![]() ![]() The process starts in September when the current year budget becomes the starting point for the five year projection. The operating budget planning process is a year-round endeavor that reflects the choices and priorities for allocating the College’s non-capital financial resources. Routinely review your IT budget: Make it a quarterly or annual process to review and amend your IT budget according to the circumstances.Contact Information Budget Planning Process This means that the IT budget needs to be in compliance with the business plan.ġ4. Make it part of your business plan: Always remember the greater benefit and the bigger picture. IT training also needs to be considered: To increase productivity and efficiency you may also need to invest in IT training so that your employees can get used to the system.ġ3. ![]() Allocate funds for IT security: You will always need money for backups, security software, disaster recovery, etc.ġ2. Factor in business growth: Keeping in mind the objective for the development of your business you may need to hire new people or adopt new technologies which means additional costs, which need to be factored into the budget beforehand.ġ1. This can also happen because of technological advancements.ġ0. Keep a separate fund for routine upgrades: Basic hardware or system would have a good lifespan but smarter devices or newer technology may have a shorter lifespan than expected and will need to upgrade every now and then. A custom-made system requires contingency funds: These are funds that are used during any mishappening, the occurrence of any unexpected event, or heavy procedures. ![]() Identify savings areas: During the IT budgeting process, try to pick out areas where you can save money from either automation or hardware replacement.Ĩ. This includes cloud service fees and subscriptions cost.ħ. Software and application costs also need to be calculated: Determine an approximate amount of how much would it cost to keep the business software running. Timely maintenance is important to keep operations smooth.Ħ. Calculate the hardware estimates: Make sure you have an idea about the currently used IT equipment and how much their maintenance would cost. Some sort of consultation would be really helpful.ĥ. Ask for an expert’s opinion: You can also talk to other business owners because there may be things you might be missing. For example, will support staff costs be covered in the budget or in some other budget.Ĥ. Determine the scope of the budget: This means listing down what things are included in the budget. Apply the regular budgeting techniques: IT budgeting is not an alien thing, it is just like getting a budget for any other department.ģ. Examine the previous year's spending and build the budget on that baseline: It is okay if you didn't actually follow a formal IT budget the previous year, you can still get insightful information from the previous year's data.Ģ. Here is a checklist to help you through the process:ġ. You might actually be shocked how much can IT equipment and maintenance cost if you don’t plan it right. Related read - Guide to business budget - Types, importance and steps A budget is much more than just an administrative roadmap, it can help you support and validate all your IT strategies. One of the best benefits of an IT budget is that every strategic initiative is already justified. Moreover, instead of just randomly putting money in the required areas and holding a list of expected funding, an IT budget for small businesses can help you prioritize the IT initiatives of your company and then prudentially allocate the funds in compliance with the strategic plan.Īlong with this, an IT budget with IT expense categories allows you to quickly pick out areas where there is overspending, for example, if your spend on a huge software but ultimately realize that you are paying for some unrequired license and tools. You can also compare what you are spending on the IT department in comparison to other departments if you work according to a departmental budget plan. It gives you the facility to determine if the IT department is performing according to the budget allotted and if there are any resources that are unused in the department and where can those be put for better use. Look at an IT budget as a project plan or roadmap which is used to give direction and also a holistic view of IT budgeting and forecasting along with the funding needs. This need for justification can be easily terminated with the help of an IT budget. Not having an IT budget means, that whenever an IT expense arises you have to justify it with proof, which is an extremely stressful and unnecessarily overhead task. ![]()
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