent in meetings, or data transfer costs, while potentially important in other contexts, are
not directly related to managing cloud costs in a FinOps initiative.
