Creating a technology budget and roadmap requires understanding how competitors invest in IT, determining if your business under or overspends, and defining your strategic IT focus. Your budget should align with your focus on either innovation or cost control. A technology roadmap outlines budget ranges and priorities over time and should be reviewed quarterly to account for changes. Contact GGGroup for assistance benchmarking or creating a roadmap.

1. CREATING A SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY BUDGET AND IT ROADMAP BUILT FOR SUCCESS

2. A good place to start – look outside first What is the competition spending on their IT systems?

5. There are generally four management classifications of IT Strategic Focus: Heavy focus on innovation Leaning towards innovation Leaning towards cost-control Heavy focus on cost-control

6. *InfoTech Research survey of over 1700 IT decision-makers across variety of industries Strategic Focus Annual Cost in Thousands

7. What does this mean? Budget should align with IT Strategic Focus Takeaway - leaning toward innovation or cost-control may not yield sufficient ROI: Heavy Focus on Innovation (100%) Leaning Toward Innovation (90%) Leaning Toward Cost Control (59%) Heavy Focus on Cost Control (52%)

8. What have we learned in working with clients? Not every business challenge should be addressed with a technology solution Organizations < 20 employees frequently don’t have an operating budget and often are under/overspending by as much as 200% compared with benchmarks. Moving from Cost Control  Innovation or vice-versa requires significant planning and commitment from all management levels. This often only happens with change at C-level / ownership. Organizations successfully leveraging technology use Strategic Focus to guide technology decisions. Different departments can have different IT Strategic Focus - i.e. Design may be heavily innovative - whereas Sales may not Consistency within business units is critical

9. Plan your use of technology to align with Strategic Focus and according to business priorities. Create a ‘Technology Roadmap’ and revisit regularly.

10. SAMPLE TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

11. Your roadmap should include budget ranges. The next quarter’s numbers should be ‘real’; subsequent quarters will be more ‘fuzzy’.

12. Manage all phases of technology implementation Roadmap should be reviewed and updated quarterly to account for new changes in technology, business and budget.

13. If you would like assistance in performing benchmark review or creating a technology roadmap, contact us today! Thomas KingBusiness Development Executive | GGGroup, Inc.130 West 42nd Street | Suite 2102New York, NY 10036P. 212.245.1818 | Direct 646.467.9603 | F. 212.245.4571tking@gggroup.net www.gggroup.net