2027 CFO Playbook: Understand and Analyze Your Cloud & AI Spend

Welcome to The SaaS CFO Podcast! In today’s episode, Ben sits down with Edward Barrow, founder and CEO of Cloud Capital, for a timely and in-depth conversation about the challenges facing CFOs, controllers, and tech leaders as cloud and AI spending rapidly becomes one of the largest and most complex line items on the P&L. With spend on compute, tokens, and infrastructure rising—sometimes to over 30% of revenue—understanding, forecasting, and optimizing cloud and AI costs is no longer optional for SaaS leadership teams.

Edward brings hands-on experience in both scaling software companies and overseeing strategic finance for cloud-native businesses, sharing research-backed insights and actionable strategies. Together, they explore how AI is reshaping unit economics, why traditional forecasting methods won't cut it in 2027, and what new controls and collaboration between finance and engineering are essential for sustainable growth. If you're preparing for 2027 budgeting and want to stay ahead of the curve on cloud and AI cost management, this episode is for you.

Show Notes:

00:00 Helping CFOs manage cloud spending

05:43 AI investment in software businesses

09:10 Balancing growth and profitability

13:03 AI and Token Cost Management

14:02 Understanding and managing cloud costs

18:13 Automated financial forecasting tools

20:50 Allocating and budgeting production costs

27:11 Commitment challenges in tech projects

27:51 Challenges of long-term tech commitments

33:46 Planning cost optimization steps

34:55 CFOs adapting to cloud and AI