Constructed figure, assumptions listed
The question comes up in the leadership committee. Are we spending too much on IT.
No one in the room has the figure that would answer it. Everyone has an intuition, and the intuition of the person who pays always diverges from that of the person who’s asking.
The reference interval, and what it contains
A commercial 2026 benchmark places the technology spend of companies with fewer than 500 employees between 3 and 6 % of revenue. Mid-market companies sit between 5 and 8 %, large companies between 4 and 6 %.
The decisive point is in the scope. This ratio includes the salaries of people who work on technical subjects. Most budgets presented in committee exclude them, because they come out of a different line item. Comparing a budget excluding salaries to a ratio that includes salaries makes an underspend appear that doesn’t exist.
The interval applied
| Revenue | Low bound, 3 % | High bound, 6 % |
|---|---|---|
| 2,000,000 € | 60,000 € | 120,000 € |
| 5,000,000 € | 150,000 € | 300,000 € |
| 10,000,000 € | 300,000 € | 600,000 € |
| 20,000,000 € | 600,000 € | 1,200,000 € |
The interval is wide, and that width is the information. A factor of two between the two bounds means no ratio settles your situation on its own. What it does is tell you whether you’re outside the playing field.
A company with 10 million euros in revenue that spends 900,000 euros, salaries included, is at 9 %. That isn’t abnormal in itself, but it calls for an explanation that holds up, and that explanation needs to come from you before it comes from your board.
What the ratio doesn’t say
It says nothing about the quality of the spend. Two companies at 5 % can have, one a system that holds up, and the other a system that’s expensive precisely because it doesn’t.
It says nothing about your sector. A company whose product is software doesn’t have the same floor as a company whose product is physical.
It says nothing about timing. A migration year is paid for once, and a smoothed annual ratio doesn’t see it.
The sentence to remember
A ratio doesn’t validate a budget. It tells you whether you owe an explanation.
Open in a spreadsheet · The interval applied to your revenue (454 bytes)
Sources
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IT spend as a percentage of revenue, benchmark 2026 · VendorBenchmark, 1 January 2026
Licence: propriétaire · Grandes entreprises 4 à 6 %, marché intermédiaire 5 à 8 %, moins de 500 salariés 3 à 6 % du chiffre d'affaires, salaires internes inclus dans le périmètre. Acteur commercial, méthodologie non auditable de l'extérieur. Date de publication à confirmer.