In this article we will look at some guidance that can help you to be successful as an MSP when engaging with your customer and helping them along their journey.
Before the Journey (Pre-Engagement)
Targeting & Segmentation: Be clear which customers you want (e.g. mid-market customers with £20k+/month Azure spend are usually the “sweet spot”).
Expectation Setting: Frame the free assessment as diagnostic + value creation, not just a “sales hook.” That builds trust from day one.
During the Journey (Engagement Phases)
1. Discovery
Ask about both business goals (growth, M&A, product launches) and financial goals (budget constraints, cost allocation needs). This helps you tie optimization to outcomes rather than just “saving money.”
2. Onboarding
Create a Welcome Pack that explains the process, reporting cadence, roles, and what they can expect from you in the first 90 days. This builds confidence quickly.
3. Continuous Cost Management
Use “Quick Wins + Long-Term Strategy”:
Quick wins = turning off unused resources, fixing VM sizing.
Long-term = reservations, savings plans, cultural FinOps adoption.
Share results visually (dashboards, trend lines, savings trackers). Customers remember pictures more than spreadsheets.
4. Governance & Collaboration
Position yourself as the bridge between Finance and Engineering.
Encourage shared KPIs (e.g. “cost per application” or “cost per business unit”) so teams feel joint ownership.
5. Continuous Improvement
Show savings to date vs. your service fee. If your service pays for itself 5x over, retention is a no-brainer.
Regularly introduce new value-adds (e.g. sustainability metrics, AI-driven anomaly detection, new Azure licensing models). This keeps the service fresh.
After the Journey (Customer Lifetime Value)
Success Stories: Turn results into anonymized case studies you can share with other prospects.
Upsell & Cross-Sell: Once trust is built, expand into security, governance, or modernisation services.
Executive Summaries: Provide quarterly exec-level reports with big wins, savings, and forecasts. This gets visibility with CFOs and CIOs, not just IT managers.
Ongoing communication with the customer is key to the long term success of your FinOps Service as an ongoing service to each customer.
Communication Tips
Cadence: Weekly touchpoints at the start, then settle into monthly reports + quarterly reviews.
Transparency: Share raw data where possible — don’t make customers feel like you’re hiding anything.
Storytelling: Frame results as stories — “We saved you £12k by identifying 3 VMs that ran 24/7 when they were only needed for 8 hours/day.” Stories are more powerful than percentages.
✅ The golden rule: Make the customer feel like you are their financial guardian in the cloud. If they believe you’re watching their spend as carefully as your own, they’ll stay with you long-term.