Today IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced the availability of its Cloud Brokerage Services Cost and Asset Management application which helps provide companies ongoing visibility, actionable insights and recommendations into their hybrid cloud investments.

• With streamlined dashboards for finance and IT, companies will have a single view of key functions including:

  total cost and cost trends
  budget tracking
  policy compliance
  asset location
  asset types that drive spending

  Companies can expect to quickly focus on variances and deviations with assets and cost across different suppliers and take action before they become problems. Additionally, companies will be able to obtain cognitive recommendations on setting policies and thresholds to better manage cloud usage to reduce risk and optimize cost.

  Cost and Asset Management helps companies address escalating cloud costs and complexity while offering guidance into the next steps of hybrid cloud transformation as part of the full IBM Brokerage Services suite. It is built as part of cognitive IT governance, using predictive analytics to monitor and provide recommendations on a single dashboard, which provides finance and IT one system of reference for hybrid cloud governance.

  “Companies often struggle with managing and tracking the cost of their multiple cloud environments,” said IBM General Manager of Infrastructure Services, Richard Patterson. “IBM Cloud Brokerage Services Cost and Asset Management is the first of a new generation of applications which provide cognitive functionality across cloud and on-prem assets.”

  As a key element of hybrid cloud governance, Cost and Asset Management provides clients the means to:

  Gain near ongoing visibility into their cloud inventory
  Gain visibility and view current and projected costs, and track according to budgets along with accurate
  chargeback
  Establish and enforce governance control points using financial and technical policy templates that incorporate cloud best practices and IBM expertise
  Receive and proactively respond to variances and deviations before they become problems
  Review insights and recommendations on potential cost savings provided by inbuilt advanced analytics
  Simulate changes to inventory, spend goals and operational priorities
  Manage asset & cost policies supported by tagging across multiple provider services and monitored through universal dashboard vs individual reports
  Continuously manage asset changes across providers by establishing a standardized tagging model using recommendations and policy setting

  Cost & Asset Management helps companies quickly realize visibility and governance and then with the rest of the IBM Cloud Brokerage suite, companies can continue their hybrid cloud transformation by aligning governance, consumption, operations and delivery across a variety of providers.

  The Cost & Asset Management Application is the latest addition to IBM’s Hybrid Cloud management offerings, including IBM Cloud Automation Manager, which help companies continue their hybrid cloud transformation by making it easier to manage resources across a variety of cloud platforms.