Debunking Two Myths About Tech Budgets

The CIO's job is hard enough delivering reliable, secure, and user-friendly technologies while meeting and anticipating business needs for new technologies to support strategic initiatives. But that job becomes harder because of two alleged constraints: 1) Control of corporate tech spending is shifting to the business, especially marketing, and 2) tech management should aspire to keep maintenance, operations, and expansion (what Forrester calls tech MOOSE) costs to 50% of the total tech spending and devote 50% to new projects. Both of these statements are guidance and advice that CIOs have been hearing from vendors and pundits. Yet, a hard look at the data about tech budgets and accounting practices related to tech budgets shows that these statements are in large part exaggerations of much more modest truths. This report will help CIOs sort myth from reality about who pays for and who controls tech spending and how large a share of the tech budget can go to new projects.