Item: IBM Apptio
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Apptio

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently use IBM Apptio to do the financial reporting for the various state agencies and offices under DofA. IBM Apptio has made it so that we are not spending so much time on reporting monthly, because we have the reports sent to IBM Apptio directly and then we validate the reports prior to sending to Directors. We have been able to provide more information to each Agency and Office since using IBM Apptio since we do not have to spend so much time compiling the reports.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Easy to review data
Able to create reports specific to what is needed
Easily add more reports if needed

Cons

Customers would like more information on IBM Apptio from CSMs
For financial personnel, we would like it to be explained in a way we understand

Usability

We use this currently where I work and we have the consultant Maryville helping us with our Apptio reports and data. I originally used Apptio a few years back and since then I have switched employment, and I was able to talk to the leadership team about what we did at my previous job, and now we are building the reports here at my new place of employment.

Return on Investment

IBM Apptio has reduced the amount of time it takes to complete monthly reporting.
IBM Apptio has made it so that we can get data to agencies and offices more often instead of monthly.

Features

We do not currently use these features. Maybe we do, but I do not know enough about this to know if we do. I think if we had a CSM that explained things better that would be helpful to help us know what is available to us and how we can use it to make our processes more efficient.

Support Rating

It has not been great, at the beginning, we would meet with them every other week and those meetings would last maybe 5 minutes and we did not gain any information from those meetings. We then asked that we do not meet that often and maybe just meet once a month. Even then we got nothing from those meetings. During these meetings we did not gain any knowledge about IBM Apptio and what other features were available or that would be beneficial to us. We eventually contracted with Maryville to have them work with us on a regular basis to help build reports and help with any troubleshooting that may be needed.

Apptio Portfolio Solution

None

Alternatives Considered

I personally have not used or evaluated any other product similar to Apptio. I can say that this is a great service and we use it often and we are growing how we use it. We are planning on expanding the way we use this database. We are excited to hear about more of the apptio products/modules that would benefit our agency.

Key Insights

Do you think IBM Apptio delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM Apptio's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM Apptio live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of IBM Apptio go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM Apptio again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Oracle PeopleSoft ERP, Oracle PeopleSoft HCM, Euna Grants, powered by eCivis

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Apptio is great at tracking budgets and expenses. It is also really good as showing the information in a way that agencies understand and can easily read and understand. We are excited to start using the billing module soon and maybe even the rates module. There are certain ways that we would like to see the data displayed in IBM Apptio, but the database does not support it so that is frustrating at times.

Evaluating IBM Apptio and Competitors

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Integration with Other Systems
Ease of Use

IBM Apptio Support

Premium Support

We did not, we use another vendor, Maryville. At the time we signed up for APPTIO, Maryville was the vendor that Apptio suggested we use to build what we were wanting and MARYVILLE has been amazing in all that we use them for.

Bug Resolution

Yes - No, we reported it to our CSM and they told us to put in a ticket ourselves. We ended up reporting it to Maryville and they entered the ticket for us and followed it and made sure the issue was resolved for us.

Exceptional Examples of IBM Apptio Support

When I attended the Apptio conference and was able to make connections and meet new people but also we learned so much that we are not getting from our support team. We meet with them at least monthly but after the meeting we do not feel like we have gained any knowledge.

IBM Apptio Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
None	Poor followup Not kept informed Escalation required Difficult to get immediate help Need to explain problems multiple times

Using IBM Apptio

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Easy to use Consistent Convenient	Requires technical support Lots to learn

IBM Apptio Review

Software Version

Modules Used