FinOps X 2025 in San Diego showcased how financial accountability and IT asset management (ITAM) are converging, and why that matters for anyone managing tech spend and assets. The event covered everything from AI budgets to cloud carbon tracking. Let’s dive into the top takeaways and explain how they connect to your ITAM priorities.

Strategic Alignment Between FinOps and ITAM

The FinOps Foundation announced a formal partnership with the ITAM Forum. This was a major announcement given the growing overlap between financial operability and asset visibility. Attendees heard from Rich Gibbons and Jeremy Chaplin on why ITAM and FinOps must collaborate for:

• Combined visibility into technology use and cost
  
  

• Unified practices to avoid data silos
  
  

• Shared workflows that ensure neither team duplicates efforts
  
  

• Better management of cloud, SaaS, and hardware spend
  
  

FinOps for AI, and AI for FinOps

A central theme was that cloud expense strategies apply equally to AI workloads. Mike Fuller, CTO of the FinOps Foundation, emphasized that managing AI budgets is not separate from cloud, FinOps principles extend directly to AI.

Sessions from PepsiCo’s Kimberly Floss and Northrop Grumman’s Lisa Gerger reinforced this point. They described how they:

• Treated AI spending as part of cloud budgeting
  
  

• Built trust between engineering and FinOps teams to streamline cost planning
  
  

• Used proactive cost tracking to avoid surprise charges and underutilized AI services
  
  

Barracuda’s Cody McDaniels further explained that working with engineering (rather than dictating cuts) is what helped FinOps gain traction.

AI-Powered FinOps Capabilities

There are new AI-based FinOps tools such as:

• Predictive forecasting of cloud and AI spending
  
  

• Anomaly detection for unexpected cost spikes
  
  

• Automated alerting tied to both technical and financial thresholds
  
  

These capabilities help businesses create more reliable budgets and spot issues instead of scrambling after. If you are interested in learning more, check out this forthcoming whitepaper: FinOps for AI and AI for FinOps.

Cloud Sustainability Takes Center Stage

Sustainability at FinOps X focused on resource-level tracking and cost alignment, which links cost cuts to environmental wins: 

• Teams can now visualize cost and carbon impact in unified dashboards
  
  

• Recommendations included options such as rightsizing and job scheduling that reduce both spend and carbon footprint
  
  

• Detailed reporting supports compliance with standards like the European CSRD, helping businesses stay audit-ready
  
  

FinOps and ITAM leaders can then work together on shared metrics that resonate more directly with their organization’s business sustainability goals.

What It Means for ITAM Teams

FinOps X confirmed that technology spend management is no longer segmented. ITAM teams need to operate in lockstep with FinOps, sustainability, engineering, and finance.

Here is what ITAM can do to keep up:

Break Down Silos

• Work with FinOps to share licensing, SaaS, and infrastructure data
  
  

• Align governance to help both teams avoid duplication and fines
  
  

Include AI and Cloud Assets in ITAM Scope

• Integrate AI workload tracking into existing asset inventories
  
  

• Add predictive budget alerts alongside compliance flags for licenses
  
  

Add Sustainability to Your Scorecard

• Track carbon and cost metrics as part of asset lifecycle
  
  

• Collaborate with environmental or ESG teams to support carbon offset goals
  
  

Automate with AI-Driven Insights

• Use AI tools to forecast renewals and predict overuse
  
  

• Flag unexpected usage and scaling before contracts escalate
  
  

Parting Thoughts

FinOps X 2025 confirmed that managing tech assets and costs no longer happens in silos, this is exactly what I talk about in my book The Pragmatic ITAM Method. AI budgets, cloud efficiency, sustainability metrics, and asset governance are all connected. ITAM teams ready to team up with FinOps experts stand to gain tighter budgets, stronger compliance, and better operational visibility.

If your asset management program still operates in isolation, now is the time to integrate it. I can help apply these lessons and build a unified strategy that covers cloud, SaaS, AI, and sustainability using a lean, scalable approach.

Schedule a consultation or reach out here and let’s get your ITAM ready for the future.

About Me

I help ITAM and FinOps teams collaborate, streamline systems, and connect strategy to savings. With experience across financial governance, cloud tools, and sustainability standards, I guide teams to operational excellence through better data, shared responsibility, and smart automation.

FAQ

Is ITAM really part of FinOps now?
Not exactly. The same arguments can be made for FinOps to be part of ITAM!  The real point is that both teams are trying to accomplish the same goals within their respective spheres of influence and must work together for the benefit of their organization.

Does AI matter for small ITAM teams?
Absolutely. AI-driven forecasting and anomaly detection help even lean teams catch waste and budget overruns early.

What counts as cloud sustainability?
Any initiative that tracks and reduces resource use—such as carbon, water, or energy—alongside cost savings in FinOps dashboards.  Which are the same concerns ITAM should also be tracking within their hardware recovery and disposal processes.

How does this help reduce audits or spend?

 The threat with cloud software and services is overspending.  Paying for what you are not using is as bad as not paying for what you are using (i.e., unlicensed software, anyone?).  On top of that, consider the operational costs of those cloud and SaaS service providers undertake to provide those services you are not using: direct power, HVAC, filtration, etc.  A little efficiency at the demand-side can have large impacts upon supply-side scale!

It is time to bring ITAM, FinOps, and sustainability together. The tools, methods, and mindset are already in place. Now it is your move.