Apptio launches tools to clarify AI & hybrid IT investment

Apptio has released two new tools aimed at providing enterprises with enhanced transparency and control over the costs and returns of AI and hybrid IT investments.

The AI TCO & Usage and Hybrid IT TCO Impact solutions are intended to address the challenge faced by enterprises in monitoring and optimising their investment in artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.

AI TCO & Usage is designed to help organisations track the entire lifecycle of their AI investments, with features to monitor total expenditure and performance, identify anomalies in spending, and assess detailed cost drivers such as cloud services, vendor fees, and labour. The tool aims to provide teams with the information they need to make decisions about scaling AI initiatives responsibly and ensuring alignment with business objectives.

Hybrid IT TCO Impact gives finance departments and technology managers the ability to see how migrating applications across cloud and on-premise environments is impacting the organisation financially. The solution provides a consolidated view of costs and financial data associated with cloud migration efforts, enabling active tracking of progress and continuous alignment with broader cloud and financial strategies.

These features are part of Apptio's broader suite of SaaS offerings for Technology Business Management, which also covers IT financial management, FinOps, and strategic portfolio management. The portfolio is structured to help companies align technology investments with measurable business value and outcomes.

According to research cited by Apptio, while the adoption of AI is a strategic priority for enterprises, only 25% of surveyed CEOs report that their AI initiatives have delivered the expected levels of ROI in recent years. The new tools seek to provide organisations with greater clarity not just around cost and consumption patterns, but the value and impact of AI projects — a requirement that Apptio says is currently underserved in the market.

Alongside the growing focus on AI, 73% of organisations surveyed in the IBM CEO study referenced by Apptio are using hybrid cloud infrastructure to support AI deployments. This, according to the company, makes it even more necessary for finance and IT teams to work together to achieve visbility into expenditures, avoid runaway costs, and ensure resources are used efficiently.

Apptio argues that many businesses currently lack comprehensive tools for understanding the total cost of ownership for their AI and hybrid IT estates, especially as environments rapidly evolve and as migration initiatives scale. The Hybrid IT TCO Impact tool is intended to close this gap by allowing tracking of application TCO and associated unit rates across multiple environments, with the ability to adapt strategies based on changing requirements.

Eugene Khvostov, Chief Product Officer at Apptio, stated, "These solutions are built to fill critical gaps in enterprise TBM, to give organizations 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 solution allows organisations to monitor ongoing AI investment costs and usage across different models and solutions, including the ability to track user adoption within various business units. It also provides insight into detailed cost drivers, helping businesses spot trends and respond proactively to spending anomalies. The tool is structured to support more informed decisions around AI scaling and responsible resource consumption.

Hybrid IT TCO Impact, on the other hand, delivers a dedicated financial view into the cost and impact of application migrations across hybrid IT landscapes. Its features include single-pane management of on-premise, private, and public cloud environments, and it enables users to actively track the progress of migrations in line with business and financial objectives.

Jevin Jensen, IDC Research Vice President, Intelligent Cloud and FinOps, commented, "The growing complexity of cloud deployments and increasing investment in AI are making IT cost optimization 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."

Both Hybrid IT TCO Impact and AI TCO & Usage are now available from Apptio as part of its current suite of Technology Business Management solutions.