When South Africa’s leading cloud-native MSP, Synthesis, set out to modernize their FinOps operations, they didn’t just look for another dashboard, they looked for a long-term strategic partner. Within just a few weeks of evaluating Umbrella, they uncovered over $150,000 in potential annual savings and identified 1,000+ optimization opportunities. What followed was a full adoption of Umbrella’s FinOps platform to manage their internal costs, advise managed customers, and offer a branded cloud financial management solution to clients across sectors. Here’s why they made the switch from legacy tools, and what that means for their cloud cost strategy going forward.
Moving Beyond the Legacy Status Quo
For years, Synthesis relied on traditional cost visibility tools that simply weren’t evolving fast enough. While these platforms once delivered value, recent acquisitions and stagnating roadmaps made it harder to stay ahead in a fast-changing cloud ecosystem.
In contrast, Umbrella offered something different: a multi-tenant FinOps platform purpose-built for managed service providers operating across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. From the start, the difference was clear. Within the Proof of Value period alone, Synthesis uncovered significant savings opportunities and gained unprecedented visibility across their multi-cloud footprint.
Scaling FinOps Across the Business
Today, Synthesis uses Umbrella to power three key FinOps functions:
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Internal cost optimization: Umbrella gives Synthesis full control over its internal cloud environments, including anomaly detection, root cause tracing, and cost forecasting.
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Customer-facing insights: The platform supports Synthesis’s managed services team with real-time data, dashboards, and automation to help customers reduce waste and improve ROI.
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Branded FinOps offering: With white-label capabilities, Synthesis now offers its own cloud cost optimization platform to enterprise clients, helping them build mature, scalable FinOps practices in-house.
FinOps Features That Make a Difference
The decision to standardize on Umbrella wasn’t just about visibility—it was about velocity, automation, and impact. Synthesis now benefits from:
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Unified, multi-cloud visibility with department-level allocation
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Smart chargeback and customizable billing automation
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AI-powered anomaly detection and root cause analysis
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85+ out-of-the-box cost-saving recommendations
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Branded customer portal for self-service FinOps
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Scheduled reporting via Slack, Teams, or email
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Dedicated support and go-to-market success planning
These features help Synthesis not only deliver value to clients faster, but also differentiate their services in a competitive MSP landscape.
A Partnership Built for the Future
“Synthesis is yet another leading MSP making the move away from legacy platforms to next-generation tools like Umbrella,” says David Drai, CEO of Umbrella. “They’re not just adopting a tool—they’re building a FinOps-led service model that drives value at scale.”
With FinOps maturity becoming a competitive advantage, especially in multi-cloud environments, this partnership positions Synthesis as a market leader in cloud financial management across Africa and beyond.
As Paul Spagnoletti, Revenue Executive at Synthesis, puts it: “Umbrella gives us the visibility and intelligence we need across all three hyperscalers. The impact has been immediate, and we’re just getting started.”
Want to deliver the same kind of FinOps impact? Get in touch with our team to see what Umbrella can do for your business.