Beyond the Tokens: Building the CTO’s AI Control Plane

Traditional FinOps breaks when applied to AI. GPUs and LLMs don’t behave like VMs—costs scale exponentially with model complexity and usage patterns. At SAP, we realized AI governance requires C-suite mandate, not just spend tracking.

Driven by our Chief AI Officer and CTO, we built an automated AI control plane measuring GPU and LLM usage across multi-cloud and sovereign environments—evolving from manual reporting to strategic executive insights.

This session shares how we aligned FinOps with the Office of the CTO:

• New paradigms: Why optimizing AI differs fundamentally from rightsizing VMs
• Unit economics: Shifting from “What does AI cost?” to “What’s the cost-per-outcome?” with normalized metrics across LLM providers
• Executive command center: Translating consumption data into role-based insights for decision-making

You’ll leave with a framework for AI governance that scales—anchored in executive sponsorship and measurable business outcomes.