About
As a seasoned executive cloud leader, I have a 20-year track record of guiding Fortune…
Articles by Eric
-
Don't Miss These 4 Google Cloud FinOps Sessions at Next '24
Don't Miss These 4 Google Cloud FinOps Sessions at Next '24
We are kicking off one of my favorite events of the year - Google Cloud Next ‘24 in Las Vegas on April 9-11! We are…
8 Comments -
Don't Miss These 6 Google Cloud FinOps Sessions at Next '23
Don't Miss These 6 Google Cloud FinOps Sessions at Next '23
Google Cloud Next ‘23 kicks off on August 29-31 and is one of our favorite times of the year because it brings together…
16 Comments
Activity
9K followers
-
Eric Lam shared this"FinOps is dead." That was the provocative underlying theme at FinOps X this week. Everyone is talking about AI tokens, Tokenomics, and the incoming AI cost reckoning the industry desperately needs to prepare for. When Goldman Sachs predicts the world will generate over 120 quadrillion tokens by 2030, it’s clear why the anxiety is setting in. But let’s ground this in reality for a second. Many of the global enterprises we work with are still just trying to get their arms around managing their cloud spend effectively. Telling them they now need to govern AI tokens feels a bit overwhelming at this exact moment. Having said that, we have to start somewhere. We need to take the same pragmatic "crawl, walk, run" approach with AI tokens that we did in the early days of FinOps. If we start building the muscle now, we can stay ahead of the curve. If you're trying to figure out how to navigate this, give me a follow. I'll be sharing a 3-part series on how to practically manage, optimize, and govern your AI token spend and get real visibility into your costs. Beyond the token talk, FinOps X was a blast. My team and I have been attending and supporting this community since the very first gathering in Austin, TX, and the energy only gets better. Thank you to J.R. Storment, my Google Cloud team, and our customers for making it another highly successful week of learning, sharing, and connecting. Already looking forward to #Tokenomicon next year! #FinOps #FinOpsX #Tokenomics #CloudCostManagement #GoogleCloud #AI #ValueRealization
-
Eric Lam shared thisContinuing the momentum from last week's Delta Executive Summit in São Paulo, we brought the energy to NYC this week to host our 7th FinOps Executive Forum! Bringing together over 30 industry thought leaders who are leading the charge in FinOps from amazing organizations like Adobe, CME Group, JPMC, Optum, Wayfair, and many more. A special thank you to Rob Birdsong and Milan Parikh, VP at Google Cloud, for kicking off the day with their welcome remarks and for their continuous support of this community and Nick Davidson for the wonderful emcee. Key highlights from the event: Agentic FinOps in Action: A big thank you to Sridhar Ayala, Director of Hyperscalers at Adobe, for sharing his views on Agentic FinOps. Showcasing the Agentic solution they built to scale FinOps across Adobe was a highlight for everyone in the room! The Art of the Possible with AI: Kudos to our Delta Value team (Pathik Sharma, Matthew Orr) and the Data team (Mandeep Singh B., Shlok Karpathak) for the showcase of a multi-agent FinOps solution. They demonstrated how FinOps teams can seamlessly transition from understanding their spend to automating resource labeling, optimizing GKE clusters, and generating PRs to embed optimizations directly into the CI/CD process. Customer-Driven Innovation: The two-way dialogue is what makes these events so special. We loved the customer feedback and engagement during the FinOps product roadmap session led by Sarah McMullin and Melissa Dominguez. Unfiltered Peer Learning: The knowledge sharing, lessons learned, and deep-dive discussions during our Cloud FinOps Real Talk table topics session were amazing. The transparency and willingness to share best practices was next level. Through this forum, our goal is to create a space where customers can hear from Google experts, learn from their peers, and build a vibrant community around the critical topic of FinOps at the intersection of AI. Thank you to everyone who attended, shared, and made this event such a resounding success. #AgenticFinOps #AI #GoogleCloud #Delta #ValueRealization #GoogleCloudConsulting
-
Eric Lam shared thisWe recently wrapped the delta Agentic AI Executive Summit in São Paulo, where we hosted 85+ executive leaders to discuss the transition from AI hype to production-grade value realization. The energy in the room was a testament to the urgency of this transformation. With over 150 leaders on the waitlist, it’s clear that Brazilian leadership is ready to move beyond "more code" and toward measurable ROI. Key Takeaways from the Summit: Agentic Software Development: Leveraging DORA metrics to maximize the ROI of AI-assisted delivery. The AI Value Paradox: Moving past the productivity paradox to focus on actual value realization. Agentic FinOps: Scaling specialized AI workforces for sustainable, cost-effective growth. The feedback was incredible reinforcing that the "delta difference" lies in combining technical depth with a clear strategic vision and we are just getting started! As always, it takes a village (Eva Dong Vivian Hu, CPA Sumeet S. Armando Romero Méndez Lucia Nishiyama Serra Luiz Faray, MSc . Keila Panza Debora Francisco Lalo, PhD.) to make this event successful and thanks to my leadership for the continuous support Marcus Oliver Fernando Mattoso Lemos #AgenticAI #GoogleCloud #EngineeringExcellence #DigitalTransformation #FinOps #DORA #delta #ValueRealization
-
Eric Lam shared thisI’m excited to be moderating an upcoming panel at the AI X Leadership Summit in Boston! We’ll be diving deep into a critical topic for today’s market: "From Technology to ROI: AI in Finance." As AI moves from hype to integration, the real challenge is realizing tangible value, and I can't wait to explore this with our incredible lineup of experts: Barbara Widholm, VP of Automation & AI at State Street Preethi Raghavan, VP of NLP & Machine Learning at Fidelity Brian Hengen, VP of Sales Engineering at Oracle If you’re attending ODSC AI East on April 28-29, come join the conversation! #AI #FinTech #Leadership #ODSC #GenerativeAI #ROI #ValueRealization https://lnkd.in/dtAP4twk
-
Eric Lam shared thisWhat a week at Google Next! The momentum on the ground with over 32,000 attendees was undeniable! it’s clear we are no longer just talking about the "Agentic AI" era; we are actively building it. I had the privilege to join Brent E. and Carole Ou on a panel discussion to share best practices on how customers are leveraging AI to scale FinOps on their day-to-day. A big thank you to Jonathan Morley from the FinOps Foundation for moderating the session, and to J.R. Storment for the continued partnership. My few highlights from Next: 8th Gen TPUs (8t & 8i): The introduction of specialized chips for training (8t) and cost-effective, near-zero latency inference (8i) is a game-changer for platform engineering. Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform: This is going to drastically simplify the cost and management for enterprises to build, scale, govern, and optimize agents. Agent Skills: We’ve seen how heavy MCP usage can rack up costs with data overload. Google’s new Agent Skills, a compact, agent-first format is the solution we needed to load expertise only as it's required. By reducing the number of tokens processed per request, you’re lowering the cost per task. The ROI Mandate: Quantifying the value of AI is no longer optional, it’s the primary focus for every executive I spoke with. Everyone is looking for the same thing: measurable, tangible business results from their AI investments. The best part of these events is always the people. It was great to team up with Carlo Giovine for the FSI Industry Executive Track to lead discussions with FSI leaders and CxOs. We covered a lot of ground, bridging the gap between the innovation of digital-native banks and the scale of global enterprise institutions. Our #delta team showed up strong, leading customer discussions and showcasing our latest agentic FinOps solutions - Pathik Sharma and Andre Ellis Jr. One of the best sessions on the final day was Eva Dong, Ursula Löbbert-Passing, PhD, and Nathen Harvey shared the latest #DORA research on AI ROI. To top it all off, I had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to wear an actual Olympic medal! 🥇 It’s surprisingly heavier than it looks! It was also great to reconnect with many familiar faces and make new relationships this past week! Thanks to my #GoogleCloudConsulting leadership support in making this all happen! Lyn Bird Rob Birdsong Marcus Oliver ..and we are hiring! I'm looking for a Value Realization Lead to join our delta Value, Google Cloud Consulting team! https://lnkd.in/egBeMVuj #GoogleCloudNext #GenerativeAI #FinOps #AgenticAI #ValueRealization #GeminiEnterprise #AgenticPlatform #googlecloudconsulting
-
Eric Lam shared thisI'm #hiring a Value Realization Lead to join our delta, Google Cloud Consulting team! This role goes beyond standard financial modeling. You'll build strategic partnerships with C-level executives at global organizations, connecting key technical investments to tangible business transformation. If you possess an entrepreneurial mindset, thrive on solving ambiguous problems, and enjoy guiding world-class companies through the economics of AI & cloud, this challenge is for you. If you're an experienced professional in value engineering, financial modeling, cloud economics, or FinOps, and ready to make an impact - apply here: https://lnkd.in/eprgitze #GoogleCloud #delta #GoogleCloudConsulting #ValueRealization #LifeatGoogle #FinOps #FinancialModeling #Innovation #Hiring #CareerOpportunity #EntrepreneurialMindset #valueengineering Eva Dong
-
Eric Lam shared thisThe conversation around AI is shifting fast. As AI scales, so does the complexity of managing its footprint. It isn't just about spending less; it’s about spending smart and proving value to the business. I’m joining Roi Ravhon from Finout and Chase P. from Shopify to discuss how some of the world’s leading teams are navigating the economics and value of AI. See you there! 👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eYkhJwi7 #AI #FinOps #GenerativeAI #CloudStrategy #TechLeadership #ValueRealization #AgenticTransformation
-
Eric Lam shared this7,000+ People. One Mission. 🚀 The energy at this year’s Accelerate was impossible to ignore. Matt Renner laid down the challenge: #MeetTheMoment. We accepted. We’ve had the fun, we’ve built the connections, and we’ve aligned on the vision. Now comes the best part: taking this energy back to our customers. #GoogleCloud #Gemini #AI #GeminiEnterprise #delta #Accelerate #SKO
-
Eric Lam shared thisWe are leaving the "AI Hype" phase and entering the "AI Value" phase. For the last two years, the primary metric for success in GenAI was Adoption. How many pilots are we running? Who has access to the models? Are we moving fast enough? Now, the board has a different question: Where is the ROI? The metric has shifted from "Experimentation" to "Realization." Last year, it was Adoption. This year, it is Value. CFOs are done funding experiments. They want to see the receipts. We are hiring a Value Realization Lead to solve this specific problem for our biggest customers in JAPAC. The Details: 📍 Location: Singapore or Bengaluru 🔗 Apply: [Link in comments] 👇 Tag a leader who understands the business side of AI. #GoogleCloud #AI #GenAI #ValueRealization #Strategy #JAPAC #Hiring #Leadership #delta
-
Eric Lam liked thisEric Lam liked thisExcited to share that we have officially open-sourced our framework for building Agentic FinOps Solution! 🚀 Anyone who has managed a modern cloud environment knows the dread of looking at a monthly dashboard and spotting a massive cost spike. Traditional FinOps methods are hitting a wall—manually digging through tens of thousands of rows of billing data to find a technical root cause is an almost impossible task. By the time you find the leak, the budget is already gone. To solve this "action paralysis" we wanted to build something practical. We’ve introduced a production-grade 5-layer Agentic FinOps Architecture on Google Cloud that shifts the paradigm from reactive visibility ("what happened?") to proactive remediation ("here is the code to fix it"). By open-sourcing this template, we're giving the community the tools to build an autonomous billing assistant using Google Cloud Agent Platform, the Agent Development Kit (ADK), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). What’s inside the repository & article: - The "Observe-Reason-Act" Framework: Shift from raw data views to active recommendations (like automated GKE rightsizing and intelligent storage tiering). - Secure Data Access via MCP: How we used a managed, read-only BigQuery MCP server to solve the massive security and trust bottlenecks that usually stall enterprise AI deployments. - Cultural Alignment: A real-time translator bridging the gap between finance teams (who own the budget) and engineers (who own the infrastructure). - Step-by-Step Deployment Guide: A complete blueprint from enabling your BigQuery export to testing your agent against a "Golden Dataset" of billing queries. You can try the MVP, read the full architectural breakdown, and clone the codebase mentioned in the comment below. A huge thank you to Aakansha M. David Dinh Mandeep Singh B. Shlok Karpathak for their incredible expert insights and code contributions to this launch, along with leadership support from Eric Lam Vitalii F. James Fu Swati Iyengar Ada Lau ! 🙌 This is us scratching the surface! More to come. Let us know what you think. #OpenSource #GoogleCloud #FinOps #AgenticFinOps #AgentPlatform #Gemini
-
Eric Lam liked thisEric Lam liked thisAs a life-long accidental consultant (the problems and challenges had me hooked from day 1), I do love a good acronym. Recently, while spending time with CHROs from across the globe, I realized even our trusted acronyms need an upgrade. Case in point: I was presenting to brilliant HR leaders, only to catch myself mid-slide. For a while, we’ve all said HITL stands for "Human in the Loop." But "loop" feels passive, like we’re just sitting around waiting for an AI system to ask for permission. So, I changed the slide on the fly: Human in the Lead. Because when it comes to the future of work, humans aren't just a safety check. We are driving the strategy. The decision point of "What do we Agentify?" is critical, and CHROs are firmly in that hot seat. I'm incredibly glad that leaders from across Google Cloud are part of this dialogue, helping shape exactly where organizations go from here. What is your organization’s philosophy? Are you keeping humans in the loop, or putting them in the lead?
-
Eric Lam liked thisEric Lam liked thisI am honored to succeed Terry Duffy as CME Group's Chief Executive Officer in March 2027. Over the past 20 years, I have had the privilege of working alongside Terry — witnessing firsthand the lasting impact he has made on our company. I am sincerely grateful for the confidence that both Terry and our Board of Directors have placed in me to build on this strong record of success. I look forward to working with our clients and employees to position CME Group for continued growth and innovation over the long term. https://lnkd.in/gBT3nzUhCME Group Terry Duffy Will Step Down as Chief Executive Officer and Transition to Executive Chairman of the Board in March 2027; President and CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick Will Be Appointed CEO - CME GroupCME Group Terry Duffy Will Step Down as Chief Executive Officer and Transition to Executive Chairman of the Board in March 2027; President and CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick Will Be Appointed CEO - CME Group
-
Eric Lam liked thisEric Lam liked thisFinOps for AI, or Tokenomics, was the dominant topic at last weeks #FinOpsX I've worked through mobile and cloud. AI is the biggest shift of the three, and the one that breaks the FinOps playbook hardest. Sharing what we're doing on the keynote stage with Maida Nazifi, in front of ~3,000 FinOps practitioners, was a moment that mattered. SAP has made this a priority and we quickly stepped into a thought leadership role in AI economics. It's where I spend most of my time now, and we've started to transform our well-established cloud FinOps playbook with new frameworks, tooling, and an operating model purpose-built for AI. We couldn't have done this without exec backing, the amazing FinOps for AI project team that built the solution, and all the colleagues across the org who supported us to make it work. AI is here to stay. Time to learn how to run your token factory.
-
Eric Lam liked thisEric Lam liked thisWhat a week at #FinOpsX! 🚀 It was an incredible 4 days of connecting with old friends, meeting new ones, and breaking bread together. We showed up as one team and announced new AI features, solutions and frameworks (details in the comments below 👇). My biggest takeaway? AI is shaping every discipline, but the organizations investing thoughtfully in FinOps and Tokenomics are the ones that will build a sustainable edge. Right now, FinOps teams sit at the ultimate crossroads for driving exponential impact. It’s time to stay open, curious, experiment, and scale. Now, it's time to get back to work. 💼 What is the one thing you are going to do differently to drive FinOps value in your organization this year? #ValueRealization #AIFinance #AgenticFinOps #Tokenomics #GoogleCloud #FinOpsFoundation
Experience & Education
-
Google
View Eric’s full experience
See their title, tenure and more.
or
Licenses & Certifications
Volunteer Experience
-
President
National Association of Asian American Professionals - Boston Chapter (NAAAP Boston)
- 3 years
NAAAP Boston is the local chapter of National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is dedicated to cultivate, support and promote Asian American leaders through professional development programs, community services engagements, and diverse industry connections.
NAAAP Boston was founded in 1986 and is the largest of the 27 chapters and associate chapters in North America. With more than 400 members, we are currently the fastest…NAAAP Boston is the local chapter of National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is dedicated to cultivate, support and promote Asian American leaders through professional development programs, community services engagements, and diverse industry connections.
NAAAP Boston was founded in 1986 and is the largest of the 27 chapters and associate chapters in North America. With more than 400 members, we are currently the fastest growing Asian American professionals organization in Boston.
NAAAP Boston’s vision is to be the premier leadership development organization for Asian American professionals.
Publications
-
Decoding Cloud FinOps to accelerate digital transformation
Google Cloud
Technology, finance, and business leaders are collaborating through the discipline of Cloud FinOps to accelerate digital transformation by establishing a robust value measurement approach to define, measure, and monitor the business value metrics to meet the organization's strategic goals.
Other authors -
-
Unit costing: The next frontier in Cloud FinOps
In this paper we’ll examine the nature of and the need for cloud unit costing and examples from cloud-first organizations who’ve been pioneering this important discipline. Unit costing will become the standard by which FinOps practitioners obtain full business context for their cloud costs.
Other authors -
-
Maximize Business Value with Cloud FinOps
Cloud FinOps - an operational framework and cultural shift bringing technology, finance, and business teams together to drive financial accountability and accelerate business value realization through cloud transformation.
Other authors -
-
Embracing the future of hybrid data infrastructure
See publicationGoogle Cloud Anthos and Confluent Kafka combination with Accenture's Digital Decoupling capabilities enable businesses to unify disparate systems and move data freely across environments—empowering developers to build innovative new applications and businesses to be more competitive with access to real-time data.
-
Serverless computing for CFOs
Serverless implementations change the way costs are calculated and how organizations are billed. What do CFOs need to know about potential capital planning and operational challenges?
Other authors -
-
Cloud Financial Management: Keep Spending in Check
Moving to the cloud can potentially save costs, but spending can quickly spiral out of control without a sound cloud financial management strategy.
Other authors -
-
Weave Cloud Automation Throughout the Enterprise
A clear vision for cloud automation can help organizations navigate both its benefits and potential challenges, often resulting in more streamlined and cost-effective operations.
Other authors -
-
3 Ways to Ease Cloud Migration
Moving an entire application portfolio to the cloud isn’t for the faint of heart, but the right approach can help CIOs overcome the hurdles.
Other authors -
Recommendations received
1 person has recommended Eric
Join now to viewOther similar profiles
Explore more posts
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content