Putting together an IT budget is an exceptionally tricky procedure. Every year presents unique technical challenges that need to be addressed, but the slightest miscalculation can be detrimental to an IT budget. Here are five tips to give your organization some breathing room when it comes to planning out next year’s IT expenses.

Think in the Long Term
When planning out your IT budget, it’s important to consider both short-term and long-term investments that you’ll be making for the sake of your business. The fact that so many services, like cloud computing, are being turned into operational expenses, is placing an emphasis on a model based around affordable payments rather than heavy up-front costs. It’s important to consider how these costs will affect your budget, especially over the long-term.

Invest in Training Your Staff
There’s far too little investment in ensuring that employees understand the benefits of the latest technology solutions. What good are the latest IT solutions if your staff has no clue how to use them? By properly training your team on how to take advantage of this technology, you’re essentially providing them with skills necessary to make their workflow easier and more convenient. This helps them get the most out of their technology and maximize the amount of work they’re able to perform.

Carefully Consider Storage Options
Your organization shouldn’t just be taking advantage of one centralized storage system for its data. Instead, you want to have multiple avenues where your data can be stored. One of the primary reasons for this is because you need to make sure that your data won’t be wiped out in one fell swoop (redundancy is crucial). Another reason for this is to optimize your organization's access to its critical data. For this purpose, cloud computing can be exceptionally helpful, for both data storage and data backup solutions.

Account for Anticipated Software/Hardware Upgrades
Unexpected hardware failure can be a pain to deal with, especially if your budget hasn’t taken these issues into account. Not only are hardware failure and software issues hard to predict, but they’re also expensive to replace. Your budget should always have assets allocated toward mitigating and replacing technology that’s critical to the success of your business. Otherwise, you could be dealing with huge expenses that will, without a doubt, break your budget, and force you to come up with funds from elsewhere.

Take Advantage of Outsourcing and Consulting Services
Outsourcing management responsibilities is typically very budget-friendly, considering you’re turning up-front costs into operational expenses that can be paid for over a specific time period. In other words, you can think of it as enjoying all of the benefits of purchasing a brand new solution, without the expensive price tag.

For more tips on how to optimize your IT budget and get the most out of your technology, give Network Synergy a call at (203) 261-2201.