EY & IBM expand collaboration, anticipate innovative solutions

The EY organisation has announced an expansion of its collaboration with IBM to incorporate software developed by Apptio, an IBM Company.

The combined effort aims to facilitate organisations in prioritising their strategic resources effectively across various levels. This expansion introduces two new solutions, with a third anticipated later in the year.

These solutions merge EY's expertise in fields such as Tax, Corporate Transactions, IT Financial Management, and Cloud FinOps with Apptio's software capabilities. This collaboration is designed to help clients manage the complexities associated with enterprise technology expenditures.

Henrik Nilsson, Global VP of Partner Sales at Apptio, stated, "Apptio's innovations deliver technology business management and cost transparency. Collaborating with the EY organisation's experience in Strategy & Transactions, FinOps and cost excellence, these solutions can help clients seeking to get the most value from their enterprise spend."

The first of the new solutions is the EY Agile Planning & Portfolio Management. This initiative aims to assist organisations in maximising the value of their IT investments and resources. Supported by IBM, it provides an integrated tooling, process, and governance framework to better plan, budget, deliver, and monitor strategic outcomes across various portfolios. The solution utilises methodologies currently applied within the banking and financial services sectors, aiming to unlock IT capacity and redirect resources to critical technology investments such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

The second solution, EY Cloud FinOps and Apptio Recommendation Engine, addresses the complexity associated with the increasing public cloud service expenditures, which Gartner forecasts will rise by 20.4%, reaching USD $678.8 billion in 2024. This solution aims to right-size cloud investments and improve both cost and operational transparency. It is designed to help clients manage cloud investments with greater efficiency, minimise inaccuracies, and establish as well as track sustainable consumption targets for cloud resources.

A third solution, currently under development and expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, will focus on IT cost modelling for transactions. This solution will combine EY's services in Strategy & Transactions and Technology Transformation with Apptio Costing technology, offering a platform to manage transactions, transition services agreements, and post-transaction transformation programs for large-scale mergers, corporate separations, and private equity firms. It aims to reduce manual reporting efforts and enhance visibility over significant transaction activities.

Anja Allen, Principal of Technology Consulting at Ernst & Young LLP, commented, "The EY organisation and IBM have joined forces to find differentiated solutions to help our customers effectively manage through the complexities of enterprise technology spend. The solutions developed through this collaboration are distinctive from both a service and product perspective. The EY organisation aims to enhance visibility into IT and cloud expenditure and streamline transaction modelling and analysis."

Terms and details of the definitive agreements to establish the upcoming joint solution are to be finalised. Statements about IBM's future direction and intent remain subject to change, representing goals and objectives only.