Do You Know the Real Cost of IT Financial Management?

3 minute read

Upland Admin

To remain competitive and innovative in today’s challenging business climate, IT organizations must be able to effectively predict, manage and communicate the cost, quality and value of the IT services they deliver to the enterprise. But, as the saying goes, you can only manage what you can see. All too often, organizations lack the insight into how their technology investments impact the business, in terms of whether they are just keeping the lights on or driving true innovation that leads to continued success.

As IT executives face mounting pressure to keep cost downs while achieving acceptable ROI on their technology investments, the need for such insight is pressing. That’s where IT Financial Management (ITFM) comes in; with an effective ITFM solution, IT gains the needed visibility into the costs of the technology and services it delivers and their consumption and impact on the business. It should also provide transparency into the unit costs of those services and offer the ability to accurately forecast and budget for a range of scenarios. Still, not all ITFM solutions are created equal, and they won’t all provide the same value.

The problem with many of the ITFM solutions on the market is that they are delivered via a “one and done” method. The provider simply implements the solution and walks away, without delivering the ongoing support needed for such a crucial function. And, more often than not, after the provider walks away, it actually ends up coming back again as a consultant, costing the organization even more money and producing a much higher application total cost of ownership. An effective approach cannot be achieved overnight; ITFM is an ongoing process requiring continuous support. And if that support isn’t offered by the provider, the organization will need to acquire additional resources to ensure the solution works appropriately, whether by hiring more resources, leveraging expensive consultants or investing in additional solutions or capabilities. As a result, the costs of ITFM can quickly escalate beyond just the cost of implementation itself.

For best results, ITFM should be delivered through a monthly business process support method, whereby the provider doesn’t just implement the solution and walk away but is committed to the organization’s ongoing success. The right provider should act as a true partner, helping IT executives gain the insight and information to run IT like a business, optimize technology usage and reduce costs today and into the future. No matter what level of the ITFM maturity curve an organization is at, the best solution can help any organization utilize whatever data is currently available, and expand as information from operational processes and systems become more accurate and available.

ComSci by Upland understands the challenges companies face in implementing a total ITFM process, delivering the solutions to help any organization gain the visibility in the unit costs of its technology to better forecast consumption and costs. Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, ComSci facilitates a scalable production process that integrates data from operational, financial and organizational systems to turn data into actionable information. And instead of implementing the solution and walking away, ComSci works closely with all clients and remains a true partner, taking the extra steps needed to move every customer further along in its technology transformation.

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