We started PointFive with a simple goal: help enterprises make cloud efficiency a core principle and eliminate cloud waste.

We approached this by focusing on the root cause of inefficiency: how resources are configured, scaled, and architected. Instead of starting with spend visibility, discounts, or surface-level cleanup, we built automation to continuously optimize the resource layer, where cloud cost is generated.

PointFive doesn’t just flag inefficiencies. It delivers context, root cause, and next steps. FinOps and engineering teams don’t just see what’s wrong; they know why and how to fix it. That clarity drives action and results.

Why Traditional FinOps Tools Need to Evolve

Cloud cost management (FinOps) tools emerged to serve finance teams, who naturally prioritized visibility into spending, reporting, and purchasing decisions. This focus created a disconnect between identifying potential savings and the engineering teams who could actually realize them.

Getting engineers on board with cost optimization can be challenging. Engineers naturally prefer building and innovating, making it difficult to pause and revisit work that has already been considered complete. As a result, optimizations accumulate, often addressed sporadically through initiatives such as hackathons. These temporary fixes address symptoms rather than underlying causes, rarely achieving sustained efficiency.

Traditional cost management tools typically recommend straightforward actions such as purchasing reserved instances or shutting down idle resources. However, deeper inefficiencies are more subtle. They depend heavily on understanding each cloud service's billing model and aligning it precisely with your application's specific utilization patterns and architecture. Simply examining CPU or memory usage, or spotting unattached disks, won't uncover these nuanced optimization opportunities.

Discovering the Depths of Cloud Efficiency

Cost is simply a symptom. The root causes of inefficiency lie deeper. True efficiency comes from understanding how cloud resources are provisioned, scaled, utilized, and billed.

PointFive identifies inefficiencies that traditional tools miss. These inefficiencies are subtle but impact both performance and cost.

For example:

• DynamoDB Capacity Misconfiguration:Many companies use DynamoDB’s On-Demand mode by default due to its simplicity, even when steady workloads could save using Provisioned Capacity. PointFive analyzes usage patterns to recommend when to switch to Provisioned Capacity and when to revert, ensuring each table consistently operates in the most cost-effective mode..
• Inefficient Aurora Storage Configuration: Aurora clusters default to the Standard storage tier, billing separately for I/O operations and storage capacity. PointFive identifies workloads where migrating to Aurora I/O-Optimized storage can reduce overall cost and improve performance stability by eliminating I/O charges. It also highlights when Standard storage remains more cost effective, ensuring each database uses the most efficient configuration.

Inefficiencies like these reduce cloud costs while noticeably enhancing system performance and reliability, benefits often overlooked by traditional FinOps platforms.

We realized organizations need to evolve their approach to overcome these challenges. We're excited to announce a new category in response to this gap.

Introducing Cloud Efficiency Posture Management (CEPM)

Cloud Efficiency Posture Management (CEPM) is the discipline of measuring and improving the efficiency of your cloud footprint. CEPM tools continuously monitor your infrastructure for inefficiencies, provide context, and streamline remediation, giving teams confidence that their cloud is efficient, optimized, and well-managed.

Key Benefits of CEPM

• Complete visibility: Provides detailed insights beyond cost, including resource usage, network patterns, metadata, logs, and configurations.
• Continuous improvement: Brings efficiency management into routines, replacing occasional one-off tasks.
• Immediate action: Offers context-rich, prioritized recommendations directly within engineering workflows, enabling quick and effective action.
• Scale globally: Empowers engineering teams, regardless of size or location, to actively participate in efficiency management, creating accountability and fostering continuous awareness of optimization opportunities.

Strategic alignment: Harmonizes engineering, operational, and financial goals, ensuring efficiency improvements align with broader organizational objectives, customer satisfaction, and economic performance.