ITAM and FinOps: Why a unified IT strategy is essential to control costs

In today’s digital-first landscape, CIOs face a mounting challenge: the relentless rise of software, cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI) expenses. Global IT spending is projected to reach $5.61 trillion in 2025, a 9.8% increase from 2024, according to Gartner®.*

As organizations embrace digital transformation and generative AI to gain a competitive edge, the associated costs can quickly spiral out of control. The pressure is now on IT leaders not only to innovate, but to justify investments and demonstrate tangible business value.

However, many miss a crucial action. While IT asset management (ITAM) and cloud financial operations (FinOps) teams are tasked with optimizing technology spend, they often work in silos. The result? Missed opportunities for cost savings, redundant spending, and a lack of true governance across sprawling digital environments.

Bringing ITAM and FinOps together

ITAM focuses on the lifecycle and optimization of software and software as a service (SaaS) assets, while FinOps handles the dynamic world of cloud infrastructure and platform services. Both disciplines share a common goal — extracting maximum value from technology investments — but typically operate with separate data, tools, and strategies.

“Often, these teams are focused on their own domains, with ITAM tracking assets and licenses, and FinOps watching cloud spend. But the real magic happens when they work together,” explained SHI’s Research Roundup.

The solution, as indicated by Gartner research, is to break down these silos and foster a more unified approach. When ITAM and FinOps join forces under the CIO’s mandate, organizations can gain a holistic view of technology usage, eliminate waste, and optimize costs across the board.

“To maximize technology’s business value, CIOs should recognize ITAM and cloud FinOps as key cost management and governance mechanisms by mandating, investing in, and supporting both,” according to the Gartner study.

What does integration look like?

By unifying ITAM and FinOps under a single strategy, your organization can unlock powerful benefits:

Break down silos and streamline operations

Integrated teams and processes foster collaboration across IT, finance, procurement, and business units. This visibility eliminates blind spots and prompts more efficient decision-making.

Optimize technology investments

A unified view of software, cloud, and services allows you to right-size usage, forecast needs, and align spending with business value. Trustworthy, granular data is key to identifying anomalies, deprovisioning unused assets, and renegotiating vendor contracts.

Enhance security, compliance, and governance

A centralized approach enhances data protection and regulatory adherence, while enabling consistent policies across platforms.

Increase flexibility and scalability

Unified strategies make it easier to adapt to changing business needs, scale services up or down, and respond to consumption spikes — especially in dynamic cloud and AI environments.

Empower IT teams to focus on innovation

With routine maintenance and cost oversight streamlined, your IT teams can shift their focus from busywork to strategic initiatives that drive transformation.

Enable continuous management

Unlike fixed-cost on-premises systems, cloud and AI services scale rapidly and unpredictably. Continuous monitoring, anomaly detection, and agile management practices are essential to realize value and keep spending in check.

Build skilled, collaborative teams

Success hinges on teams with the right mix of skills, from data analysis and contract negotiation to cloud billing and optimization. Cross-functional collaboration ensures insights can be shared and acted on across your organization.

From fragmented to unified: Steps to get started

Consider this Gartner insight: “Through 2028, organizations that integrate ITAM and FinOps practices to manage software as a service (SaaS) and cloud-based AI will reduce their AI expenses by 30%.” That’s a fundamental shift in how organizations extract value from their technology portfolios.

One cautionary case study comes from a retail company that underestimated its AI service usage. After purchasing what seemed like a generous monthly message quota, actual consumption soared, leading to massive unplanned costs. The root problem? Lack of integrated telemetry and oversight between ITAM and FinOps, leaving the company blind to real usage patterns until it was too late.

We can help you lead the charge, adjusting your approach from segmented to “all for one and one for all.” Here’s a practical step-by-step framework inspired by Gartner’s recommendations:

1. Create a common charter: Establish shared goals like cost optimization, compliance, and transparency.
2. Kickstart collaboration: ITAM and FinOps should operate as a unified, multidisciplinary function, even if not merged into a single team.
3. Define shared objectives: Establish goals and responsibilities around cost savings, compliance, and continuous improvement.
4. Invest in skills and tools: Equip teams with the right tools for data collection, analysis, and reporting.
5. Implement integrated processes: Pilot new workflows, gather feedback, and roll out improvements organization-wide.
6. Monitor, report, and optimize: Use KPIs to track success and regularly refine processes as the tech landscape evolves.

Your IT transformation, empowered by SHI

As technology budgets tighten and digital portfolios become more complex, integrating ITAM and FinOps isn’t just a best practice — it’s a necessity. By tearing down barriers, fostering collaboration, and investing in skilled teams and robust processes, CIOs can curb runaway costs and unlock the full potential of valuable IT investments.

Take a step back and assess your current environment. Are your systems working together, or are you fighting silos and inefficiencies? If it’s the latter, our experts can design and implement a unified strategy tailored to your needs. We can help empower your teams, streamline operations, and create a foundation for success. With SHI’s FinOps services, our industry-leading cloud experts bring clarity to the cloud, enabling you to reduce costs through ongoing monitoring, optimization, and smarter resource allocation. SHI’s ITAM services provide a comprehensive view of your IT assets with audit management, SaaS cost optimization, 365 Insights, and more — leading to boosted efficiency, lower costs, and better compliance.

NEXT STEPS

ITAM and FinOps are essential on their own and even more effective together. Unite ITAM and FinOps, and take control of your software, cloud, and AI future. Connect with our experts to empower your ITAM and FinOps practices today.

*Gartner press release, Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 9.8% in 2025, January 21, 2025

Gartner, Control Software, Cloud and AI Costs by Integrating ITAM and FinOps, By Stephen White et al., 25 March 2025

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.