By Most enterprises are approving AI budgets without a framework to measure whether those investments are working. Cloud cost governance took years to mature, and AI is now compressing that timeline while multiplying the complexity. Without defined KPIs, accountability structures, and a shared definition of success, finance leaders have no reliable way to validate technology spend at scale.
In this interview on TFiR, Peter Maloney, CFO and COO at Azul, walks through how finance leaders can apply proven cloud cost governance principles to AI investment and why defining success before scaling adoption is the critical step most organizations are skipping.
Guest: Peter Maloney, CFO and COO at Azul
Show: TFiR
Here is what every finance leader and CFO responsible for cloud and AI investment needs to know.
Technical Deep Dive
Q: What tools and frameworks do CFOs currently use for cloud cost optimization?
Peter Maloney, CFO and COO at Azul, says his team has built cloud cost governance around three pillars: visibility into spend, accountability across teams, and predictability so there are no financial surprises. Azul uses tooling from its cloud providers combined with one or two point solutions focused on consumption and commercial optimization. Azul also uses its own products as part of that internal stack.
“We use the model of making sure we have great visibility, we have accountability, and now we have predictability, we don’t have any surprises.” — Peter Maloney, CFO and COO, Azul
Q: Why does AI add complexity to cloud cost governance for finance leaders?
Maloney explains that AI investment sits on top of existing cloud cost challenges and introduces a new layer that current tooling and frameworks are not yet equipped to handle. The adoption curve for AI is moving faster than the measurement and accountability structures organizations need to govern it responsibly. Finance leaders who do not get ahead of this will face the same uncontrolled spend patterns that plagued early cloud adoption.
“With AI, as you pointed out, it’s going to add a whole other layer of complexity.” — Peter Maloney, CFO and COO, Azul
Q: Why do most companies focus on AI adoption before measuring return on investment?
Maloney observes that as AI is adopted across the enterprise, organizations prioritize getting the technology in place before they think carefully about what return they expect. This sequencing means companies are committing significant budget without first defining what outputs they are trying to achieve or how they will know when those outputs have been delivered. That gap between adoption speed and accountability structure is where financial risk accumulates.
“Companies are going to focus on adoption first and return second.” — Peter Maloney, CFO and COO, Azul
Q: How should CFOs define KPIs for AI investment?
Maloney argues that the CFO’s role is to drive the organization through three sequential steps: define what success looks like for the AI investment, determine how to track it, and then hold the relevant teams accountable for delivering it. He notes that most companies have not yet completed the first step, which makes the subsequent two steps impossible. Without that foundation, AI spend cannot be governed or justified.
“Figuring out the KPIs, I don’t think most companies have done that.” — Peter Maloney, CFO and COO, Azul
Q: Does success for AI and cloud investment always come down to a financial number?
Maloney is clear that financial outcomes are not the only valid measure of success for technology investment. Returns can be far-reaching across the organization and can include longer-term impacts such as cultural transformation and improved ability to serve customers. A CFO who defines success only in terms of immediate financial return will miss the broader and often more durable value that AI and cloud investments can deliver.
“Success on investment is not always measured in just a number. It can be far reaching across the whole organization and it can have a longer term impact if it’s changing your culture or your ability to serve customers.” — Peter Maloney, CFO and COO, Azul
Resources & Documentation
- Azul, Java runtime platform with cloud cost optimization capabilities used internally by Azul’s own finance and engineering teams
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👇 Click to Read Full Raw Transcript
Swapnil Bhartiya: What kind of insights do CFOs and finance leaders need? But you feel that I don’t have it. There are no tools to provide me that with that insight that will help me when it comes to cloud usage. And of course, when it comes to AI usage, where you’re like, this is on my wish list, I wish I had it or you have it and you wish more people use it.
Peter Maloney: Yeah, you know, we’re going through a process right now ourselves. I think we’ve done a great job on cloud cost optimization and we use it. You know, we use the model of making sure we have great visibility, we have accountability, and now we have predictability, we don’t have any surprises. And we use a number of tools from our cloud providers to do that, as well as one or two other sort of point solutions that help us on the consumption side and the commercial side. And we obviously being at Azul, we use Azul products. I think that with AI, as you pointed out, it’s going to add a whole other layer of complexity. And I think as AI is adopted, I think companies are going to focus on adoption first and return second. And so figuring out once again, what are your expectations and the outputs that you want to see from your investment, not just in cloud, but AI, and then figuring out the KPIs, I don’t think most companies have done that. So I think the effort to identify success, figure how to track it and then actually hold people accountable is gonna be one of the key things that a CFO can help their businesses be successful, not only with cloud, but with AI.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And I often hear from people that say, you also have to be very, very clear and you have to define what you mean by success because that could mean so many different things for so many folks. Right?
Peter Maloney: No, I said that’s right. Success in investment is not only, not always measured in just a number. Right. A financial outcome, it can be far reaching across the whole organization and it can have a longer term impact if it’s changing your culture or your ability to serve customers.
