Barrier Consulting Group

Advisory service

The technology plan, and the case that pays for it.


Technology spending gets approved one request at a time until nobody can explain where it all went. We set the plan, price the options against each other, and write the case in the language finance already uses.

The problem

The plan and the money were built by different people.

  • The roadmap and the budget were written at different times for different audiences. Every funding request restarts the same argument.
  • Cases are written to win approval, not to test a decision. Benefits arrive with no owner and no date, and nobody checks them a year later.
  • Run cost grows each year and change spend absorbs the difference. Nobody has priced what happens if the oldest systems are left alone.

How the engagement works

A diagnostic sprint first. A retainer only if the decisions keep coming.

Two to four weeks

Fixed scope, one readout, and a retainer only if the plan needs defending through the budget cycle. See How We Engage.

Who we work with

The CIO or CTO, the finance partner who owns the technology budget, and the business leaders whose plans depend on the answer.

What we gather

Spend split into run and change, the live portfolio with actual burn, contract renewal dates, and the demand each business unit has promised.

What the board sees

Ranked options with the funding profile and risk of each, plus the measures that show within a year whether the money worked.

What you get

Five documents a finance committee can argue with.

  • A three year investment case, with the model behind every figure
  • A run and change spending baseline by business capability
  • A sequenced portfolio showing dependencies and decision points
  • A one page decision memo for the board
  • A benefits register with a named owner on each line

Outcome

24% Capex reduction

A specialty retailer had been refused funding twice for a platform replacement, then put a hardware refresh and a data center expansion into the same budget cycle without comparing them. We modeled demand against the utilization of the estate they already owned and priced all of it as one decision. The board funded a smaller staged program and capital spending fell 24 percent.

Start a conversation

Send us the funding request nobody can agree on.

ryan@barrierconsultinggroup.com