Many businesses have to operate with a tight budget. Having limited resources means avoiding any unnecessary expenses and clearly prioritizing needs. For IT leaders that can be particularly challenging, as they need to plan both for department and company needs.

In many cases, leaders of IT departments aren’t only required to submit a budget plan, but also to justify their purchases and costs. That’s why IT leaders need to be strategic in developing their departmental budgets. To help, 15 members of Forbes Technology Council share their approaches for planning and implementing IT budgets.

1. Know what you’re budgeting for.

Start with a project wish list, work with your team on priority and sizing, assign preliminary resources and costs, then present a working project plan for initial approval. Be realistic in timing and resource needs and make sure to factor in time and money for the unexpected. - Michael Zaic, Wild Sky Media

2. Be a business partner.

Understand the organization’s strategic and financial goals, and tie budget requests into both operating existing investments as well as achieving strategic and financial goals. Frame the latter around your key objectives, whether that’s market share, growth and innovation, or customer satisfaction and engagement. - Matthew Wallace, Faction, Inc.

3. Kill three birds with one stone.

One approach to extending IT budget reach is to look for tech that both addresses the pain points and aligns the goals of individuals, teams and the enterprise. The business productivity and collaboration tool category is a good example. When individual and team productivity tools also provide transparency and insight to management, you’ve found technology that can stake a legitimate claim to ROI. - Hoony Youn, MackeyRMS

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