May 27

IT Budgeting for Small Businesses (Part I)

IT Budgeting for Small Business - Thrive Networks It continues to amaze me that budgeting for technology is overlooked by so many small businesses today. There are many reasons a well-understood budget is needed. This not to say a budget cannot change as the business and economic outlooks change. But overall, it is an important factor in driving businesses forward and ultimately reducing overall costs.

There are many things to consider with a budget, the least of which is having a strong long-term plan to use within the budgeting process. By properly planning it allows companies to minimize wasted money on technologies you won’t get a full life cycle from. Making system replacements and software upgrades only when things break can often cost more. The reasons for this are that hardware procurement is more difficult and migrations time lines are longer when you have to jump multiple software revisions. A poorly planned migration costs about 30% more on average than well-planned migrations. This can be directly related to planning time.

Many people often ask where do I start or what is a reasonable number to consider. That answer is not always obvious and there can be several questions to consider.

In your business, how many people would you require to complete the same tasks you do today if you did not benefit from technology? System, Server and software upgrades often add functionality and minimize the risk of failure.

When looking at your current technology, what is the time loss (Employee Salary) or direct revenue loss if you experience an outage? This can be a single workstation/service or the entire network.