According to a report from VMware, nearly half of IT leaders believe more than 25% of their cloud spending is wasted, and almost one-third claim the waste exceeds 50%. These numbers are astonishing, not just for the financial toll but for what they reveal about the broader cultural and operational challenges within enterprise IT. At the heart of this waste are a lack of accountability, poorly defined processes, and an absence of financial visibility.

Most of these issues can be traced to leadership problems. Too many IT leaders focus on innovation and growth but overlook the day-to-day operational discipline required to manage cloud spending effectively. Instead of using finops and other tools, they allow unchecked behaviors, unclear billing, and overprovisioning, risking tighter future budgets and lower ROI.

Areas of concern

The challenges that plague cloud cost management are obvious and avoidable. VMware’s survey of 1,800 senior IT decision-makers worldwide revealed that organizational silos remain a significant barrier to effective cloud management. These silos limit visibility, control, and governance—key factors for understanding and controlling excessive spending. Although organizational silos can stem from culture, it ultimately falls on IT leadership to dismantle them.