Understanding the Costs Outlined in Your Technology Budget

When it comes to procuring technology and working on technology projects, budgeting is a key issue that must be ironed out long before project implementation begins. This process can be troublesome and fraught with all sorts of challenges, but you don’t have to do it alone! We’ve got your back. Here’s a crash course on how you can manage your IT budget for maximum value.

First, we must identify what IT budgeting really is. It’s the process of allocating funds and resources towards your business’ technology, including a roadmap for how to approach the procurement and implementation of new solutions. Depending on the way your current infrastructure is set up, you may have funds allocated toward recurring services, staffing, and other expenses. Businesses tend to work out their IT budgets annually, but some may choose to budget for individual projects as necessary.

You can essentially split your organization’s expenses into two distinct categories: ongoing expenses and project expenses.

Ongoing Expenses

Your ongoing expenses may include those that recur every month or so, such as your staffing and payroll, the operational expenses for any hardware or software your organization uses, and support contracts you have with these companies or service providers. We recommend that you take a comprehensive audit of all your ongoing expenses on a routine basis so that you are not shocked by how much you spend on them, and especially so that you are not throwing away capital on goods or services that are no longer used.

You can think of your ongoing expenses as operational costs.

Project Expenses

Project expenses are the up-front costs you utilize when you are trying to implement a new solution, be it hardware or software. In some cases, you might pay for consulting services as well, especially if technology deployment is not your strongest suit.

It is not a perfect comparison, but you can think of project expenses as capital expenditures.

In general, the more operating expenses you have for your business’ IT resources, the more predictable and manageable your technology expenses will be in the long haul. Remember, capital expenses are those that are large, up-front expenses that are often unexpected. Operational expenses, on the other hand, fit easily into any budget as recurring, monthly expenses. A perfect example of this is working with a managed service provider like Directive for any and all of your business’ technology needs.

Don’t wait to get started! Directive can help your business implement an IT budget that allows it to flourish both now and in the future. To learn more, reach out to us at 607.433.2200.