Sample Deliverable | Fractional CIO
The Technology Budget
An anonymized sample of a real client deliverable. A quarter-by-quarter forecast built straight from the roadmap, the fixed cost of ownership separated from discretionary improvement, so the partners can see what every dollar is buying and defend it line by line.
Why We Build It This Way
Every technology budget is really two budgets
Most firms see one number for IT and treat it as one decision. It is two, and keeping them apart is what lets the partners actually steer the spend.
The fixed half
Cost of ownership
The recurring run-rate that keeps the firm operating: managed IT, licensing, security, backup. It is not really discretionary. This is what keeping the lights on costs, and it holds steady quarter to quarter.
The flexible half
Improvement and transformation
The discretionary investment that moves the firm forward: infrastructure upgrades, new capability, modernization, AI. This is where the roadmap lives, and it is the half you can actually flex when you need to.
Separating them turns "IT is expensive" into a decision you can make on purpose. If cash is tight and the firm needs to be ultra-strategic for a quarter or two, even a year, deferring the improvement half is a reasonable, deliberate choice.
What you cannot do is defer it forever. Cost of ownership cannot be cut without the firm degrading, and improvement postponed past roughly a year turns into technical debt: systems age out of their safe life, small upgrades become forced replacements, and the eventual catch-up costs more than the steady investment would have. Planning both, quarter by quarter, is what keeps that trade-off deliberate instead of accidental.
A Sample Budget
What you actually receive
The real format of a Resolved technology budget report: the cost of ownership charted against improvement quarter by quarter, then the improvements themselves broken out with one-time and recurring costs, and the subscriptions behind the run-rate.
Anonymized sample. Client is fictional, figures illustrative.
In brief: the sample budget forecasts a 50-person architecture firm's technology spend quarter by quarter, with the fixed cost of running the firm separated from discretionary improvement projects so the partners can defend every line.
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Meridian Architecture Ltd. – Technology Budget Report – FY 2026
Meridian Architecture Ltd. – Technology Budget Report – FY 2026
Improvements & Initiatives – FY 2026
The discretionary half of the budget, by quarter.
Q2 – April to June
| Initiative | Status | Est. One-Time | Est. Recurring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backup and Disaster Recovery Modernization | Planned | -- | -- |
| Identity and Access Hardening | Planned | -- | -- |
| Endpoint Security and Management | Planned | -- | -- |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium Standardization | Proposed | -- | $650/mo |
| Security Awareness Training Program | Proposed | -- | $180/mo |
| Network and Wi-Fi Refresh (Two Studios) | Proposed | $34,000 | -- |
| Subtotal | $34,000 + $830/mo |
Q3 – July to September
| Initiative | Status | Est. One-Time | Est. Recurring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server Infrastructure Refresh (Hybrid) | Open | $96,000 | -- |
| BIM Worksharing and Project Storage Upgrade | Proposed | $58,000 | -- |
| Project Archive and Retrieval System | Proposed | $26,000 | -- |
| AI Governance and Acceptable-Use Program | Proposed | $12,000 | -- |
| Subtotal | $192,000 |
Q4 – October to December
| Initiative | Status | Est. One-Time | Est. Recurring |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Workflow Pilot (Drafting, Specs, Retrieval) | Proposed | $18,000 | -- |
| Second-Site Failover and Redundancy | Proposed | $24,000 | -- |
| Cyber Insurance Readiness and Renewal | Proposed | $6,500 | -- |
| Policy, Documentation, and Compliance Pack | Planned | -- | -- |
| Subtotal | $48,500 |
Not Scheduled
| Initiative | Status | Est. One-Time | Est. Recurring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workstation Lifecycle Refresh Program | Planned | -- | -- |
| Unified Communications (VoIP) Modernization | Proposed | -- | $420/mo |
| Office Expansion IT Fit-out | Open | $40,000 | -- |
| Internet Redundancy (Second ISP) | Proposed | -- | $260/mo |
| Subtotal | $40,000 + $680/mo |
Vendor Subscriptions
The cost of ownership: your steady, recurring run-rate.
| Vendor | Product | Licenses | Cost/Unit | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolved | Managed IT partnership | 50 | -- | $9,500 | $114,000 |
| Microsoft | Microsoft 365 Business Premium | 50 | $30 | $1,500 | $18,000 |
| Resolved | Managed Detection & Response | 50 | -- | $1,050 | $12,600 |
| Resolved | Cloud Backup & Storage | -- | -- | $1,150 | $13,800 |
| Total | $13,200 | $158,400 |
Two halves of one plan
A budget is only as good as the plan behind it.
The budget shows what you will spend and when. The technology roadmap is where those numbers come from, the two-year plan of moves each line item funds, so the plan and the numbers always agree. Both are among the four deliverables of a Strategic Technology Assessment, kept current quarter to quarter under Fractional CIO. We build the two together, so the spend always ties back to a decision.
Next Step
Put a two-year plan behind your IT spend
Most firms buy technology one urgent decision at a time, with no plan behind the spend. A Strategic Technology Assessment fixes that: where your firm is today, where you want to go, and a two-year roadmap and IT budget to get there, quarter by quarter.
No obligation, and you do not have to switch providers to get the assessment. Deliverables yours to keep.
Want to see the deliverables first? See a sample assessment
- Engagement
- 5-6 weeks
- Starts with
- A free 30-minute call
- You keep
- All four deliverables
- If you proceed
- Credited toward onboarding