More Than Just Right-Sizing - Rick Triana from IHG Hotels
Can developing soft skills like communication and conflict resolution accelerate FinOps maturity faster than tooling?
In this episode of FinOps in Action, I sit down with Cloud FinOps Manager at IHG Hotels & Resorts, Rick Triana, to explore why cost savings are actually the smallest part of FinOps, and why focusing on “spend reduction” can stunt your FinOps maturity.
Rick shares how he evolved from treating FinOps as a cost-cutting function to building a value-driven program rooted in leadership, communication, and accountability. He explains why most right-sizing recommendations fail, how to avoid losing trust with engineering, and what FinOps “nirvana” really looks like.
We also break down Rick’s value–effort–risk prioritization framework, how to influence without authority, and why soft skills matter more than technical expertise in this field.
Here’s what we talked about:
Why focusing only on savings misses the true purpose of FinOps: maximizing business value
How communication and soft skills matter more than technical tools in driving adoption
Rick’s value × effort × risk scoring model for prioritizing optimization work
Why dashboards drive awareness but chargeback drives accountability
How FinOps teams mature through the crawl–walk–run lifecycle — and how practitioners mature personally, too
What separates seasoned FinOps leaders from those who only know right-sizing and savings plans
Quote of the Show:
“If that’s your focus is just saving money, I think you missed the big picture.” - Rick Triana
Connect with Rick:
In this episode of FinOps in Action, Rick Triana, Cloud FinOps Manager at IHG Hotels & Resorts, breaks down why FinOps is about maximizing business value and how teams mature from basic cost optimization into value-driven, accountable cloud organizations. Rick shares lessons from building and scaling FinOps practices across multiple enterprises, explains why EC2 right-sizing is “mostly nonsense” when done blindly, and outlines his value-effort-risk framework for prioritizing high-impact initiatives. He also dives into the leadership and communication skills required to influence engineering and finance, move from showback to chargeback, and build proactive FinOps governance that drives efficiency by design.
Love this perspective on FinOps maturity prioritizing people over tools. Rick's point about communication skills mattering more than technical expertise hits home. I've seen teams fixated on right-sizing while completely missing the value conversation with stakeholders. The value-effort-risk framework is brilliant for cutting through noise and focusing on what actualy moves the needle. This should be required listening for anyone building a FinOps practise.