Apptio launches new AI & hybrid IT tools for enterprise ROI

Apptio has announced the availability of two products aimed at providing enterprises with increased visibility into their artificial intelligence and hybrid IT investments.

The two offerings, AI TCO & Usage and Hybrid IT TCO Impact, are designed to assist organisations in managing hybrid and multi-cloud strategies and improving their return on investment in AI and hybrid IT systems.

AI TCO & Usage enables companies to monitor spending and performance across AI initiatives, which aims to help deliver measurable business value. Hybrid IT TCO Impact, in turn, seeks to offer finance teams greater insight into the financial outcomes of migrating applications within hybrid environments.

These new features expand Apptio's existing suite of technology business management software solutions. The platform currently provides IT financial management, FinOps, and strategic portfolio management to help organisations align IT strategies with business outcomes.

According to an IBM CEO Study referenced by Apptio, only 25% of surveyed Australian CEOs reported that their AI investments have met expected returns over recent years. The study also found that 61% of Australian CEOs prioritise AI use cases based on their return on investment.

Eugene Khvostov, Chief Product Officer at Apptio, said, "These solutions are built to fill critical gaps in enterprise TBM, to give organisations greater agility to stay on top of the constantly shifting cloud and AI landscapes. AI TCO & Usage is designed to solve the AI ROI dilemma, and we developed Hybrid IT TCO Impact to support technology decision makers on their overall hybrid cloud strategy.

"Both solutions are specifically tailored to address some of the industry's most pressing needs, including IT cost transparency and demonstrating value, and we're excited to bring them to market."

The AI TCO & Usage product is intended to provide transparency across AI costs, usage, intended value, and ROI. The system tracks the total cost and business impact of AI initiatives, supporting organisations in optimising spend and measuring outcomes. Features include:

— Monitoring the lifecycle of AI investments for clear visibility into ongoing AI costs and usage across different models and solutions.
— Allowing proactive management of potential AI expansion by monitoring trends and anomalies, and giving insight into detailed cost drivers, such as cloud, vendor, and labour expenses.
— Supporting informed scaling decisions by assessing unit economics for responsible AI consumption and enabling evidence-based reporting across business units.

Hybrid IT TCO Impact, a solution available as part of IBM Apptio Costing, assists organisations in assessing the financial impact of migrating applications within their evolving hybrid IT landscapes. Its features are:

— Financial visibility: A dedicated financial view into application migrations, tracking cost changes and ROI across hybrid IT environments.
— Single-pane management: A unified overview of on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud assets, offering a centralised hybrid IT estate view.
— End-to-end insights: Active tracking of migration progress, supporting alignment with wider cloud business and financial objectives.

The IBM CEO Study cited in the announcement also found that 73% of organisations are deploying hybrid cloud infrastructures to support AI, making the demonstration of ROI an important consideration. As the complexity of hybrid IT grows, teams responsible for financial operations are increasingly required to collaborate with technology business management and IT financial management colleagues to get a clearer view of investments and to reduce risks and unnecessary expenditure.

Jevin Jensen, IDC Research Vice President, Intelligent Cloud and FinOps, commented on the challenges faced by organisations: "The growing complexity of cloud deployments and increasing investment in AI are making IT cost optimisation an increasingly elusive target. TCO features are needed across both public and hybrid clouds to stay on top of the constant changes and plan more proactively."

AI TCO & Usage and Hybrid IT TCO Impact are being offered to address the visibility needs of enterprises seeking to improve their financial and strategic outcomes from AI and hybrid IT migrations.