Dive Brief:
- Apptio, a unit of IBM, said Tuesday it has added new capabilities to its Cloudability platform designed to help organizations better understand and manage cloud spending.
- The enhancements were part of a broader expansion of the company's suite of FinOps tools. The move is intended to address “blind spots” in technology spending, with the goal of giving organizations a clearer view of whether those investments are delivering measurable value, the company said in a press release.
- “With the introduction of our new AI-infused capabilities, we are providing the automated, real-time insights leaders need to manage the complexity of hybrid IT to help ensure their technology investments become their greatest competitive advantage,” Apptio Vice President Bill Lobig said in the release.
Dive Insight:
Gartner projects that global information technology spending will reach $6.15 trillion in 2026, up 10.8% from 2025.
At the same time, executives are being asked to justify the value of massive AI expenditures they cannot fully see or track, Apptio said. The company's 2026 Technology Investment Management Report found that 90% of business leaders view return-on-investment uncertainty as a challenge affecting technology investment decisions.
As part of Tuesday's announcement, Apptio said it was adding advanced real-time visibility into cloud spending directly into Cloudability, providing organizations with a more granular view of what is driving those expenses.
The capability, known as Cloudability Advanced Containers, is powered by technology Apptio obtained through its 2024 acquisition of Kubecost, a cost monitoring and management tool for IT teams using so-called Kubernetes software to manage applications in the cloud.
The recent moves build on IBM's broader push into FinOps following its $4.6 billion acquisition of Apptio in 2023.
On Tuesday, Apptio also offered updates on Conversational Insights, an AI-powered assistant designed to allow users to ask plain-language questions about their technology spending.
The assistant — currently in the “preview” stage with limited use and expected to become generally available in 2026 — is designed to “connect financial, operational and business data across systems in order to help leaders better manage IT costs, optimize cloud spending and align strategic portfolios,” the release said.
A spokesperson said the company delayed general availability of Conversational Insights — previously slated for early 2025 — based on feedback from preview customers.
“Customers were excited about the advanced genAI capabilities of Conversational Insights but remained cautious about introducing AI into financial decision systems that manage some of the world’s most sensitive data,” the spokesperson said via email.
“So, we deliberately took the time to build an AI foundation that is secure, auditable, and trusted for financial decision-making, and to ensure that Conversational Insights meets customer needs for scalable enterprise-ready AI.”
