Apptio, an IBM (NYSE: IBM) company, announced a set of updates to its technology financial management software suite on June 16, including the preview launch of a Conversational Insights tool that lets users ask plain-language questions about technology spending and receive data-backed responses.

The Conversational Insights interface is natively embedded across the Apptio product portfolio and automatically inherits existing user permissions. The company says the tool is designed for organizations in regulated industries such as government, financial services, and healthcare. It is currently in preview and is expected to reach general availability later in 2026.

Alongside Conversational Insights, Apptio announced three additional capabilities. IBM Apptio Data Center Total Cost of Ownership connects facility and operational data — including rack space, cooling, and power — into a single cost model. IBM Cloudability Intelligent Forecasting integrates IBM's watsonx.ai to generate cloud spend forecasts using machine learning and includes outlier detection to remove anomalies. Cloudability Advanced Containers, powered by Kubecost, provides real-time container-level cost visibility across Kubernetes workloads regardless of infrastructure type. Cloudability Intelligent Forecasting and Data Center TCO are reported to be generally available in Q2 2026.

According to Apptio's 2026 Technology Investment Management Report, 90% of leaders surveyed said ROI uncertainty affects their technology investment decisions. Gartner has forecast global IT spending to reach $6.15 trillion in 2026, up 10.8% from 2025.

"Technology is no longer a cost center; it is the engine of modern business," said Bill Lobig, Vice President at Apptio. "With the introduction of our new AI-infused capabilities, we are providing the automated, real-time insights leaders need to manage the complexity of hybrid IT."

Jevin Jensen, research vice president at IDC, said organizations need conversational AI tools to connect technology costs to measurable business outcomes, adding that the approach "replaces guesswork with financial intelligence."