CloudKeeper: driving cloud cost optimisation and FinOps maturity across enterprises

Cloud service providers in India have witnessed a steady surge in enterprise cloud adoption. As workloads scale and AI-driven applications expand, cloud cost optimisation has become a top priority for enterprises. This is where FinOps, a discipline combining finance, technology, and operations, plays a defining role.

In an exclusive interaction with DQ Channels, Aman Aggarwal, COO, CloudKeeper, talks about how the company is empowering organisations to streamline their cloud operations, reduce wastage, and make FinOps a sustainable business practice rather than a one-time project.

From TO THE NEW to CloudKeeper: evolving with customer needs

“We were earlier operating under the brand name TO THE NEW, which continues as a services organisation,” recalls Aggarwal. “It’s an IT services company where we do custom development for web, mobile, and smart TV apps. We became an AWS partner in 2013 and eventually attained premier consulting partner status.”

Working with global clients, the team realised that cloud cost optimisation was the most common and critical customer requirement. “We saw that while architects focused on automation, resiliency, and security, cost wasn’t the first thought on everyone’s mind. Only C-level executives and finance teams truly cared about it,” he adds.

Recognising this gap, the company carved out CloudKeeper in 2018 as a separate business line focused purely on Cloud FinOps. “We started offering Cloud FinOps as a specialised offering to customers,” says Aggarwal. “And since then, the response has been phenomenal.”

By 2020, amid the pandemic’s financial pressures, cost efficiency became a necessity for all. “That was when we began expanding internationally to the US and other geographies. Today, we serve over 400 customers globally, managing an annual run rate of close to USD 230 million, growing at nearly 40% CAGR,” he notes.

How FinOps is maturing from cost control to business enabler

According to Aggarwal, FinOps is no longer a transactional, one-time activity. “Earlier, customers would optimise costs once, forget about it, and return a year later when bills spiked again,” he explains.

“Now, more organisations understand that FinOps has to be a discipline. There has to be real-time tracking, dashboards, and a clear linkage between cloud cost and business KPIs like cost per order or cost per transaction,” he points out.

He believes this shift reflects a broader maturity curve. “Customers today focus on per-unit cost metrics that tie directly to their business outcomes. That’s a big change in mindset.”

Automation, AI, and human oversight: a balanced approach

CloudKeeper’s FinOps ecosystem combines automation with human validation. “We work with many listed companies, fintechs, and compliance-driven organisations. They’re cautious about granting external access. So, our visibility platform -CloudKeeper Lens,requires no special permissions; it just consumes AWS cost and usage reports,” says Aggarwal.

For automation, CloudKeeper offers CloudKeeper Auto and CloudKeeper Tuner. “Auto manages reservation and saving plan commitments, generating recommendations that are manually validated before execution. Similarly, Tuner helps customers identify idle resources and remove inefficiencies,” he explains.

“The goal is to give customers control while reducing effort. We don’t automatically delete resources; instead, we make it a one-click task with full visibility. That’s the balance between AI-driven automation and human judgment.”

Tackling multi-cloud complexity through standardisation

Operating across AWS, Azure, and GCP brings unique challenges. “The billing models of hyperscalers differ significantly,” Aggarwal says. “That’s why we’re contributing to the FinOps Foundation’s Focus project, which aims to create a unified billing data format across cloud platforms.”

CloudKeeper’s R&D teams are actively working tosimplify multi-cloud reporting. “Our goal is to provide customers a single, consolidated dashboard that reflects their entire cloud cost structure, not just a summary,” he elaborates.

Customers also prefer cloud-agnostic tools to avoid vendor lock-in. “We see enterprises opting for Terraform instead of cloud-native scripts, or third-party ISVs like Redis Cloud, Databricks, or Snowflake, because they work seamlessly across environments,” he observes.

India and Southeast Asia: unique dynamics of a price-sensitive market

Discussing regional differences, Aggarwal notes that India and Southeast Asia remain highly price sensitive. “Hyperscalers recognise this,” he says. “Commitment thresholds and benefits differ widely from North America. In our region, most deals are customised—credits, thresholds, and support mandates vary.”

Having executed over 75 large commitment deals, CloudKeeper helps clients navigate this complexity. “We guide customers on structuring their commitments based on business projections and technical roadmaps. Our experience helps them secure the best commercial terms,” he shares.

Future focus: AI, serverless, and next-generation cost visibility

Aggarwal sees rapid evolution ahead. “Most hyperscalers are introducing private labels like Graviton, Amazon’s chip family, which offers significant cost benefits. We’re helping customers adopt these to optimise workloads.”

He also points to serverless and containerised workloads, which are growing rapidly. “Earlier, cost visibility inside Kubernetes clusters required third-party tools. Now, hyperscalers are introducing native analytics, and we’re integrating those updates into our own platforms.”

And then there’s generative AI, the newest cost challenge. “GPU consumption is unpredictable. Everyone wants to innovate with AI, but few understand the cost implications. So visibility and control are critical,” he says.

Conclusion: FinOps as a continuous journey

As cloud adoption deepens, FinOps has evolved from a corrective tool into a strategic discipline. CloudKeeper’s approach, integrating automation, transparency, and human insight,illustrates how enterprises can strike the right balance between innovation and efficiency.

“Our mission,” concludes Aggarwal, “is to make cost optimisation a continuous journey. It’s about building smarter, more accountable cloud ecosystems.”

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