Let AI Help You Plan Your Next IT Budget

Budget planning tools help IT leaders build an accurate estimate of future income and expenses in a detailed enough way to make sound operational decisions. That sounds simple enough, yet in actual practice creating a realistic budget is a time-consuming task that many IT leaders dread. 

AI has the ability to analyze historical finance data, usage patterns, project expenditures, and related inputs to better forecast the future, says Tyler Higgins, managing director of management and technology consulting firm AArete, via email. 

When teamed with automated data collection, AI has the potential to enhance many budget modeling processes, says Anurag Sahay, managing director and global lead of AI and data sciences at digital engineering firm Nagarro. In an online interview, he notes that AI can also improve extrapolation and forecasting to assess resource needs, extract key insights from unstructured feedback, and optimize decision-making models for the best planning outcome and "what-if" scenarios. 

Multiple Benefits 

AI-supported budget planning offers both direct and indirect benefits. "The direct benefits are streamlining and shortening the budgeting process," Higgins says. "The ideal outcome is a predictive budgeting process that contains powerful scenario planning tools and improved accuracy." 

Related:ITPro Today’s 2024 IT Priorities Report

The most exciting part about using AI in IT budget planning is how it can shift the entire mindset from cost-cutting to value-building, says Jeff Mains, founder of Champion Leadership Group, a business training and coaching provider.

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