It sounds simple enough and many executives can easily identify the basic technology required to operate. In addition to meeting the immediate technology needs to perform everyday tasks, it’s equally important to evaluate what technology should be implemented to achieve business goals.

For example, a common business goal across multiple industries is to “Improve Customer Experience.” Let’s say for the purpose of this example, you determine one of the ways your company will achieve this is by “enhancing your digital engagement with customers” (e.g. online, mobile applications, customer service and buying experience). You decide that when your sales team engages with customers, you want them to be able to use mobile devices to provide customers with digital information and perform remote transactions in real-time.

As you continue to drill down on your business goals and get more specific to determine “how will we achieve this?”, the answer to “what technologies are required to enable and support this goal?” will become clearer. Focusing on technology that will support the achievement of business goals will help improve ROI, and with creating and prioritizing your IT budget.