Next year's budget is being written now.
Most vendors plan their big push for January, when the new money opens. By then, most of that money already has a name on it.
Ninety-seven meeting requests came into the network in eleven days citing FY27 planning. The two weeks before brought 89 from 41. Five of this period's leaders put next year in writing:
"As we approach the budgeting cycle for 2027, I'm looking to enhance our IAM and want something that does this automatically in the cloud and on-prem." (Senior Director of Global IT Security, aerospace)
"If the proper tool is found, this will be a Q2 2027 implementation after a successful PoC." (Chief Information Security Officer, financial services)
"FY27, which starts Oct 1, is my year of implementation." (IT Director, tribal government)
On AI and data governance: "This may be a 2027 project." (Head of Information Security and Compliance, business services)
"I am exploring the solutions for next year projects. I would like to understand the capabilities, features, and implementation and life cycle cost." (Executive Director, professional services)
Look at the second one. Q2 2027 is the install date. The proof of concept comes first. The vendor picked for the proof of concept comes before that. That puts the decision this fall.
The aerospace leader filed a second request the same week. Targeted attacks on their executives are rising, and they want the fix "in our 2027 budget."
A budget line gets sized from the conversations a leader has while writing it. The vendor in those conversations sets the number. The vendor who shows up in January quotes against it.
The budget gets written before it gets spent.
Every request here was filed by the leader, read by a person, and matched one meeting at a time. This year, 3 in 10 of those meetings produced a qualified selling opportunity, by the vendors' own report.
The planning window is open for these leaders and the rest of the network. You can meet them one at a time, pay per meeting, no contract. Create your account here.
— Ryan
New to the network
These IT and security leaders opted into the network in the last two weeks. Titles and companies only. Every one can be met.
Chief Technology Officer at Cardinal Health (>$10B revenue)
Sr. AI Security Engineer and AppSec Lead at Amazon (>$10B revenue)
Vice President, Head of Cyber Defense and Architecture at Workday ($5.1B-$10B revenue)
Director of Cybersecurity Audit at Barclays (>$10B revenue)
VP of IAM Engineering at LPL Financial (>$10B revenue)
AVP Software Engineering at LPL Financial (>$10B revenue)
VP, Global CISO at Allison Transmission ($1.1B-$5B revenue)
Chief Enterprise Security Architect at Valley Bank ($1.1B-$5B revenue)
VP, Head of Info Tech (CIO/CISO) at Sumisho Air Lease ($1.1B-$5B revenue)
Director of Infrastructure at ePlus ($1.1B-$5B revenue)
Director, Software Engineering at GoodRx ($251M-$1B revenue)
Chief Information Security Officer at Berkeley College ($251M-$1B revenue)
Vice President, Information Technology at Carrot ($101M-$250M revenue)
Director of Application Security at The Motley Fool ($101M-$250M revenue)
VP of Software Engineering and Security at International Code Council ($51M-$100M revenue)
Public Health Informatics and IT Manager at Fairfax County Government (21,000 employees)
Information Security Manager at Clinica Sierra Vista (2,000 employees)