How a global finance leader achieved AI readiness in 90 days with Snowstack

$800K in cloud costs every month, and no explanation. For a leading financial services firm, cloud was critical to scaling the business, yet it had become one of the fastest-growing expenses. Monthly spend had passed $800K with no clear breakdown of where the money was going. By partnering with us, they gained full visibility and, within 90 days, turned uncontrolled costs into a governed, AI-ready platform built for scale.

Key outcomes:

• Data ingestion latency reduced by 80%
• AI-readiness achieved in 90 days
• Real-time cost monitoring and automated optimization
• Modern data platform for analytics, ML, and AI use cases

Client overview

Our client is a financial services company generating $500M in annual revenue with a team of 2,500 employees across North America and Europe. In the midst of rapid growth, they were transitioning from legacy systems to a modern cloud data platform built on Snowflake. But they faced rising cloud costs and a fragmented data landscape.

The challenge

Our client had ambitious AI and GenAI goals, but lacked the foundational architecture to support them cost-effectively.

The client knew what Snowflake could deliver but needed the right partner to design, implement, and operationalize a solution that would translate that capability into measurable business value.

Our solution

The client set out to gain full visibility, governance, and scalability in their cloud environment. By partnering with us, they implemented a modern, AI-ready data platform built on Snowflake to address the challenges limiting performance.

Unified data Ingestion with OpenFlow

They consolidated structured and unstructured data from SharePoint, Salesforce, and custom systems into a single ingestion framework, eliminating fragmented pipelines and enabling real-time analytics.

Centralized Metadata and governance with Horizon Catalog

They integrated metadata from BI tools, dbt models, and Iceberg tables into one governed repository, achieving full lineage visibility, consistent KPIs, and stronger compliance controls.

Consistent logic with semantic views

Business rules were embedded directly into the data layer. This made sure that every team worked from the same definitions for analytics and AI training.

Self-service analytics with Cortex AI SQL

Business users can now query governed datasets in natural language, reducing reliance on engineering and accelerating decision-making.

FinOps cost governance

Daily cost visibility, clear ownership tracking, and accurate forecasting were integrated into operations, turning cost control into a proactive practice.

Why it mattered

If you can’t see your cloud costs, you’re losing money. In many enterprises, unused services, duplicate workloads, and unclear cost ownership quietly drain millions each year. Without visibility and governance, budgets overspend, AI projects stall, and growth slows.

Our team provides the insight and control to stop waste, making every cloud dollar accountable and directly tied to business results. So start controlling your cloud spend today.

Book a Snowflake consultation.

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Project details:

• Industry: Financial Services
• Duration: 90 days (initial build) + ongoing support
• Engagement Model: FinOps & AI readiness program
• Team Composition: Snowflake Solution Architect, Data Engineers, BI Specialist, Data Governance Lead
• Frequently Used Snowflake Components: OpenFlow, Horizon Catalog, Cortex AI SQL, Semantic Views
• Other Tools Integrated: SharePoint, Salesforce, dbt, Fivetran, Power BI

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