It is widely known that in every enterprise data center there are many applications that are simply shelfware, deployed but rarely used, or no-longer used. Users always want more applications, but never tell IT when they are done with them, or don't really need them.

Part of this problem is that users don't know, and aren't accountable, for how much it costs to maintain these applications. Eliminating the application bloat by getting rid of redundant, no-longer-used or low-value applications can provide a huge cost saving.

Technology Business Management (TBM) provides IT managers with the ability to track the cost, usage and utilization of applications including their fully-loaded cost to maintain in order to drive application rationalization decisions.

With Apptio, you can:

• Calculate the fully loaded cost to maintain an application or IT Service.
• Track usage rates and support tickets to track usage and value of applications.
• Present a Bill of IT to business unit managers showing the cost of applications.
• Run detailed ROI analysis to justify application rationalization projects.

The Growing Cost of the Application Portfolio

In many organizations, applications are deployed and then run without an end of life strategy, leading to a constant proliferation of IT services that is costly to sustain over time. Older applications often require increasing levels of maintenance and support and many new applications deliver very similar functionality to existing services, but just on a new technology architecture.

Developing a framework for determining which applications are worthy of additional investment, replacement or retirement is critical to improving IT efficiency. Quantifying the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a particular application or IT service is an important input to ensure rationalization decisions are backed by solid financial analysis.

Apptio's IT Cost Transparency solution enables organizations to easily model the total cost of ownership of their applications. The solution includes a comprehensive list of cost drivers including infrastructure, software licenses, hardware depreciation and labor to provide a holistic view of application costs.

Having a system of record consistent and accessible across all IT that tracks the TCO of applications, their usage and service quality empowers IT to make better decisions, show the cost and value of IT services to the rest of the business and drive initiatives such as application rationalization to greatly improve the efficiency of IT operations.

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