IT budgeting can feel overwhelming. It's hard to know where to begin.
Even seasoned experts struggle with categorizing and tracking technology spend.
That's why we are sharing a free technology budgeting spreadsheet. With this spreadsheet you can forecast technology costs far in advance—making IT spending more predictable and more impactful.
This easy-to-use Excel template is the same tool that the IT experts at EXP Technical use to calculate annual IT budgets for our clients.
Bookmark this page and share it with your IT steering committee to make planning a snap. It's free! Simply download the spreadsheet. Then begin forecasting and tracking your technology budget.
IT budgeting is the process of allocating funds for various information technology products, services, and projects.
Typically, an IT budget will include the cost of outsourced support, estimated project labor costs, hardware and software costs, the costs associated with hardware warranties or software support contracts, the costs of hosted services, fees for voice and data services and more. An IT budget may also include staff labor costs,
Some technology costs occur every month, others might only happen once in the year. A spreadsheet is a great tool for forecasting and tracking these costs.
Business leaders who engage in technology budgeting
- Minimize risk of downtime due to hardware failure
- Minimize disruption to workflow due to expiration of software and certificate subscriptions
- Mature to an intentional, efficient, and deliberate approach to technology planning
- Direct funds to their highest priorities
- Outperform the competition
It's an Excel spreadsheet. You can use it to categorize and forecast technology spend in the coming year. Costs are categorized by:
- Professional and Facilities Services, IT Staff Labor Cost (IT support labor costs)
- Software Purchases, Maintenance, and Subscriptions
- Hardware Purchases, Warranties, and Maintenance
- Communications
- Other Costs
Yes! Not only are costs segregated into the categories listed above, they can also be estimated and managed as monthly recurring or annual costs.
Yes! The template calculates an annual total technology spend.
Yes. The IT budgeting template automatically calculates a monthly breakdown of IT costs. Annual subscription renewals, projects and other one-time costs are assigned by you to the month in which you expect them to occur.
No. It's available for free to anyone. We've done our best to accommodate all IT support pricing/cost models--even those that we don't offer.
The spreadsheet accommodates all of these options.
Yes. It's FREE.
All of us at EXP Technical live, learn, work, and play here in the Puget Sound Region.
We have a vested interest in the long-term success of the region. Everyone at EXP Technical wants our neighbors to thrive, even if they are not (currently) EXP Technical clients. So we are giving away tools that will help our neighbors succeed.
Yes. The spreadsheet comes prepopulated with sample data for a hypothetical architectural firm that has 2 servers and 40 workstations.
The sample data is there to inspire your thinking about the types of expenses that YOUR business might encounter in the coming year. You begin your budgeting journey by overwriting the sample data in the spreadsheet.
While it is impossible to engage in budgeting activities without some level of strategic consideration, this template is not a strategic guide. It is intended to be a convenient administrative tool to forecast and track the costs associated with the technology that powers your business.
A strategic planning course is currently in development at EXP Academy with release planned in 2023. This course will address IT governance, risk management, regulatory compliance, and more. It will arm executives with the information they need to leverage technology to their competitive advantage. Stay tuned!
We thought you would never ask.
Yes! Training is available at EXP Academy. (It's FREE!)
Here is the introduction to the IT Budget Template course at EXP Academy.
CLICK HERE to enroll in the course.
