Creating your IT BUDGET: What to consider. IT has become a backbone for organizations, with reliance on technology for all aspects of a business. It’s no wonder that IT Budgets have now grown, become more complicated and naturally more important. If that is not challenging enough, there is also an up and down nature of IT expenses as equipment and tools need to be replaced and as the need changes over time .
Here are a few tips to consider when building out your IT budget.
A great baseline for what you may need to spend on your inventory is to look at what you currently have. Conducting an audit of what you own along with the purchase dates will give you an idea of the cost baseline as well as the replace times. There are software solutions that could aid with this process but the most important is that an ongoing process is in place and you know what you have, where it is in its lifespan and what needs to be added to the mix.
Compliance is very crucial if a business is hoping to avoid hefty fines. Whether you keep track of license expiration dates or you are relying on the cloud for various tools and working with a monthly fee, a budget item needs to be allocated to making sure that everything is paid for and up to date to avoid any downtime or penalties.
Understanding that technology is not everlasting and does need to be replaced, it’s important to put in markers for when a refresh needs to be addressed. The key here is to replace aspects before there are problems, when everything is still functioning, rather than wait until there is a problem, causing productivity to take a blow. Another aspect of this is that as equipment ages, there are more conversations about cloud adoption and to what degree this would be beneficial to the organization. In either case, don’t let this come at you as a surprise and take the time to note key dates to revisit the issue in good timing.
There are many times where a business experiences variable in cash flow, and through some forecasting, it might even be possible to predict when cash flow will be leaner. In an ideal situation, during the more abundance financial times, a buffer is set aside for the dryer days so that if an issue does arise, planned for or not, there is a buffer to manage the situation.
If you feel like you not spread thin yet, there is one more element to the IT budget and that is feeding innovation. This does not have to be as daunting and cumbersome as solving all the words problems, but perhaps as simple as looking at new and innovative tools to help your team work more productively and have better collaboration and smoother workflows. Investing in your organization for the sake of your team carried long terms benefits of attracting more talent, attracting more clientele and bettering the company’s reputation and branding.
Looking for guidance for your IT Strategy? Try out Virtual CIO Services. For more help in understanding where your IT dollars should be spent, contact MBC today.
© Copyright 2024 MBC Managed IT Services. All Rights Reserved.
