FinOps doesn't start with a platform. It starts when someone can explain, with evidence, why the bill went up and who can change it.
Before you optimize, get a baseline
Take the last three months and break spend down by account, environment, service and owner. If your tags aren't consistent, that isn't a reporting detail: it's the first sign of operational debt.
The three waste signals that pay off most
Look for EC2 with sustained low CPU, unattached EBS volumes, unused public IPs and environments that outlive business hours.
A Savings Plan only optimizes a stable workload. Weigh commitment, utilization and expected growth; a discount isn't a saving if it leaves you overprovisioned.
RDS, NAT Gateway, data transfer and logs tend to grow with no product ticket to justify them. Put them on the monthly review.
The minimum monthly ritual
Bill, usage and anomalies against the previous month.
One owner per action, with a date and an expected saving.
Write down what changed and what won't happen again.
When this ritual works, a tool adds speed. When it doesn't, a tool just adds another view nobody opens. Estimate your opportunity range
This guide is educational. Its recommendations don't replace an analysis of your account, contract or architecture.