Runtime FinOps: From Action to Consequence to Learning

FinOps is missing its runtime layer

We didn’t start TRU+ to boost individual cloud cost optimization actions.

We started it because FinOps is missing its runtime layer.

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Most cloud cost tooling still lives in planning:

• Budgets
• Forecasts
• Estimates
• Policies

All valuable — and all disconnected from what actually happens in production.

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Security went through this exact transition a decade ago.

FinOps hasn’t yet.

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A lesson from security: shift to runtime

Around 2016–2019, security teams realized something uncomfortable.

Pre-merge checks couldn’t keep up with:

• Cloud infrastructure
• Containers
• Continuous deployment

The system moved faster than prediction.

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Why pre-merge security broke down

Pre-merge feedback was:

• Hypothetical
• Abstract
• Easy to ignore

Developers saw warnings, not consequences.

And without consequences, there was no learning.

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What changed security

Security evolved when teams moved into runtime.

They stopped trying to catch everything before merge and instead:

• Let changes ship
• Observed real production behavior
• Attached outcomes to Git identity
• Gave feedback once impact existed

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From “This could be risky" to “This change caused this incident”

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That was the birth of runtime security.

And it worked because it closed the loop: Action → consequence → learning

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FinOps is still stuck pre-runtime

Today, FinOps is where security used to be. Cost feedback is:

• Delayed
• Aggregated
• Detached from change

Bills arrive weeks later. Context is gone. Ownership is unclear.

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Engineers rarely see how their change affected cost in production.

So cost remains something that happens to teams, not something they learn from.

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Runtime FinOps: our core idea

TRU+ is built around a simple belief: You can’t manage cloud cost without observing it at runtime.

Runtime FinOps means:

• Measuring cost where it actually happens — in production
• Connecting cost to concrete code changes. Enter change-aware FinOps.
• Feeding that information back while context still exists

Not optimizing from spreadsheets.

Learning from reality, directly in the engineering workflow.

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How Runtime FinOps works in practice

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1. Start at runtime, not planning

We begin after deploy:

• Let changes ship
• Observe real cost impact in production
• Measure actual € deltas — not estimates
• Tie cost impact to Git commits and PRs

The goal isn’t enforcement. It’s evidence.

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2. Make cost a system with memory

Over time, the system learns:

• Which code changes consistently increase cost
• Which patterns don’t matter
• Which trade-offs are intentional

Cost stops being a monthly surprise and becomes: “When we do this, it costs that.”

That understanding didn’t exist before runtime visibility.

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3. Move left — but only after learning

Only once runtime evidence exists does moving left make sense.

Pre-deploy feedback becomes: “We’ve seen this pattern in production. Last time it led to +€X/month.”

This isn’t prediction. It’s memory.

Low noise. High trust.

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4. Guidance instead of gates

In Runtime FinOps:

• Pre-merge signals guide decisions
• Defaults get safer
• Learning accelerates

Nothing is blocked. DevOps velocity stays intact.

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Accountability emerges at runtime

We don’t impose accountability as a process.

It appears naturally when:

• Cost is tied to a specific code change
• Ownership is visible
• Cause and effect are explicit

No blame. No detective work. Just clarity.

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Why savings are a side effect

When teams understand runtime cost impact:

• They fix what they break
• They stop repeating expensive patterns
• They make better trade-offs

Savings happen — but they’re not the point.

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Just like in security, the goal isn’t “fewer alerts.”

It’s better systems, with more and smarter control.

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The shift FinOps needs

Security matured when it moved into runtime.

FinOps will mature the same way.

Runtime FinOps closes the loop between action, consequence, and learning — for cloud cost.

That’s the product vision behind TRU+.

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We don’t provide savings dashboards.

We build the runtime layer FinOps has been missing. And savings are what follow.