Exploring ITAM, FinOps, and AI: Insights from Ron Brill and Roy Ritthaler
In this new episode of the Tech at the Table, two thought leaders, Ron Brill, President and Chairman of the Board at Anglepoint, and Roy Ritthaler, EVP Customer Value at Flexera, sat down to discuss the rapid evolution of IT Asset Management (ITAM), FinOps, and the transformative impact of emerging technologies like AI. Packed with actionable insights and forward-looking perspectives, this session provided industry professionals a roadmap for navigating the increasingly interconnected world of IT infrastructure.
Below, we highlight the key discussion points and themes from their conversation to help professionals both understand the dynamics shaping the industry and prepare for the future.
Introduction: Industry expertise and collaboration
Ron and Roy kicked off the session discussing recent events and developments within their organizations. Ron shared his professional journey, starting at KPMG before founding Anglepoint. His firm specializes in ITAM, FinOps and GreenIT managed services, serving over 20 Fortune 100 companies while earning consistent recognition as a leader in Gartner’s SAM Managed Services Magic Quadrant. He also chairs the ISO committee for IT Asset Management Standards and the ITAM Forum, a role aligning him with global industry advancement.
Together, Ron and Ritthaler underscored the value of collaboration between Anglepoint and Flexera as they help organizations optimize ITAM, FinOps processes, and software assets.
Key discussion points from the episode
1. Technological change and interconnected infrastructure
According to Ron, the IT industry is transitioning rapidly, moving away from siloed approaches towards highly interconnected infrastructures that span public cloud, on-premises, SaaS, private cloud, and edge environments. AI is accelerating this shift, increasing both the pace of change and the complexity of managing interconnected, often ephemeral systems.
This shift requires ITAM professionals to adopt a more holistic approach—one that integrates disciplines such as ITAM, FinOps and SecOps, to give business and technology stakeholders comprehensive and actionable insights.
2. Collaboration vs. convergence: ITAM and FinOps
One of the central discussions was the growing intersection of ITAM and FinOps. Ron emphasized:
“For ITAM not to have visibility into what FinOps says and how to work with FinOps…that’s career-limiting.”
FinOps, by design, prioritizes collaboration—a principle ITAM must adopt, as unfortunately many ITAM practices still operate in a silo. Ron expects these functions to converge within most organizations over time, while some may choose to formally keep the disciplines separate. Regardless of the structure, he stressed that close collaboration and the compensation of capabilities from disciplines is what will be essential to deliver meaningful value.
“It’s up to organizations to bring those different skill sets together to give the right answers to stakeholders.”
That shift is already beginning to take shape. According to data from Flexera’s State of ITAM report, we are seeing noticeable increases in ITAM collaboration with FinOps (38%) and cloud teams (44%) year over year.
3. AI: A transformative force for ITAM and FinOps
AI emerged as both a challenge and an opportunity during the conversation. Brill described two parallel forces at play: ITAM and FinOps for AI, where we are managing the value of AI investments, and applying AI itself to enhance ITAM and FinOps to enhance the practices.
He stressed the complexity AI introduces, particularly through interconnected environments that we touched on earlier and the evolution of new licensing and consumption models, such as token-based licensing. These dynamics, he noted, naturally lend themselves to closer collaboration between FinOps and ITAM, depending on how AI capabilities are consumed and managed.
According to Brill, “The way AI deployments are architected—their reliance on cloud, SaaS, and on-prem—is driving more integration needs. Managing these investments collaboratively between ITAM and FinOps is critical to answering key questions like: What are we spending on AI? What value are we getting?”
On the latter point, Brill noted: “AI for ITAM and FinOps is really about doing it better, faster and cheaper…this is really in its infancy”.
The duo agreed that AI-driven automation will revolutionize ITAM and FinOps, freeing professionals to focus on higher-value activities. However, Brill issued a clear caution:
“If you give AI bad data, all AI is going to do is give you bad insights.”
Organizations must invest in data quality now to avoid falling behind when AI capabilities inevitably expand in the next few years.
4. The importance of standards alignment
Another critical discussion revolved around standards, particularly the alignment of ISO 19770-1 (ITAM standards) with the FinOps framework. Brill highlighted that the upcoming fourth edition will centralize around a continuous improvement cycle of “Inform, Optimize, and Operate.”
This alignment will reduce gaps between ITAM and FinOps practices, creating new opportunities for integration and collaboration across organizations.
5. Preparing for industry transformation
Looking ahead, they predicted what the industry might resemble in 2–3 years.
“There’s going to be much deeper integration, near real-time dashboards, and evergreen environments utilizing AI…C-level executives won’t tolerate disconnected insights any longer.”
They encouraged professionals to stay closely aligned with technology providers’ roadmaps to ensure their tools remain relevant, and to align with industry standard frameworks from ISO.
6. Career advice and immediate action items
The session also offered actionable guidance for practitioners wanting to stay ahead. From adopting FinOps training to improving data quality, Brill and Ritthaler emphasized:
“Even if you’re not looking to implement AI for ITAM and FinOps today, start working on your data quality now—or you’ll regret it later. The trust factor and data custody are mission critical.”
This advice extends to leaders and executives, who must break down organizational silos and ensure ITAM and FinOps teams communicate effectively.
The wrap-up
Ron and Roy’s conversation painted a vivid picture of the future, one shaped by interconnected infrastructures, AI-driven disruption, and increased collaboration between ITAM, FinOps, and broader ‘Ops’ disciplines. They underscored the importance of adapting to changing technology, embracing holistic approaches to infrastructure planning, ensuring high-quality data practices, and fostering organizational collaboration.
Whether you’re a professional navigating directional changes or a leader preparing your teams for the future, the insights shared offer plenty of reasons to stay engaged, evolve your strategies, and prioritize collaboration over silos.
For professionals in the ITAM and FinOps space, this session marks the beginning of deeper integration and transformation as organizations leverage technology to deliver comprehensive and actionable insights.
Make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss future episodes!
