Tech Budgeting 101 for Small Businesses
With the new calendar year around the corner, now is an excellent time to review your organisation’s budget. Above all else, it is pivotal to ensure your business has the resources it needs to continue to grow and prosper in 2023 and beyond.
It’s important to understand that in today’s highly digitised environment, technology shouldn’t be an afterthought. You need to have a clear and well-defined IT budget, since an unanticipated technology issue in the middle of the year can be disastrous.
In this blog post, we’ll explore a few key things to keep in mind while budgeting for your IT needs.
Always assess your Business Needs
As technology advances at a breakneck pace, regular technological updates become increasingly essential for any company hoping to remain successful. Rather than simply assuming you’ll need the same IT budget as last year, take the time to assess your organisation’s current needs for 2023. Whether this involves upgrading or moving to different platforms, don’t neglect any considerations that might help your company meet those needs.
Just like most technology-based businesses, you should allocate your IT budget to improve these four areas:
Routine IT Services
Hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities in your business network. You need to pinpoint these weaknesses in your IT infrastructure so that your business network isn’t compromised. Make sure you continuously monitor your network with a vulnerability scanning solution to identify potential problems and develop the best preventive measures.
Projects
Businesses frequently neglect critical IT projects, such as securing their networks, ultimately leaving them vulnerable to attacks. Hackers can easily access unsecured and outdated networks, which can subsequently compromise your working projects. The consequences of this can be severe, including loss of projects & data, breaches of confidentiality, and financial loss. It’s always best to take an active, as opposed to reactive, approach to budgeting for secure work projects.
Refreshes
Keeping existing systems may appear to be the easiest and most economically sound option for a business. Conversely, it can actually decrease employee productivity and harm your bottom line. You’re far more susceptible to hacking if your IT security systems are outdated. As a result, annual technology refreshes are critical to ensuring the optimal performance of your IT infrastructure.
Accidents or Incidents
You’ll need a plan in place to tackle an accident or incident, such as a cybercriminal demanding a ransom. Discovering that hackers have encrypted all your systems can be disastrous, not just financially but also in terms of your reputation. When planning your technology budget, focus on strengthening your cybersecurity posture so you can mitigate today’s sophisticated threats.
An IT Service Provider might be What you Need...
An IT service provider, like Step Fwd IT, can play a vital role in guiding you through anything IT-related. Undoubtedly, this includes Tech Budgeting, but also involves cybersecurity, backup, compliance, and more. Hence, we are always willing to help with:
Internal Support: Internal IT Department or Team
A common type of support is through an internal IT department or team. Usually, businesses with a committed IT team are enterprises, while small businesses may have only one IT staff member or none at all.
External Support: Outsourced IT Service Provider
An external IT service provider, like Step Fwd IT, can support your business in multiple ways, such as assessing your IT infrastructure to formulate a plan for budgeting decisions, providing advice on the best IT solutions, and assisting with implementation and setup.
Hybrid Support: A Combination of Internal and External IT Services
If you have an existing internal IT team but have areas they cannot cover, you can outsource those areas to an external specialist – Step Fwd IT.
IT Budgeting with Step Fwd IT
Whilst we hope this blog gives you a good taste of Technology Budgeting, our IT Budgeting page is a great place for you to take your knowledge further! We want to help you, and this page is a great facilitator for beginning our Tech Budgeting journey and IT relationship.
Outsourcing your IT needs or opting for hybrid support alongside your internal IT team can reduce a great deal of stress since our specialists can help lighten the load and show you the right way to prepare a budget. Whatever your situation, we’d love a chance to help!
To get the ball rolling, contact the Step Fwd IT Team today for a no-obligation consultation!
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