Improving technology spend visibility and management with EY and Apptio

EY has expanded its partnership with IBM to leverage software from Apptio which can enable organizations to focus their resources on strategic priorities at all levels.

When IBM acquired Apptio in 2023, many wondered how the deal would impact the company, given that IBM already has invested heavily in its watsonx platform AI platform. Yet, IBM believed the acquisition would accelerate their IT automation capabilities and enable enterprise leaders to deliver more business value across technology investments.

Fast forward a year later, the acquisition seems to be paying off. Prior to the acquisition, Apptio has already established itself as a leader in FinOps and business management with over 1,500 clients. Apptio has also partnered and integrated with other tech companies including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Oracle and SAP.

Now, the EY organization has announced that it will be expanding its work with IBM to leverage software from Apptio as well. According to a media release, EY’s strategy and consulting experience used with Apptio software will be able to enable organizations to focus their resources on strategic priorities at all levels.

The expanded partnership will start with two new solutions with another expected to be added later in the year. The first solution is the EY Agile Planning and Portfolio Management which aims to help organizations realize value from IT investments and resources through an integrated tooling, process and governance solution. The solution will help customers better plan, budget, deliver and monitor strategic outcomes across products and portfolios.

Given Apptio’s strength in FinOpps and IBM’s support, the solution is expected to unlock IT capacity and redirect resources to priority technology investments cybersecurity, AI and other emerging technologies.

The second solution, EY Cloud FinOps and Apptio Recommendation Engine addresses the increasing cost concerns in cloud adoption. The joint solution aims to help businesses have better control in their cloud cost and operations management by improving cloud cost and operational transparency as well as track targets for sustainable cloud consumption.

According to Anja Allen, Principal for Technology Consulting at EY LLP, the joint partnership with IBM will enable their customers to effectively manage through the complexities of enterprise technology spend. He added that the solutions that have been developed through this collaboration are distinctive from both a service and product perspective.

“The EY organization aims to enhance visibility into IT and cloud expenditure and streamline transaction modeling and analysis,” said Allen.

For Henrik Nilsson, Global VP of Partner Sales at Apptio, an IBM company, the innovations deliver technology business management and cost transparency.

“Collaborating with EY organization’s experience in strategy and transactions, FinOpps and cost excellence, these solutions can help clients seeking to get the most value from their enterprise spend,” commented Nilsson.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, EY and Apptio will launch another solution for IT cost modeling for transactions. This solution will combine EY market-leading services with Apptio Costing technology in a platform to model and manage transactions, transition service agreements and post-transaction transformation programs for corporate separations, large-scale mergers and private equity firms. Reducing manual reporting efforts and improved visibility are also expected to be part of the solution when it comes to large-scale transaction activities.