Who Owns Your Technology Function?

1A written technology plan for the next 12 to 24 months exists, and it's tied to the business plan.

2Technology spending is budgeted for the year ahead, not approved one purchase at a time.

3A named person decides what technology to invest in next and can explain why to the leadership team.

4There's a current map of your systems, how they connect, and where important data lives.

5Standards for new tools (security, integration, who approves) are agreed before anything new is bought.

6Someone checks that each new system fits what you already have, instead of adding another silo.

7One list shows every technology vendor, what you pay, the renewal date and the internal owner.

8Contracts are reviewed before they renew, with a deliberate decision to keep, change or cancel.

9When a problem crosses two or more providers, one person is accountable for getting it resolved.

10A leader is accountable for cybersecurity risk decisions, even when a provider does the hands-on security work.

11The security requirements in your client contracts, insurance policy and industry rules are known, written down and assigned.

12Backup, recovery and incident response plans are written down, and someone makes sure they're tested.

13It's clear who owns each important set of data (clients, finance, HR, operations) and who may access it.

14There's a written policy on which AI tools staff may use and what information they may put into them.

15AI and automation ideas are judged against business goals and cost before anyone buys a tool.

16Every technology project has a named owner, a budget, a timeline and an agreed definition of done.

17When there are more technology ideas than time or money, someone sets the order and the business agrees to it.

18Training and process changes are planned as part of each rollout, not left to the people using the new system.

19Leadership gets a regular technology update in business terms: cost, risk, progress and the next decisions needed.

20Technology is a standing item on the leadership agenda, and the plan is reviewed against results at least once a year.