Avnet watches IT spending as a percentage of gross profit. Unlike revenue or expenses, gross profit reflects how efficiently a company operates, so it makes sense to benchmark IT spending against that, CIO Steve Phillips reasons. Avnet business unit and IT managers jointly prioritize IT projects based on how quickly they can save money or deliver value to the company. Managers look favorably on projects that provide payback within a year. This results in funding for small initiatives that provide incremental improvements, which compete with larger strategic projects for IT dollars. Added together, the smaller projects could produce big benefits to the company. The payback interval is the great equalizer. "The real driver is that we get the biggest bang for our bucks," Phillips says.