Overview
- Client: Checkmarx
- Industry: Cybersecurity / Application Security
- Cloud Provider: AWS
- Challenge: Bridging the gap between FinOps reporting and engineering action
Checkmarx, a global leader in application security testing, runs a cloud-native platform that scans millions of lines of code for vulnerabilities. Their AWS infrastructure scales dynamically to meet customer demand, creating both optimization opportunities and challenges in attributing costs to specific workloads and teams.
The Challenge
Checkmarx had invested in building a FinOps practice, but the team found that generating cost reports and sharing them with engineering wasn't translating into meaningful action. The core problems were:
- Accountability gap -- Cost data was visible at the account level but not attributed to specific teams or services
- Context deficit -- Engineers received optimization recommendations without the technical detail needed to act safely
- Prioritization difficulty -- Without clear impact sizing, optimization work competed poorly against feature development
- Tool fatigue -- Engineers were reluctant to adopt yet another dashboard disconnected from their workflows
The Solution
PointFive provided the missing link between FinOps visibility and engineering execution. The platform was adopted as the central system for identifying, assigning, and tracking optimization work.
Team-level attribution -- PointFive mapped cloud resources to engineering teams, making it clear which groups owned which costs and which optimization opportunities.
Engineering-native workflows -- Recommendations integrated with Jira and Slack, appearing in the tools engineers already used rather than requiring them to check a separate dashboard.
Validated remediation -- Each recommendation included the technical context, risk assessment, and implementation guidance that engineers needed to act with confidence.
Impact quantification -- Clear dollar-value estimates for each opportunity helped engineering managers prioritize optimization work alongside feature development.
Results
PointFive transformed cloud cost optimization at Checkmarx from a FinOps-driven reporting exercise into an engineering-driven continuous improvement process.
- Engineering ownership -- Development teams began proactively identifying and fixing inefficiencies within their own services
- Faster remediation cycles -- Context-rich recommendations reduced the investigation time before implementation
- Cultural shift -- Cloud efficiency became part of the engineering definition of quality, not just a finance metric
- Sustained improvements -- Continuous monitoring ensured that optimizations persisted and new opportunities were caught early
Conclusion
The most effective cloud cost optimization programs are those where engineering teams take direct ownership of efficiency. PointFive helped Checkmarx bridge the gap between FinOps insight and engineering action, creating a sustainable culture of cloud cost awareness that drives ongoing savings.