1
Inform
Explain the signal
Compare periods, trace cost-group and service drivers, and examine anomalies or unallocated spend without building a report first.
What did we spend last month, and how does it compare to the month before?
Proactive FinOps agent
Ask Finn turns a cost question into a reviewable investigation.
Ask one scoped question about Azure or connected AI cost. Finn explains the result, shows supported evidence when available, and offers follow-up questions.
What proactive means
The signal arrives before the cost review. Finn helps you explain it.
Ask Finn starts where a dashboard usually stops. CloudMonitor identifies a cost signal; the reviewer opens Finn and asks a scoped question. Finn can return follow-up questions and structured evidence when the answer path supplies it. Your team stays accountable for the decision.
The boundary
Finn can investigate and recommend. It cannot resize a VM, buy a commitment, change a budget, or modify a workload.
- 01
Bring a FinOps signal.
A user starts with an anomaly, budget risk, allocation gap, savings opportunity, or a question of their own.
- 02
Put the scope in the question.
Name the period, provider, cost group, and billed or effective cost basis instead of relying on report filters.
- 03
Inspect the available evidence.
Finn explains the result and shows structured tables, charts, or an Explorer hand-off only when the answer path supplies them.
- 04
Verify before action.
Check report-bound numbers in The Ledger. Your accountable owner and existing change process make the decision.
Inform → Optimize → Operate
Use a scoped answer to inform the next FinOps decision.
Within the current session, explain the signal, examine the opportunity, and prepare a human-owned handoff. Copy what you need; the conversation cannot be reopened or shared.
2
Optimize
Rank the opportunity
Question the savings backlog, review the evidence and caveats, and put the highest-value recommendation at the top of the queue.
Which open savings should the Platform team review first, and why?
3
Operate
Carry evidence into review
Verify the finding in the relevant report, then let the accountable owner decide what changes through the existing process.
Summarize the evidence and list what the owner should verify before action.
Scripted investigations
The public demo shows the current answer boundaries.
Choose one of three scripted paths built from illustrative CloudMonitor data. Nothing is sent to Finn in demo mode.
Spend comparison
What did we spend last month, and how does it compare to the month before?
The current scripted sample reports April 2026 effective cost of $1,284,915, down $46,285 (3.5%) from March, and shows the six-month context.
- April 2026
- Effective cost
- Six-month chart
Anomaly review
What unusual cost changes should I investigate?
The sample ranks two large resource deltas. It labels them as detected cost changes, not diagnosed causes, so the reviewer knows what still needs investigation.
- Resource deltas
- Cost groups
- Cause boundary
Commitment coverage
How well are our commitments covering eligible spend?
The sample compares $229,000 of commitment-priced effective cost with $112,000 on demand for May 2026. It does not invent an overall coverage percentage when the fixture does not provide one.
- May 2026
- Pricing category
- No inferred percentage
Ask with a full scope
Put the filter context into the sentence.
Ask Finn does not inherit the top-bar filters. A complete question is easier to answer and gives the reviewer an explicit scope to verify.
Scoped example
Compare billed Azure cost for the Platform cost group in July versus June. Rank the three largest service drivers and tell me what to investigate next.
- Period
- July versus June
- Provider
- Azure
- Cost group
- Platform
- Cost basis
- Billed
Trust and control
An answer should make review easier, not hide the work.
These boundaries matter before a live question leaves the screen.
- Know whose data is in scope
- Live answers are available to active, licensed organization administrators and verified support staff using Support mode. The service identity can use the organization’s full CloudMonitor cost data; personal report filters and cost-group permissions do not narrow an answer.
- See the AI processing boundary
- The question and the data retrieved to answer it are processed by an external AI service. The deployed answer path uses a server-side service identity rather than the viewer’s delegated sign-in.
- Keep changes outside Finn
- Finn cannot create or change budgets, allocation rules, tags, resources, or other customer data. Your existing approval and change process stays in control.
- Verify before the number travels
- Structured evidence appears only when the answer path supplies it. Confirm any report-bound number in The Ledger with the same period, scope, and cost basis.
AI governance: Equal Assurance issued CloudMonitor an ISO/IEC 42001 Certificate of Verification. Review the trust center.
Availability
Ask Finn is included in Professional and Enterprise.
Each workspace is configured during CloudMonitor setup. Starter does not include the agent.
Ask Finn FAQ
What teams ask before they use Finn.
What is Ask Finn?
Ask Finn is CloudMonitor’s FinOps agent. It answers plain-English questions about Azure cost, explains CloudMonitor signals, and keeps the investigation grounded in your governed cost data.
What makes Ask Finn proactive?
CloudMonitor already surfaces anomalies, budget risks, allocation gaps, and savings opportunities. A user can bring that signal to Finn, ask one scoped question, and use the suggested follow-ups to continue the investigation. Finn does not start a conversation or make a change on its own.
Can Ask Finn change Azure resources?
No. CloudMonitor is read-only for your workloads. Finn can explain evidence and recommend a next step, but your team or your existing automation decides and makes any change.
What data does Ask Finn use?
Finn uses the cost and usage data CloudMonitor processes for your organization in Microsoft Fabric. The question and retrieved answer data are processed by an external AI service. Live answers are role-gated, but the service identity can use organization-wide cost data and does not inherit the viewer’s cost-group permissions or report filters. CloudMonitor does not read the application data inside your Azure resources.
Why should the question include a period and cost basis?
Ask Finn treats the question as its scope and does not inherit the global report filters. State the period, provider, Azure scope or cost group, and whether you mean billed or effective cost when that distinction matters.
How should I verify an answer?
Treat an answer as the start of an investigation. If a number will appear in a report or decision record, open The Ledger with the same period, cost group, and cost basis. Use Explorer when you need a deeper saved analysis.
Which plans include Ask Finn?
Ask Finn is included with CloudMonitor Professional and Enterprise. It is not part of Starter. See the pricing comparison for the current service-level details.
Is Ask Finn available in Microsoft Teams?
Ask Finn is available inside CloudMonitor and its Microsoft Teams extension is available. The Teams extension is a separate surface from the in-app experience.
Is the public demo live or recorded?
The public demo has three scripted investigations built from illustrative CloudMonitor data. Nothing is sent to Finn in demo mode. Live answers require a configured customer workspace because Finn answers from that organization’s own cost data.
See how Ask Finn handles a scoped question.
Open the scripted, read-only path directly in the CloudMonitor sandbox. No signup required.
