An IT budget presented as a list of line items invites line-by-line cuts. Split into run, grow, and transform, it becomes a conversation about what the business is choosing to fund, which is a far better conversation to be in.
Split run, grow, and transform. Run keeps the lights on and is largely non-discretionary. Grow adds capacity for business growth. Transform is new capability. Cutting run has consequences that cutting transform does not, and the split makes that visible.
Build refresh from the asset register, not from last year. Sort your asset register by refresh date and the hardware line writes itself. Budgeting hardware from last year's figure is how you accumulate a backlog of out-of-support equipment.
Record the assumption behind every growth line. Headcount-driven costs should state the headcount assumed. When hiring plans change mid-year, you can adjust the budget defensibly instead of appearing to have over-asked.
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| Category | Type | Run / grow / transform | Capex / opex | Prior year | This year | Variance | Assumption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software licences | Recurring | Run | Opex | £182,000 | £196,000 | +8% | 140 → 160 users; 7% uplift |
| Cloud infrastructure | Recurring | Run | Opex | £148,000 | £162,000 | +9% | Includes migration wave 2 run cost |
More free templates IT teams use alongside this one.
Most asset registers die of one disease: nothing in the organisation forces them to be updated. This one is built around the three events that actually change an asset's state (assignment, repair, and disposal), so the register is maintained by the work rather than by an annual audit.
IT business cases fail when benefits are described rather than quantified, and when only one option is presented. Showing the do-nothing option honestly is often what makes the recommended option persuasive.
Cloud cost allocation stalls on shared services: the network, logging, and identity that nobody owns and everybody uses. Deciding the split rule in advance is what makes showback credible rather than a monthly argument.
Split by run, grow, and transform, with capex and opex separated. Run keeps existing services operating and is largely non-discretionary; grow scales with the business; transform funds new capability. The split makes the consequences of a cut visible.
Many organisations find run consumes 60-80% of IT spend. The absolute figure matters less than the trend: a rising run percentage means less capacity for change each year, which is a useful thing to show a board before it becomes acute.
From the asset register, sorted by refresh date and warranty expiry. If the register is maintained, the hardware budget line is a query rather than an estimate, and anything already past refresh date is a backlog worth showing explicitly.
