Plan-to-actual variance bridge
Cloud overspend is EUR 6.5M due to inference growth and delayed decommissioning
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The planned operational expenditure was EUR 42.0M, but actual opex reached EUR 48.5M. Key factors contributing to the overspend include a EUR 5.8M increase in inference volume and a EUR 2.4M impact from delayed decommissioning. However, there were also cost savings from reserved-instance savings of EUR 3.2M, storage optimization of EUR 1.4M, and a vendor credit of EUR 0.9M. Other factors such as security logging and FinOps leakage added to the overspend. To address the overspend, it's essential to focus on reducing inference run-rate and tackling the decommissioning backlog.
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Brief path
curl -X POST https://api.slideforge.dev/v1/render/auto \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sf_live_..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "brief": "The planned operational expenditure was EUR 42.0M, but actual opex reached EUR 48.5M. Key factors contributing to the ov" }'Structured intent (this template)
{
"pattern": "waterfall_bridge",
"title": "Inference growth and delayed decommissioning explain most of the EUR 6.5M cloud overspend",
"subtitle": "FY26 cloud run-rate: plan to actual (EUR M)",
"variant": "plan_actual_variance_bridge",
"unit": "",
"tone_mode": "favorable_adverse",
"steps": [
{
"kind": "start",
"label": "Plan opex",
"value": 42,
"display": "42.0"
},
{
"kind": "delta",
"label": "Reserved-instance savings",
"value": -3.2,
"impact": "good"
},
{
"kind": "delta",
"label": "Inference volume",
"value": 5.8,
"impact": "bad",
"emphasis": "primary"
},
{
"kind": "delta",
"label": "Storage optimization",
"value": -1.4,
"impact": "good"
},
{
"kind": "delta",
"label": "Security logging",
"value": 2.1,
"impact": "bad"
},
{
"kind": "delta",
"label": "FinOps leakage",
"value": 1.7,
"impact": "bad"
},
{
"kind": "delta",
"label": "Vendor credit",
"value": -0.9,
"impact": "good"
},
{
"kind": "delta",
"label": "Delayed decommissioning",
"value": 2.4,
"impact": "bad"
},
{
"kind": "total",
"label": "Actual opex",
"value": 48.5,
"display": "48.5"
}
],
"caution": "Tone is business impact: cost reductions are favourable even when negative.",
"source_note": "FinOps actuals, FY26",
"takeaway": "Attack inference run-rate and decommissioning backlog to close the overspend."
}Related templates
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