As the CEO, one of your most important roles is managing the company’s money and forecasting its spending. Therefore, you must have a strong understanding of what expenses lie ahead, including your technology. If you don’t, it makes your role harder than it needs to be. In this post, we will cover one important thing that can help you take control of your business’s finances. That one thing is an IT budget!
Plan ahead with an IT Budget
It is common to come across businesses that have a solid idea of where their company is going in 1-3 years but when it comes to having a plan for their annual spend on IT– it’s closer to zero or none. In most cases, businesses respond to IT issues by reacting to the situation at that very moment and throwing funds that are available at the time to fix the issue. This solution is fine for companies with a surplus of cash waiting to be spent, but this is not a feasible option for most businesses. For example, if important infrastructure like your server fails and you don’t have money budgeted to replace it, you are forced to search for the cheapest option to get by which in the long run ends up costing the company more money than if you planned for a replacement in the first place. Budgeting for technology in your business is a much more cost-effective option in comparison to spending one large, surprise lump sum when something fails.
But how do you plan ahead with your technology? An IT strategy! Before creating an IT budget, a business needs an IT Strategy. As highlighted in a previous blog, an IT Strategy benefits business owners by providing direction on how to utilize technology to support their business. Once the IT Strategy is complete, only then can an effective IT budget be introduced.
3 Ways an IT Budget can help you take control
1. SUPPORT YOUR COMPANY VISION AND GOALS
Let’s say your business has created a 1–3-year company vision and you have determined that there will be upcoming changes to your technology to accommodate staff working remotely. Plus, your CRM will be updated, and you are moving office spaces. To achieve these changes, an appropriate plan must be completed. This is where an IT Strategy identifies the technology needed but the corresponding IT budget actually supports making the changes. With an IT budget, you know exactly how much you will expect to pay for the technology required to achieve your goals.
2. SET PRIORITIES
Some of the technology you wish to implement in your business might only cost a few thousand whereas other items will have a higher ticket price. By identifying the larger-priced items and their urgency to your company, you can prioritize when to purchase them and introduce them to your business. This approach saves you from spending a large amount all at once.
BONUS: Having an IT budget and partnering with an MSP makes prioritizing your technology purchases easy. At Yardstick, when we build a relationship with a customer, we get to know them and can notice any concerns of stretching certain projects. For example, if we have a customer that has servers on its last limb, we may be more inclined to introduce a new server before another project that can wait longer.
3. TAKE ACTION
Last but not least, having a plan without the funds will often lead you to a dead end. Therefore, you need to have an IT budget to support your plan of achieving the goals you have set out for the company. The IT budget will allow you to confidently introduce technology and address key areas of your business.
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An IT budget can help your business set priorities and take action towards your goals. As a reminder, the IT Strategy must come first, and then an IT budget can be introduced. Overall, having a planned approach to the purchase of technology in your business helps you take control of your finances and can support your role of managing the company’s money.
Interested in an IT Strategy and an IT Budget for your business?
At Yardstick, we invest our time upfront to understand your business and concerns. From there we implement a solution that is in the best interest of you, the customer. Book a free no-obligation discovery call or contact us today!
