Technology Economists

How Does Your Organization Perform Against Top Performers?

Compare your technology investment to the top 10% of companies in your industry—and uncover where allocation drives performance.

This is not a benchmark. It's a blueprint for better decisions.

1. Select Your Industry

See how top performers in your industry invest in technology.

Your selections are confidential and used only to personalize your results.

Showing all-industry averages. Select your industry above to personalize these results.

2. Your Industry Snapshot

Top decile performance compared to industry average.

IT Spend
(% of Revenue)

0.92×Top Decile
1.00×Industry Average

IT Spend
(% of OpEx)

1.31×Top Decile
1.00×Industry Average

Public Cloud
(% of Compute Capacity)

2.31×Top Decile
1.00×Industry Average

Technology Intensity™

1.12×Top Decile
1.00×Industry Average

Values are the ratio of top decile companies to the industry average (1.00× = industry average).

3. Where Top Performers Invest Differently

Top decile vs. industry average IT spend allocation.

Higher investment in growth areas
Lower infrastructure burden
Top Decile
Industry Average
Applications Cloud Services Data Center AI / Analytics Security Network Other

Top performers invest more in applications and AI, while maintaining a lower allocation to data center and traditional infrastructure.

4. Key Insights

What the data tells us about top performers in your industry.

Growth Focus

Top performers allocate more to applications, AI and capabilities that support innovation and business growth.

Efficiency Advantage

Lower investment in data center and legacy infrastructure may reflect greater operational efficiency.

Balanced Approach

Top performers maintain a more balanced investment approach across Run and Change to support stability and transformation.

5. Detailed Allocation by Technology Tower

A closer look at how top decile companies compare.

  • Higher than industry average
  • Lower than industry average
  • Similar to industry average
Technology Tower Industry Average Top Decile Difference
Applications 20% 28% +8%
Cloud Services 18% 22% +4%
Data Center 15% 10% -5%
AI / Analytics 3% 8% +5%
Security 10% 12% +2%
Network 8% 6% -2%
Other 26% 14% -12%

Source: Rubin Systems, Inc. Updated annually. Tower allocation figures are illustrative pending client data.

6. What Should You Do With This Insight?

Seeing how top-performing companies invest is valuable—but the real advantage comes from applying it to your own organization.

Start by asking questions.

Where should you take a closer look?

Are you investing enough in growth?

Top performers consistently allocate more to Applications and AI.

Are you enabling innovation—or maintaining the status quo?

Is your infrastructure efficient?

Higher-performing companies operate with lower data center and legacy costs.

Are you carrying excess operational burden?

Is your portfolio balanced?

Top decile companies balance Run and Change more effectively.

Are you over-indexed on maintenance vs. transformation?

Are your investments aligned to outcomes?

Top performers link technology spend directly to business performance.

Do your investments clearly translate into value?

7. Why This Matters

Industry averages provide a baseline—but they don't show where you truly stand.

Without a clear view of your position relative to top performers, it's difficult to know:

Where to optimize

Identify areas where you may be over- or under-investing.

Where to invest

Direct resources to the technologies that drive the greatest impact.

Where value is created—or lost

Understand what is driving performance in your industry.

Want to keep these insights?

Download your personalized industry results to share with your team.

Get Your Personalized Analysis with Ask Howard

Ask Howard elevates your Technology Intensity to show how effectively your technology investments drive business performance.

What It Does

This is a diagnostic tool that elevates a company's Technology Intensity, a strategic metric measuring IT spend relative to both revenue and operating expenses. By submitting a few key data points such as sector.

See Your Exact Position

Compare your organization's technology investment to top-performing companies and identify where to optimize for better business outcomes.

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