ITFM Fundamentals

ITFM is the discipline that provides cost transparency, budgeting/forecasting, allocation (showback/chargeback), and value realization for technology spend, linking IT costs to services, products and business outcomes. It operationalizes practices from TBM, FinOps and ITIL to optimize run/grow/transform investments. Deep dive: ITFM aligns GL/actuals with service and application cost models, enabling defensible allocation, variance analysis, scenario planning, and vendor/portfolio optimization. It is now commonly paired with cloud cost management (FinOps) in hybrid environments.

Cloud consumption, AI workloads, and hybrid portfolios have increased spend volatility. Analyst guidance notes double‑digit growth of ITFM tooling and rising scrutiny on RTB (run‑the‑business) vs. CtB (change‑the‑business) allocation to fund transformation.