Why Australian leaders are losing faith in IT spend

With IT sitting as one of the biggest line items on the enterprise budget it's stunning that the 2026 Technology Investment Management Report revealed that 88% of senior decision makers in Australia lack confidence in the ROI of the technology investments.

Pete Wilson, VP at Apptio Business and General Manager APAC at Apptio, says there is a disconnect and lack of transparency that creates a gap between investment and business value. This is because many organisations lack the IT Financial Management (ITFM) tools they need to connect investment with value.

"The number one most common solution we see is spreadsheets," Pete explains. "Regardless of whether you spend $5 million, $50 million or $500 million on technology, spreadsheets are still embedded in organisations even though there are more effective tools available."

This is perhaps behind the lack of trust reported by Australian businesses in the report. Interestingly, Australian companies were less trusting than their global peers. Just 18% of Australian companies reported using an ITFM tool while the global number was over 35%. The lack of a single trusted tool and the distribution of data on spreadsheets have resulted in a lack of confidence in senior leaders.

Data is also distributed across SaaS and other applications. Often, different teams manage projects using their own tools resulting in fragmentation. And this leads to a whirlwind of spreadsheets with extracted and manipulated data.

Pete says. "I think it's a maturity issue and what compelled Apptio to launch our ITFM maturity framework."

One way to address this, Pete says, is to appoint a Chief Data Officer whose responsibility it is to ensure all data is securely stored and shared. That's coupled with an investment in tools and procedures.

"Technology must deliver transparent, defensible data and enable real‑time self‑service. When it does that, it becomes a trusted partner to the business. The days of IT being a 'black box', that receives money and eventually delivers a product or service are gone," Pete says. "This opens a dialogue and enables the business to evaluate technology choices early. It turns ITFM maturity into strategic insight leading to smarter, cost‑effective decisions."

Effective ITFM helps break down information silos. With more than four in five Australian organisations reporting that data silos are still there, finding a way to make data accessible and usable is a key.

"Organisations need a common data layer and clear data sovereignty. By mapping data flows, ownership, and quality, organisations can align architecture with business outcomes. This is especially important with AI, which now drives data‑quality to the forefront. While U.S. firms lead in this conversation, Australian CFOs, CIOs, and CTOs are beginning to prioritise data timeliness, freshness, and security alongside cloud and AI, making data a central topic in the C-suite," Pete adds.

Apptio's research revealed that the skills required for effective ITFM are missing in many organisations. Pete says he is seeing more dedicated FinOps practices, dedicated ITFM offices and dedicated technology business management offices in Australia and notes there is a recognition that some new skills are needed when an ITFM tooling solution.

"It's not just about financial data anymore. It's financial data, operational data, business data, labour and resource data. Bringing that all together requires a different set of skills than traditionally what we've seen," Pate says.

The good news is that there are resources for organisations struggling with connecting investment with returns in the technology project portfolio. Forrester and Apptio both have maturity frameworks that help organisations make sound decisions when choosing and deploying an ITFM platform. He hastens to add that a tool alone won't solve this problem.

"Technology has always been about people, processes and tools. And there's a reason we put tools last on that list," he says. "It starts with understanding what is the problem you're trying to solve. Then ask if you have the right skills to solve that problem and the processes that are going to support that. With those in place, organisations can then start to look for tooling."

This approach has brought success to many Australian organisations. Pete notes that several financial institutions across Australia have transformed from not being 100% sure of what or where they're spending.  They have flipped the narrative and have complete transparency of their entire technology spend. Decision making on projects has also drastically improved with some completing processes that may have taken months of spreadsheet gymnastics in just a few weeks.

So, how can Australian organisations align their technology roadmaps with tangible business outcomes and build and rebuild the confidence in the technology investments? Pete says it starts at the portfolio decision-making process.

"It's imperative to have a robust portfolio management structure in place. You must understand exactly what your strategic objectives are from a business and technology perspective. Invest in the areas that are the most aligned to your business growth. I still see many organisations signing projects off to enhance applications that are on a decommission list in a year's time. And yet they still make its way through the portfolio process. Success starts at portfolio management."

Apptio's 2026 Technology Investment Management Report shows that Australian leaders are losing faith in the value of their IT spend, largely because spreadsheets and fragmented data continue to dominate. By moving to a single, auditable data layer, empowering a Chief Data Officer, and investing in modern ITFM tools that surface real‑time, defensible insights, organisations can turn technology from a "black box" into a strategic partner.

This requires people, processes and governance first with portfolio‑level decision-making that ties every dollar to clear, measurable business outcomes.