Apptio Announces Key Findings from “CIO Advisory Council” with Record Attendance from 60+ CIOs and IT Leaders

Three Fortune 100 Companies Present Case Studies Showcasing the Transformative Power of Technology Business Management Solutions

Seattle, Wash. – November 23, 2010 – Apptio, the leading provider of on-demand Technology Business Management (TBM) solutions, today announced key findings from its eighth CIO TBM Advisory Council meeting which featured case study presentations from three Fortune 100 IT executives. The two-and-a-half-hour event was broadcast live from seven Cisco TelePresence locations on two continents and was attended by more than 60 CIOs and IT leaders from some of the world’s most recognized global enterprises. The objective of the CIO TBM Advisory Council was to initiate a dialogue between some of today’s most forward-thinking IT leaders so that they can learn and share best practices about the transformative role that Technology Business Management is having on their IT organization.

“Apptio’s most recent CIO Council was an exceptional gathering of IT leaders from across the business spectrum,” said Charlie McNerney, General Manager for Microsoft Global Foundation Services. “These individuals understand that new approaches and technologies are required to transform their IT organization so that they will be more fully aligned and accountable to the business. Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services represents one of the largest cloud infrastructures which serves as the backbone for dozens of customer-facing applications. As an IT organization that strives for operational excellence, we need to understand at the most granular level what it costs to deliver these services and accurately communicate these costs to our online business channel.”

Some of the best practices gleaned from Apptio’s November 16th advisory board council include:

• When Considering TBM, Start With a Discrete Use Case: The majority of the IT leaders attending the CIO Advisory Council noted that their success in implementing TBM was predicated on starting with one use case that was highly valued and visible through the organization. “Boiling the ocean” from the start was collectively thought to be too difficult due to the required organizational and operational alignment. For example, one participant selected a use-case focused around optimizing directory services, which realized a 20% savings in labor costs. From there, the company made the use of Apptio’s TBM solution across its shared services organization providing real-time decision making capabilities and IT-Business alignment.
• Don’t Wait for 100% Clean Data: Many IT leaders are reluctant to kick off their TBM initiatives until they feel their data is in pristine condition. However, it became clear through the advisory board discussion that virtually no company has all of its data in perfect order when first initiating TBM initiatives. According to one of the CIOs, this is a mistake that will likely cause unnecessary delays.
• A Taxonomy is Critical for Consistent Communication: While time consuming and challenging to complete, taxonomy projects are worthwhile exercises that are critical in helping different groups in IT communicate the value of services in a common framework. Once a common taxonomy is defined and agreed upon, it can be replicated across the entire organization and remove ambiguity from the IT cost conundrum.
• Ensure Your IT Team is Educated on Basic Managerial Accounting Skills: As IT and Finance roles continue to converge, it will become increasingly important that your entire IT staff has a baseline understanding of managerial accounting. One of the most mature customers commented on how their IT leaders self-organized into “cohorts” (informal teams) in order to discuss the new material and how best to learn and institutionalize it across the organization.

“Apptio’s CIO Technology Business Management Council has rapidly grown to include more than 60 of today’s most visionary and influential CIOs and IT leaders,” said Sunny Gupta, co-founder, president and CEO of Apptio. “We received valuable insight into the transformation of the CIO role as IT leaders evolve from managers of IT components to that of supply chain strategists. Apptio will continue to evolve its product roadmap based on the best practices and unique viewpoints shared by these CIOs, and we are committed to accelerating the value that our Technology Business Management solutions deliver to today’s enterprises.”

Apptio’s solutions are currently in use by more than 60 global enterprise companies including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, BNP Paribas, Cisco, EMD Chemical, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Saint Luke’s Health System and Starbucks. Apptio’s TBM solutions enable IT leaders to better align their initiatives with business priorities, communicate the value of IT, and reduce costs.

About Apptio

Apptio is the leading independent provider of on-demand Technology Business Management (TBM) solutions for managing the business of IT. Apptio enables IT leaders to manage the cost, quality and value of IT Services by providing deep visibility into the total cost of IT services, communicating the value of IT to the business through an interactive Bill of IT™, and strategically aligning the planning, budgeting and forecasting processes. Apptio’s TBM solutions play a critical role in helping companies understand and drive chargeback, virtualization, cloud and other key technology initiatives. Global enterprise customers such as Bank of America, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, St. Luke’s Health System, and Swiss Re rely on Apptio® products and services to reduce costs and align IT with business priorities. For more information, visit the Apptio website or the Apptio blog.

Contact:

Karli Overmier
Barokas PR for Apptio
apptio@barokas.com
206-264-8220