Effective budgeting can serve as the foundation for the rest of your business to grow – if the foundation is unsound, you may never be able to reach your goals. By carefully considering some key factors such as scalable technology investments, cybersecurity measures, and long-term planning strategies, organizations can create a structurally sufficient IT infrastructure that can evolve with changing business needs.
As organizations prepare their IT budgets for 2025, understanding a few key components and (often-overlooked) elements are crucial for success. Fortunately, In a recent webinar, SWK shared essential insights on creating a comprehensive budget that aligns with your business and technology objectives while ensuring security and scalability. Read on to learn a few simple steps to check off when budgeting your IT for 2025.
Follow IT Budgeting Essentials
As stated before, a well-structured IT budget forms the foundation for aligning technology investments with business goals. Scalable infrastructure investments should grow with business needs without requiring constant replacements or major upgrades, siphoning the budget away from more mission-critical parts of your business. However, adopting cloud computing and virtualization solutions allows you to adapt quickly to changes in storage, CPU, or user access requirements. Essentially, once you move to the cloud, you will not need to worry about these constant hardware upgrades – they will be done for you automatically.
When budgeting, it is essential not to forget the importance of a secure network. Cybersecurity tools and services should be a top priority, with resources allocated for firewalls, intrusion detection systems, endpoint protection, and penetration testing. Additionally, organizations using Microsoft 365 should consider budgeting resources dedicated to improving their Microsoft secure score.
Finally, regular maintenance and extended support agreements need to be taken into consideration as they help keep systems running smoothly and extend the life of critical IT assets. The cost of extended support plans often provides more value than replacing components.
Setting aside 10-15% of the overall IT budget provides a contingency fund that serves as a buffer for unexpected expenses such as emergency repairs or compliance-necessitated improvements. For the contingency fund, it may be more beneficial to overestimate than underestimate as it is better to have funds and not need them rather than the inverse.
Do Not Miss These Often-Overlooked Budget Items
While it may come as a surprise, several critical items frequently get overlooked during budget planning. Extended support on critical infrastructure, while sometimes viewed as non-essential, can prevent costly future expenses for firewalls, servers, routers, and more. Complex licensing agreements and long intervals between renewals often lead to forgotten costs, making regular auditing and reminder processes essential.
BCDR (Business Continuity Disaster Recovery) Solutions are often neglected, with organizations failing to update backup solution hardware and software, creating significant risks during crises. Many organizations continue using outdated hardware and software due to replacement costs, creating security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues.
Security awareness training is often deprioritized in favor of technical solutions, yet it remains crucial as phishing attacks continue to rise. In fact, one of the most common avenues for a hacker to breach a network is through human error. Cybersecurity training ensures your employees are prepared if they ever end up in a hacker’s sights. Organizations must recognize that ongoing security training is an essential component of a comprehensive IT strategy.
Take Time When Evaluating Current IT Spend
It should come as no surprise that effective evaluation of current IT spending requires regular audits to identify inefficiencies and redundancies. Organizations should track actual spending against budgeted amounts and categorize expenses across cybersecurity, hardware, and software. Real-time data analytics help identify usage patterns and optimization opportunities.
In addition, cost versus value analysis for each IT investment helps identify underperforming assets and opportunities for reallocation. Organizations should assess ROI on major IT projects through metrics like productivity improvements and reduced downtime. Since these numbers are rarely ever set in stone, this evaluation process should be ongoing and inform future budget decisions. In fact, when creating your 2025 budget you should take into consideration your 2026, 2027, etc. budgets as it is important to…
Remember Long-Term Planning Strategies
Successful long-term IT planning requires organizations to anticipate technological trends and industry developments before they occur. Funds should be distributed for scalable infrastructure and services, with thought given to automation tools and monitoring systems. Organizations must plan for IT personnel needs, whether internal or external, and incorporate security compliance requirements into budget planning. Companies that were able to anticipate and appropriately budget for changing technological demands are no doubt better positioned to adapt to whatever the market throws their way.
Creating lifecycle management plans for hardware and software ensures timely updates and replacements without halting your operations. Prioritizing flexibility for emerging technologies and business growth allows organizations to adapt to changing business needs while maintaining operational efficiency. As the old adage goes, if you cannot bend, you will break.
Contact Us Today
Ready to develop a comprehensive IT budget that aligns with your business objectives? Contact SWK today for a free budget overview consult. Our team of award-winning, technical experts will help evaluate your current IT spend and create a plan that ensures security, scalability, and long-term success. Make the call today to ensure you start 2025 with a strong foundation.