APPTIO TOTAL COST
I partnered closely with product and engineering teams to design and deliver a cost visibility solution that enables businesses to track, allocate, and forecast their total cloud spend across services and teams. This effort supported our broader goal of empowering customers with real-time, actionable insights into their cloud economics.
Company
Apptio an IBM Company
Industry
Cloud Services
Role
Product Design Lead
User Experience
OverView
As companies accelerate cloud adoption, managing and forecasting cloud costs becomes increasingly complex. Working across disciplines, I led the design effort for a solution that surfaces total cloud costs in a centralized, intuitive experience. This feature, later branded as Cloudability Total Cost, provides finance, engineering, and operations leaders with the visibility they need to understand, allocate, and predict cloud spend at scale. It supports cost accountability and strategic decision-making by tying cloud investments directly to business outcomes.
The Challenge
Most organizations lacked a reliable way to view their comprehensive cloud spend in one place—especially when using multiple cloud providers or complex infrastructure. Cost data was siloed, fragmented, or only available in technical formats, making it difficult to allocate accurately, identify overspend, or build meaningful forecasts. Teams needed a clearer picture of where cloud dollars were going and how to optimize usage in real time.
The Solution
We developed Cloudability Total Cost to address this gap. The feature integrates with customers’ existing cloud accounts and cost sources to consolidate spend into one holistic view. With built-in cost allocation, budgeting, and forecasting tools, the platform provides actionable insights tailored to both technical and financial stakeholders. I contributed to the user experience and product strategy, ensuring the interface was intuitive, flexible, and aligned with customer goals.
The Result
Cloudability Total Cost enabled companies to shift from reactive to proactive cloud financial management by aligning directly with key business KPIs: full cost allocation, unit cost reduction, and profitability through unit economics. The redesigned experience gave customers clear visibility into total cloud spend, allowed them to accurately allocate 100% of costs, and reduce unit costs by up to 30% by identifying inefficiencies. With access to historical usage trends, teams could build forward-looking budgets and better measure profitability across products, teams, and environments. This clarity empowered organizations to drive accountability, eliminate surprise bills, and make smarter, data-driven cloud investment decisions.
