August 2025 Summaries

Vantage has introduced a new feature called Nested Tag Drill Down in its Cost Reports, which allows users to explore hierarchical Virtual Tags directly within their reports, streamlining the analysis of cloud costs. This feature automatically recognizes hierarchical relationships among Virtual Tags, offering a drill-down icon that users can click to view and filter child tags, thus enabling swift navigation between different levels of cost views without manual filter adjustments. The innovation is particularly helpful for organizations using nested tagging structures, such as a "Team" tag encompassing multiple "Product" tags, as it allows users to efficiently break down costs by specific components within a hierarchy. Available at no additional cost to all Vantage customers, Nested Tag Drill Down simplifies the process of aligning cloud costs with internal taxonomies and is designed to enhance the ease and speed of cost exploration and reporting.

Vantage has launched Remediation Steps within its Cost Recommendations feature, providing detailed guidance and actionable steps for addressing cost inefficiencies such as idle resources and underutilized services. Previously, users had to interpret recommendations and seek external guidance, but now they receive tailored instructions directly in the Vantage console, including CLI commands and provider-specific console actions. This enhancement allows users to easily implement cost-saving measures by offering clear workflows and additional context, such as resource ARNs for individual resources. The feature, which is available at no extra cost to all Vantage customers, aims to streamline the process of converting insights into actionable savings.

Vantage has earned the distinction of being a FinOps Certified Platform as recognized by the FinOps Foundation, signifying its alignment with the FinOps Framework and its contribution to the FinOps community. This certification assures enterprises of Vantage's depth of capabilities, offering tools that support cross-functional visibility, cost allocation, forecasting, and budget control, catering to key personas like engineering, finance, procurement, and leadership. Achieving this certification required Vantage to meet rigorous criteria, including demonstrating that its platform met 75% of the FinOps Platform Capabilities and engaging actively with the FinOps community. Additionally, Vantage's involvement in the FinOps Foundation's activities and contributions to community assets are further testaments to its commitment, making it a trusted choice for those evaluating FinOps solutions. The certification is valid for two years, and there is no additional fee for customers using Vantage's platform.

Vantage has introduced Audit Logs to its platform, enabling users to track and access a detailed history of changes made through the Vantage Console, API, and Terraform Provider, specifically for Virtual Tags and Cost Reports. This feature addresses previous gaps in visibility, allowing teams to troubleshoot and reconcile changes without relying on informal knowledge or support. The logs capture create, update, and destroy events and can be filtered by various criteria such as event type, user, and source. Available to users with an "Owner" role at no additional cost, the logs are accessible through the Settings page, and entries are maintained for 24 months. Future expansions of Audit Logs to other features like Dashboards and Integrations are planned, and while the logs provide a reference point, they do not support state restoration.

Vantage has introduced a new automated invoicing feature for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in a Private Preview, allowing them to generate and distribute invoices to their end customers directly within the Vantage platform. This new feature aims to streamline the billing process by eliminating the need for time-consuming manual workflows and external systems, enabling MSPs to manage the entire lifecycle of customer billing, including cost allocation and invoice customization. MSPs can now generate PDF invoices that include detailed cost breakdowns and customer metadata, which can be billed in any currency supported by Vantage. The platform allows for invoices to be reviewed and regenerated for accuracy before being automatically shared with customer billing contacts. Invoices can also be downloaded in PDF and CSV formats for import into general ledger systems. This feature is available to existing Vantage MSP customers who enroll in the private preview, with prospective customers invited to express interest through the Vantage Partner Portal.

Vantage has updated its integration with Databricks to leverage System Tables for ingesting detailed, post-discount billing data, offering a more accurate and granular visualization of Databricks costs alongside other infrastructure providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP. This new integration method replaces the previous reliance on Billable Usage Logs, which required manual input of discounts and often resulted in discrepancies. By utilizing System Tables, Vantage retrieves authoritative usage and pricing data directly from Databricks, enhancing cost accuracy and simplifying the visualization of total deployment costs. The update is available to all Vantage customers and requires a Unity Catalog-enabled workspace, with no additional cost for the integration itself, although Databricks usage will contribute to Vantage quota tier limits. The integration process involves setting up a Serverless SQL Warehouse and granting necessary permissions, and it enables filtering and grouping of Databricks costs by various dimensions within Vantage's Cost Reports.