How to Communicate Your IT Budget, Part I
In many organizations, Information Technology (IT) represents a significant portion of the overall budget. In fact, IT is typically among the top expenditures. Consequently, this budgetary prominence drives a corresponding level of scrutiny by management; an exercise that is often found to be time-consuming and frustrating for all concerned. Much is written about capturing the value of IT and leveraging processes to ensure value-delivery. Organizational cultures typically dictate the overall budget process. During my career, I have labored under many of these systems; each has their advantages and disadvantages. I am going to leave the overarching budget process for others to debate; the focus here is on how to communicate and sell your budget. Your budget proposal needs to be communicate in a manner that will resonate with executive charged with approving the budget. In my experience, this is where the process fails. As with many issues, ineffective communicati