April 21, 2014

Interactive Analysis Tools (calculators)


Before you begin

Keep the following caveats in mind before you begin the Rule of Thumb for startup IT spending:

  • This analysis is not meant to be precise. The answer should be considered a back-of-the-envelope guess.

  • While the questions reflect the main issues that determine IT budgets for startups, other unspecified challenges may affect spending up or down. For example, while the staff costs are on a fully loaded cash basis, the value of stock options given to the IT staff of dot-com startups is impossible to calculate, and as a result, is usuallly ignored in surveys on IT staff costs.

    In addition, the data below reflects industry averages. The wide range of budget spending (100% variations among similar companies in the same industry are not uncommon) makes the averages only a rudimentary guide to industry IT budgets.

    Furthermore, the values in this Rule of Thumb are based on surveys taken in 1999 and 1998. Given the soaring rate of IT salaries, the answers may be an underestimation of the spending expected in 2000.

  • Legal disclaimer: Microsoft® Corp. provides this Rule of Thumb analysis tool solely for self-evaluation. The tool is offered "as is."

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this Rule of Thumb tool, please contact the editor of the Enterprise from Microsoft at: entfeed@microsoft.com. Unfortunately, the editors are not equipped to respond to questions about Microsoft software or other topics unrelated to the material on the Enterprise Web site. For technical support, please go to http://www.microsoft.com/support/




Question 1
What industry is your company in?

IT services

Financial
     services

Computer
     software

Computer
     hardware


Publishing

Entertainment
     (movies,
      television,
      other media)

Retailing


Non-computer
     manufacturing

Other
     services

Other



Question 2
Where is your company headquarters?

Northern
     California

New York
     City area

Boston area

Dallas area

Atlanta area

Other area
     in the U.S.

Northern
     Europe

Southern
     Europe

Asia, Latin
     America,
     Africa


Question 3
How many years has your company been in business?

0-1 years

1-2 years

2-3 years

More than 3 years


Question 4
Would you describe the availability of off-the-shelf solutions for your industry, including the availability of outsourcers to provide applications services as:

Quite good

Moderate

Modest

Non-existent


Question 5
What portion of your senior executive management team (CEO, CFO, COO, heads of operating units) are engineers with an extensive background as hardware or software designers?

0-25 percent

26-50 percent

51-75 percent

All


Question 6
What are your estimated annual revenues for 2000?

$0-$25 million

$25-$50 million

More than $50 million




Question 7
What is your average annual rate of revenue growth from 1999 through 2001?

0-10 percent

11-20 percent

21-50 percent

More than
     51 percent





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