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On June 26, 2023, IBM announced its acquisition of the technology business management software company, Apptio Inc., from Vista Equity Partners. The all cash deal of $46 billion closed on August 10, 2023. It is the largest IBM deal since their purchase of Red Hat in 2019 (McDowell, 2023). This is the third deal IBM has announced in the last three years, which puts them closer to closing the cloud market share gap with their capabilities and offerings. IBM is a leader in the technology industry, with focus areas of quantum computing, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. Its competitive advantage includes its history of innovation and a broad portfolio of products and services.

Founded in 2017, Apptio is headquartered in Bellevue, WA. Apptio has designed and developed some of the industrys leading technology and cloud financial management tools. Their software helps businesses understand their cost of technology investments through improved visibility and control. Companies are also able to make better decisions about their investments, optimize their portfolios, and identify and eliminate wasteful spending.

The acquisition will benefit both companies and their customers alike. An expanded portfolio of service offerings in addition to the combination of IBMs global reach and Apptios knowledge of FinOps are just a few of the benefits. IBM has operations in over 175 countries and Apptio has deep expertise in technology business management. This unique and integrated offering will catapult Apptio while growing IBM.

"The combination of Apptio products and IBM's IT automation portfolio will give businesses a 360-degree technology management platform they can use to optimize and automate decisions across their IT landscapes," said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, Software and Chief Commercial Officer, IBM. "We are bringing together market-leading and best-in-class solutions to continue to reshape IT from a cost center to a true competitive advantage, powered by automation and AI (IBM Completes Acquisition of Apptio Inc., 2023).

The Bain & Co article stated deals still being pursued to acquire new intellectual property, new capabilities, and new markets. This is evident with IBMs 2023 acquisition deal. This year, a new catalyst for capability dealmaking is likely to be generative artificial intelligence (AI), given its profound implications for business operations (Harding et al., 2023). Apptios anonymized IT spend data can be used to train AI models for further optimization and insights.