Will Cognizant and IBM’s FinOps center solve the modernization crisis? Here’s what you need to know

Cognizant Technology Solutions and International Business Machines Corporation have launched a pioneering Global FinOps Center of Excellence, aimed at helping enterprises navigate the complexities of modernization, streamline cloud expenditures, and integrate AI solutions on a large scale. This new center, a strategic collaboration between Cognizant and IBM, combines IBM’s robust FinOps software with Cognizant’s cloud and developer platforms, forming a comprehensive toolkit for enterprises facing escalating costs, AI readiness, and challenges in cloud governance and architectural modernization.

By incorporating Cognizant’s Skygrade and Flowsource platforms with IBM’s Apptio, Turbonomic, watsonx.governance, and watsonx Code Assistant for Z, the FinOps Center of Excellence offers a full suite of solutions for enterprises transitioning to modern architectures. This collaboration is poised to refine cloud management operations and address critical modernization challenges, including technical debt and outdated applications that can hinder business efficiency and innovation.

Prasad Sankaran, Cognizant’s Executive Vice President and Global Head of Software and Platform Engineering, noted that modern enterprises are increasingly burdened by technical debt and legacy systems, making modernization essential yet challenging. He emphasized that the partnership with IBM is designed to help clients realize cloud-native and AI-native solutions on an enterprise scale, effectively reducing the costs and operational risks associated with aging infrastructure.

The Center of Excellence focuses on three core modernization areas: mainframe modernization, FinOps optimization, and AI governance. First, the Mainframe Modernization component leverages IBM’s watsonx Code Assistant for Z to help enterprises modernize mainframe applications. This modernization enables businesses to increase agility and innovate faster by transitioning to a hybrid cloud model, maximizing the value of existing mainframe investments.

The FinOps Optimization focus is designed to give businesses enhanced visibility and accountability over cloud expenditures. By enabling real-time production adjustments and managing multi-cloud environments more effectively, the FinOps tools help eliminate waste, optimize resource allocation, and align cloud investments with strategic goals. This component responds to a growing industry trend in which enterprises prioritize financial operations (FinOps) to control cloud costs and improve decision-making around variable spending.

The AI Governance element aims to support enterprises in implementing responsible AI practices. Using IBM’s watsonx.governance, this aspect focuses on building fairness and transparency into AI systems, ensuring that AI quality and compliance are embedded into operational workflows. This feature is especially significant as enterprises increasingly integrate AI to drive growth while needing to comply with evolving regulations on AI ethics and transparency.

Stephen Smith, General Manager of IBM’s Service Partner Ecosystem, remarked on the transformative potential of this partnership, highlighting that the new FinOps Center of Excellence aligns with the priorities of today’s C-suite executives. According to Smith, automation and AI can help enterprises reduce manual operations, lower technology costs, and accelerate productivity, enabling clients to unlock the full potential of their hybrid cloud investments.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone as enterprises seek to harness the power of FinOps, AI, and cloud technology for modernization. Experts within the industry underscore the importance of FinOps as a cultural practice that fosters financial accountability in cloud computing. By aligning engineering, finance, and business teams, FinOps ensures that cloud investments deliver maximum value, support sustainable growth, and drive innovation.

The Cognizant and IBM FinOps Center of Excellence embodies a forward-looking commitment to supporting enterprise clients in adopting effective FinOps practices. By leveraging IBM’s technology and Cognizant’s industry expertise, the center offers a strategic approach to cloud financial management, enabling organizations to optimize costs, overcome legacy challenges, and implement AI responsibly on a large scale.