Planning an IT budget has never been a simple task. You need to balance urgent demands, key projects, and that reserve for when something goes wrong. In 2026, this challenge will become even more complex. This is because, according to Gartner (2025), global IT spending is expected to exceed 6 trillion dollars for the first time, driven mainly by AI infrastructure and rising software costs.
If you’ve ever experienced a project going over budget or discovering costs midway through, you know how this impacts not only finances but also the credibility of the technology area within the company. This text will help you build a realistic budget that works in practice and avoids unpleasant surprises.
1. Understand your company’s current context
Before thinking about how much to spend, you need to understand where the money is going now. Sounds obvious, right? Still, many companies skip this step and start planning without knowing exactly how much they’re spending or why.
Conduct a survey of your current costs. Look at software licenses that no one uses anymore, processes that could be automated, and projects that consume resources without delivering real value. Identify where the waste is.
It’s also worth looking back: which 2025 projects worked well? Which ones stalled midway? What consumed more resources than planned? These answers will give you a much more solid foundation for planning 2026.
A well-done diagnosis reveals patterns. Perhaps you’ll discover that most of the budget goes to maintaining old systems that should have been modernized already. Also, that there’s a lack of investment in security, while other areas receive more than they really need.
2. Define priorities based on impact
Separate what’s urgent from what’s important. And even harder: separate the important from the “would be nice to have.” That new feature the team wants to implement can wait if the current infrastructure is failing or if there are security risks.
The secret lies in aligning IT with business objectives. To do this, ask if this project will help the company sell more, reduce operational costs, improve customer experience, or mitigate important risks? If the answer is no, it can probably wait.
When you have clarity about priorities, it becomes easier to justify investments and also say no to requests that don’t make sense at that moment.
3. Calculate the invisible costs
Infrastructure and cloud cost more than what appears on the monthly bill. There are costs with bandwidth, storage that grows every month, data transfer between regions. Details that, when added up, make a considerable difference at the end of the year.
There’s also the cost of not investing. Manual processes that could be automated consume hours of your team’s time. Business opportunities pass by because the company doesn’t have the right technology. These costs don’t appear in the IT budget, but they directly impact the company’s results.
And there’s the real cost of building and maintaining internal teams. It’s not just salary: there are benefits, training, infrastructure, tools, onboarding time. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, recruitment costs can reach $4,000-$5,000 per person, not counting the time it takes until the professional is truly productive.
4. Consider alternative hiring models
Keeping everything in-house isn’t always the best option. Outsourcing has already helped many companies.
NextAge’s Staff Augmentation model solves the main problems of traditional allocation, with validated professionals, uncomplicated contracts, and a low learning curve. It’s a good option to reduce costs, add knowledge to the team, or accelerate development in 2026.
If the IT manager already has in mind what they want to develop, it’s also possible to hire referential scope services. This approach reduces uncertainties by investing more time in the planning phase. This movement can predict costs and deadlines.
5. Keep a budget for surprises
Technology always brings surprises. It could be a bug that appears in production, an integration that proves itself more complex than it seemed, or a regulatory change that requires urgent adaptations.
For this, the ideal is to reserve between 10% and 15% of the total budget as a buffer. This contingency fund isn’t waste, it’s responsible management.
Additionally, you need to have a clear process for when to use this reserve. Define criteria, that is, what characterizes a real emergency versus a lack of planning.
6. Monitore and adjust throughout the year
The budget isn’t that document you put together in January and forget in the drawer until December. The scenario changes, priorities change, technologies change. Your budget needs to keep up with these changes.
Define specific financial KPIs for IT: cost per user, cloud resource utilization rate, percentage of budget spent on innovation versus maintenance, ROI of main projects. These numbers will show you if you’re on the right track or need to correct course.
Conduct structured quarterly reviews. Check what was delivered, how much it cost compared to what was planned, what changed in priorities, where we need to reallocate resources.
7. Avoid common mistakes
Underestimating technical complexity is classic. That project that “seemed simple” takes months. Always consider that integrations, data migrations, and testing will take longer than you imagine.
Skipping the planning phase to “save time” is another frequent mistake. As mentioned earlier, inadequate planning can lead to increases in project costs.
Not involving the right people from the start also causes problems. To avoid this, you need to talk with those who are or will be system users to understand the business needs.
And there’s a mistake that goes unnoticed, like implementing new tools without adequately training teams. The tool becomes underutilized, people continue doing things the old way, and you’ve wasted the investment.
Practical checklist
Before closing the budget, go through these essential points:
| Licenses and Subscriptions | Review all active contracts. |
| Security and Compliance | Include tools, training, and possible audits. |
| Backup and Disaster Recovery | Allocate money to maintain and test the system regularly. |
| Infrastructure Updates | List equipment and systems that need to be replaced before they become emergencies. |
| Team Training | Your team needs to keep up with the technologies you’re using. Reserve budget for courses, certifications, and conferences. |
| Support and Maintenance | Include technical support, patches, updates, and small adjustments. |
| Projects Already Started | Before planning new things, calculate how much you need to finish what you’ve already started. |
| Scalability | If the company grows 20% in 2026, can your infrastructure handle it? Plan for growth, not just for today. |
| Integration Between Systems | New systems need to communicate with old ones. This cost can be higher than it seems. |
| Documentation | Reserve time and money to document processes and systems. |
Turn planning into reality
Planning your IT budget well in 2026 goes beyond having the perfect spreadsheet. The act also involves understanding the company’s reality, defining clear priorities, and building a realistic path to get there.
That said, recapping what was explained in this text, first conduct a diagnosis before planning anything new. Then, focus on what really matters for the business, not on technological fads. Also, consider all costs, including the not-so-obvious ones. Choose contracting models that make sense for each situation and, lastly, reserve money for contingencies and closely monitor execution throughout the year.
Remember: planning is investment, not expense. Every hour dedicated to thinking carefully about priorities, costs, and risks can save weeks of rework and a lot of wasted money.
If you want to turn this planning into reality with more predictability and fewer unpleasant surprises, NextAge can help. With Staff augmentation and Adaptative Scope services, we can bring more clarity to projects from the start, reducing risks and ensuring that technology investments generate concrete results for your business.
