You learn this from Sesame Street as a child and there is some truth to it. But whether you get a satisfactory answer or go in search of one depends heavily on asking the right question.
In the age of digitalisation and new technologies, IT costs play a central role for companies. When it comes to managing them, the most common question is probably: "Why does this IT service cost so much?" In order to have a well-founded answer to this question, a detailed analysis is necessary, guided by the right questions.
But why do we see in reality that the right questions to better understand IT costs are asked far too rarely? Our observations show that the information basis that raises the crucial questions is often missing - namely an overview of the total costs incurred per IT service - the so-called Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Orders from top management to identify potential savings in IT costs are becoming increasingly frequent, which requires an understanding of the structures of the actual costs. In addition, the increasing use of cloud technologies with complex, consumption-based billing models requires a continuous look at the costs incurred in order to avoid being overwhelmed by a non-transparent wave of costs.