We're answering all of your frequently asked questions about Technology Business Management (TBM) and how it helps IT and business leaders achieve revenue goals without sacrificing innovation.
What is Technology Business Management TBM?
Technology Business Management (TBM) is a practical approach that helps organizations get more value from their technology spend. It provides a clear way to connect tech investments to actual business results by setting up the right tools, processes, information, and team structures.
TBM uses a common language that everyone can understand—whether you work in technology, finance, or business leadership. This shared understanding helps companies respond faster to market changes, make better decisions based on real data, and get everyone working toward the same goals. To learn more about how TBM works, check out the TBM Council's website.
What is the Difference Between TBM and ITFM?
IT Financial Management (ITFM) and Technology Business Management (TBM) are connected concepts, but they cover different areas:
- IT Financial Management (ITFM) is about handling the money side of IT. It covers basics like budgeting, tracking costs, charging departments for IT services, and planning future expenses. The main goal is to make sure IT spending is tracked, explained, and matches what the company wants to spend.
- Technology Business Management (TBM) is a bigger-picture approach that includes ITFM but goes further. It helps connect technology spending to actual business results. TBM gives companies a way to look at how technology decisions affect the whole business, helping them get the most value from their tech investments.
Simply put, ITFM mainly deals with managing IT costs, while TBM focuses on making sure technology spending helps achieve business goals.
How Can Technology Business Management Help My Business?
Technology Business Management (TBM) can help your business by giving you a clearer picture of what you're spending on technology and what you're getting in return. Think of it as bringing transparency to your tech investments. Instead of seeing IT as just a cost center with mysterious expenses, TBM helps you understand exactly where your money goes and how it connects to real business results. This means you can make smarter decisions about which technologies to invest in, cut spending in areas that aren't delivering value, and better explain tech costs to everyone in the company. TBM also helps you respond more quickly when business needs change because you'll have the information needed to shift resources around. Ultimately, it turns technology from something your business has to pay for into something that actively helps your business grow and succeed.
Does TBM Help With IT Cost Optimization?
Yes! In fact, it may even make your IT and Finance departments become BFFs by:
- Optimizing run budget to invest in growth so you can find ways to spend less on day-to-day operations so you can put more money toward new projects that help the business grow. For example, identifying outdated systems that could be replaced with more efficient options.
- Infra/vendor/application TCO to help you figure out what it really costs to own and run your technology - not just the purchase price, but everything from maintenance to staff time. This helps you make smarter decisions about which technologies are worth keeping.
- Consumption-based chargeback/showbacks so you can create a fair system where departments pay for the IT services they actually use, similar to how you pay for utilities at home. This helps everyone understand their technology usage and costs.
- Dynamic monthly (or weekly) planning so you can update your technology budget regularly instead of just once a year. This lets you adjust quickly when business needs change or when you find new opportunities to save money.
Can It Help Me Understand and Make a Case for the Value of a Cloud Investment?
Yes, it can give you:
- Confidence in cloud migration plans so you can get a clear picture of what moving to the cloud will really cost and save, so you can make the move with confidence rather than guessing about the financial impact.
- Financial accountability for Infratructure as a Service (IaaS) spend to help you track exactly what you're spending on cloud infrastructure services and hold teams responsible for staying within budget, just like you would with any other business expense.
Optimization of SaaS vendors & licenses: Make sure you're not paying for software subscriptions you don't need or use fully. This might mean consolidating similar tools or adjusting license levels based on actual usage.
Can It Help Me Understand the Technology Costs of Work?
Yes. Connecting development labor to business outcomes ensures your software developers are working on projects that actually help the business, not just interesting technical challenges that don't improve the bottom line.
Can It Help My Teams Innovate Faster?
Yes, in multiple ways including:
- Funding/tracking value streams of new innovation to connect your spending on new projects directly to the business value they create. This helps you see which innovations are worth continuing to fund.
Allocating resources in real-time to portfolios so you can quickly shift people and money to the projects that need them most right now, rather than sticking to rigid plans that might not make sense anymore.
Do You Have to Undergo a Costly Transformation to Start Implementing TBM?
Not if you partner with Praecipio, There’s no need to introduce major change and disruption to achieve results. By engaging experts who can make connections behind the scenes, innovation can continue while improvements are being made. Our VISTA approach offers a smarter alternative to so-called “Digital Transformations”—incremental, data-driven changes that meet organizations where they are. We optimize the tools you already have, delivering real results without disruption. Small steps. Big impact.
Can TBM Be Automated?
Absolutely, Leveraging IBM Apptio Solutions.
- IBM Apptio for IT Spend Optimization
- IBM Cloudability for Financial Cloud Management and
- Targetprocess for Agile Investment Planning
How Do I Get started with TBM?
Getting started with TBM requires a comprehensive approach to managing enterprise technology. Organizations should start by defining their business objectives and aligning their technology investments with those objectives. TBM enables organizations to translate technology investments into business value, which is critical for making data-driven decisions.
Implementing an effective TBM strategy requires the right expertise and tools to help you establish a clear IT operating model, develop a service-oriented IT organization, and implement a robust IT financial management system. TBM provides a framework for managing enterprise technology, including people, process, and technology.
Interested in exploring how TBM could help your organization innovate faster and waste less? Partner with Praecipio to starting optimizing your IT investment without disruption.
