Budgeting business expenditures is no easy task. Especially in small-medium enterprises, which is necessary for keeping your business up and running. However, in light of cyber-attacks and threats, you should keep cyber security at the top of your investment priority list. In this blog, we at Red IT Solutions list down the top Q&A regarding your business’s IT investment.
What are your business’ IT goals this FY 2023?
In the days of a modern and digital workplace, old mindsets and goals would do no good for your firm’s stability. Like putting cyber security and IT development at the back seat of your priorities. Set your goals straight by updating critical systems, equipment, resources, and infrastructure. You need to be ready for the next wave of cyber security threats.
Are your systems’ OS updated?
The mantra “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” does not apply to IT. The digital world constantly evolves with every minute passing and so make the threats. Outdated OS can lead to vulnerabilities in the system. Hackers can easily exploit if you are not investing time and effort to update. In this case, you should be hands-on and proactive in checking your OS’s current patch and ensure it is always up to date.
Is your hardware out of warranty?
Like the software side of IT, it is also recommended to keep your hardware up to date and able to support your systems’ requirements. But unlike software, it does not need to be replaced most of the time. However, it would help if you looked for warranty coverage for your hardware to ease maintenance and costs by introducing the latest technologies that are generally more efficient and cost-effective.
So, it is ideal for keeping your equipment within your provider’s/supplier’s warranty. Keep tabs and register every piece of equipment to a directory to better check their expiration dates and service ceilings, this way, you will know what hardware needs immediate spending and what are those to keep until another year of beneficial use. Thus, easing budget constraints.
Is your business growing?
Business grows, and with it are the resources needed to run it, especially on the IT front. Consequently, you need more people that operate it, so the question would be: do they have the required licenses to manage it? With that in mind, you should audit your company’s licenses for all your team members and cut on the licenses you do not need. This way, you can be sure that everything is within your firm’s budget.
Are you still running ADSL rather than NBN?
The ADSL copper system is almost a decade old! Although not everyone has access to NBN, it is crucial to grab the opportunity to upgrade whenever possible, especially next year when other connection systems are just around the corner.
In assessing your company’s budget, you must look at the bigger picture and manage to spend on macros that primarily affect your business operations.
With Covid-19 disrupting the flow of income and economy, businesses have taken a hit, but technology supplied critical cost-cutting areas for running your business. Efficiency is paramount to business operations, with tech providing productivity levels that have never been seen before.
On that note, keep assessing your budget and spending about your IT systems. Create strategic spending goals to sustain your business’s growth.
Where to start?
- Audit your business’s status quo
Track your staff’s feedback to improve productivity across your workspace. They are great at telling you which of your systems are lacking and the areas in working order.
- Look at your business and analyze it
There is no denying that technology is a critical part of running a business and thus inseparable in today’s time. Is your business still using paper instead of devices that are far better for keeping tabs on your business’s resources? If so, you better map out the things wherein your system could be of significant use and reap benefits from efficient workplace tech.
- Keep spending at the optimum levels
Any business expenditure should be justifiable and on the grounds of your company’s capability for sustainability and growth. It would be best if you did not eliminate usable resources like computers with another year left on them and only upgraded systems that require immediate attention either through acquiring new hardware or by outsourcing it.
Upgrading and acquiring new systems are straightforward. However, if you choose to do it this way, you must have a budget to spare for the enormous upfront costs of buying new equipment. While outsourcing is a terrific way to keep costs at a minimum and have infrastructure at your disposal, it is not yours to keep and maintain. Managed Service Providers offer this like us in Red IT Solutions. This service is suitable for everyone as it eliminates upfront costs and has a minimal maintenance bill.
- Allow for a “fouled up beyond all recognition” in your audits
Inflation is a real thing, especially for businesses. You have people who rely on your wage to get by on their own, so you must constantly adapt to every economic condition imaginable. Also, technology is a disrupting factor when it comes to businesses and is overly sensitive to any changes to the scale of the global economic environment. With that in mind, you must prepare anything extra for budget constraints when prices and costs get out of hand.
