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IT Budget Template for Security and Cyber Insurance Readiness

A free Excel IT budget template that starts from where your environment stands today. It checks your controls against CIS Controls IG1, flags what cyber insurance carriers ask about, looks at the AI tools already in use, and builds a three-year budget with typical market cost ranges, rolled up into an executive summary.

An IT budget template is a spreadsheet for planning technology spending over the next one to three years. The useful ones start with an honest look at the current environment, so the money goes to the gaps that carry the most risk. This workbook checks your environment against CIS Controls IG1, the baseline most cyber insurance carriers now expect, before it builds the budget.

Dawn SizerDawn Sizer · CEO and Co-Founder, 3rd Element Consulting ·
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What this workbook covers

  • Security readiness. Where your environment stands against CIS Controls Implementation Group 1, the starting set of safeguards for small and mid-sized businesses.
  • Cyber insurance readiness. The controls carriers ask about on applications and renewals, so you can see which answers you can back up today.
  • AI tool use. Which AI tools are already in use, whether anyone approved them, and what data they can reach.
  • A three-year budget. Budget lines for the gaps you find, with typical market cost ranges so you have a starting point before you get quotes.
  • An executive summary. One page that rolls it all up for leadership, the board, or your accountant.

Free Excel workbook

Download the IT Security Readiness and Budget Planning Workbook

CIS Controls IG1, cyber insurance readiness, AI detection, and a three-year budget with typical market cost ranges, rolled up into an executive summary.

Why start an IT budget from a security baseline

Most IT budgets are built from last year's spend plus a percentage. That keeps the lights on, but it rarely pays for the gaps that cause incidents, denied claims, or a hard conversation at renewal.

Starting from a baseline changes the order of the conversation. You see what is missing first, then decide what to fund this year, what can wait, and what to stop paying for. CIS Controls IG1 is a practical baseline because it is specific, widely recognized, and close to what carriers already ask about.

AI is part of this now. Most businesses already have employees using AI tools, and many of those tools can reach company data. Budgeting for AI means budgeting for the permissions cleanup, policy, and oversight that make it safe to use.

How to fill it in without it becoming a project

  1. Work through the readiness questions with your IT lead or provider. Answer based on what you can show, not what you believe is in place.
  2. Note the AI tools people use for work, including features built into software you already pay for.
  3. Review the budget lines the workbook builds from your gaps, and replace the typical ranges with real quotes as you get them.
  4. Review the executive summary and decide what to fund this year and what moves to years two and three.

Most teams finish a useful first pass in an afternoon.

What to do with the results

  • Bring the executive summary to your budget meeting. Our guide to prioritizing IT spend for 2027 covers how to rank what you find.
  • Give the gap list to your IT provider and ask for a plan and timeline for each item.
  • Use the cyber insurance section to prepare for your next renewal before the application arrives.
  • Use the AI section as the starting point for an AI acceptable use policy and a review of what AI tools can reach. Our AI readiness check is a good next step.
  • Revisit it every year, and after any big change such as a new system, an acquisition, or a new location.
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Common questions

Questions leadership usually asks first.

What should an IT budget include?
Ongoing support and licensing, hardware replacement, security controls, backup and recovery, compliance and insurance requirements, and planned projects. A useful budget also funds the gaps found in a security review, not only what was spent last year.
What is CIS Controls IG1?
Implementation Group 1 is the starting set of safeguards in the CIS Critical Security Controls, written for organizations with limited IT and security staff. It covers the basics such as asset inventory, secure configuration, access control, data recovery, and security awareness training.
Are the cost ranges 3rd Element's prices?
No. They are typical market ranges to give you a starting point. Replace them with real quotes for your environment.
Why does an IT budget template include AI?
Most businesses already have employees using AI tools, and many of those tools can reach company data. Using AI safely takes permissions cleanup, a written policy, and someone responsible for approving new tools, and each of those has a cost.
Is the template free?
Yes. It is a free Excel workbook. Enter your name, work email, and company to download it.

Continue reading

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IT Budgeting for 2027: Where to Actually Prioritize Tech Spend

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CIS Controls vs NIST CSF: What Each One Is, and What Your Business Needs

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Read more: CIS Controls vs NIST CSF: What Each One Is, and What Your Business Needs

Next step

Want a second set of eyes on the results?

Schedule an IT Environment Review. Bring the workbook, and we will walk through your gaps and what to fund first.

Schedule an IT Environment Review