Every day, technology increasingly touches every aspect of a business. However, as technology evolves and business needs change, it becomes more challenging to plan your IT budget.

IT expenses should not come as a surprise; however, this often happens in many businesses, which either spend too little or too much on their IT investments. This occurs due to a lack of planning for the necessary IT budget for their business.

Before You Start Planning Your IT Budget

Before you begin to create an effective budget plan, you must first assess the current status of IT in your business.

An IT specialist should conduct an assessment of your business’s IT infrastructure, examining its overall architecture, the applications in use, and identifying the level of security for your information. In this way, you can pinpoint high-level issues that require immediate solutions, as well as lower-risk problems that need addressing.

By identifying the issues within your IT infrastructure and having clear business objectives, you ensure easier planning for your IT budget.

Planning the IT Budget

A well-defined IT budget should encompass your entire business and include every expense related to technology.

IT budgets should also document recurring annual and monthly expenses, as well as the initial costs for any installation or upgrade of equipment.

An IT budget should ensure the planning of costs for the following systems and services:

• Installation and upgrade of hardware (servers, routers, workstations, and other network devices)
• Software licenses and subscriptions (applications, software programs)
• Cloud services
• Internet and phone
• Maintenance of IT infrastructure
• IT salaries
• Cybersecurity

Your company’s IT budget should plan expenses for 12 months, including initial costs for new projects and ongoing maintenance costs. Even though your budget will cover 12 months of IT expenses, you should assess expenses for 18 to 24 months to ensure that your company is crafting an efficient budget for the ongoing operation of your IT structure.

Save Now, Pay Later

The finance department is responsible for planning the IT budget for the business. In this typical approach, companies set aside a general fund for technology expenses that is used as needed. This budgeting method often leads to excessive spending because you haven’t taken the time to assess the current infrastructure or properly plan for necessary investments or the implementation of technological innovations.

Good IT budget planning eliminates unnecessary expenses and standardizes the IT infrastructure for your business. With a planned budget, companies can ensure the continuity of their IT structure and that it aligns with business objectives.

If you want to learn more about budgeting planning for your IT department, contact a Techi representative!