Just as the beginning of a new year brings a round of fresh possibilities and a host of New Year’s resolutions that may or may not fall by the wayside, the start of the new year for many also includes the dreaded IT budget planning (Cue: funeral music and screams of agony more suited to Halloween).

But IT budgeting really doesn’t have to be like that. Instead of thinking of it as the chance to overinflate your budget so when it gets cut you do actually end up with enough money for what you need, instead think of it as part of your IT strategy.

Whether you have your own IT department, are assisted by a company like Yoozoom, or whether your managed service provider *is* your IT department, it doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s a necessary and vital part of the business and you need to communicate with the rest of the business about what IT actually does, why it does it, and what the benefits are - and not just when planning your budget.

With your IT strategy and your budget, what you’re basically doing is selling your services to the Keepers of the Money (Imagine that said in DEATH’s voice from Terry Pratchett’s books).

You need to be able to convince everyone in the business that you add value and save on costs before you ask for money. Not during!

Why? Well, first of all, if people already know your value, you don’t have to justify it all over again at a time when you may feel stressed. And secondly, it does take the pressure off when it comes to budget time. Instead of walking down the corridor as if heading to your own execution, you can stroll into your budget meeting knowing that people understand what you do and how many benefits you bring to the company. It’s then much easier to justify what you, and they, should think of as investments in the company, rather than costs.

No business these days can function optimally without a top-notch IT department, whether it’s internal, external, or a mix of the two, and that’s what you do. You bring massive value to your business, with innovation, increased user experience, smoother working, help, and assistance when needed, assistance with working from home, and of course, protection from cyber criminals. Own it, you utter rockstar, you.

Go out there and communicate that value to everyone else in the business. Then when it’s budget time, you’ve halfway won the battle already. You can change the money people’s thinking from, “Sigh. What’s this going to cost us now?” to “Oh, we see why you need X pounds in your budget.”

Setting your IT budget

When you’re doing your budget, go at it with the same attitude as above. Yes, you probably will need to justify your spending, depending on your company, but if everyone is already buying into what you do and, more importantly, why it matters, you’re already partway there.

Where do you start with IT budget planning?

Prepare, prepare, prepare

You’ll likely be told from on high what the business priorities and objectives are, and your IT priorities and objectives should obviously fit in with those. That’s an important piece of information you can use in your budget. When going through each item, do your best to tie it back to the business objectives and show how it either saves money, makes money, or contributes value in some other way.

You may or may not be a numbers person, but you can guarantee that finance people love them, so use them in your budget to demonstrate how much, for example, moving to the cloud could save your company, or why the new VoIP system you want will save money and resources.

You’ve laid the groundwork by communicating the benefits of what you do generally over the year, now bring it home even more in your budget with clear figures to justify what you need and jargon-free explanations of why.

Top tips for IT budget planning:

You could talk to other departments beforehand to discuss their IT needs and get their feedback and approval. That way, when you go into your budget meeting, you’ll have allies who agree with you right there.

Check your costs for every purchase, and not just the upfront costs, but any further costs, such as support from the vendor or what you’ll pay if a repair is needed. Don’t spring nasty surprises on your finance people later in the year, they won’t like it and they will remember it next year at budget time.

On the subject of surprises, you will have unexpected costs over the year, so add in a contingency pot for those.

Talk to your vendors. They know the costs inside and out and, of course, they’re familiar with the benefits of what they sell. As long as you’ve done your homework and you know exactly what you want and why, who better to give you ammunition for your budget justifications?

So, what should be in your IT budget?

Don’t try and present your figures as one ‘lump’ of IT costs and one figure. That’s unpalatable and less easy to justify.

Instead, break it down into categories so finance can clearly see what you want:

Software:

You’ll have software purchases, licensing, and perhaps support contracts, too. List them out and explain why each piece of software is needed.

Hardware:

Computers, printers, servers, cables… the list goes on and on. Write them down, along with any installation and repair costs and guarantees that you need to pay for.

Subscriptions:

You might pay for software as a subscription or lease hardware, you might have an ongoing subscription for training courses or managed service providers.

Services:

Do you use consultants, service providers, and anyone else related to your general operations? These go here.

Pro tip: Budget time is also a good time to look at what you’ve got and decide whether you still need it! Finance people love a good cost-saving.

So, there’s your budget done, hopefully without the need for drama llamas, wailing, or gnashing of teeth.

Here’s where Yoozoom can help you with your budget. When you sign up with us, you get a fixed monthly cost for your IT support. Obviously, if you want any extra services, we can give you a price for those too, but it’s straightforward and easy to see what your costs will be. And we can help, either as your IT department if you don’t have one, or to enhance what you can offer as an IT department and cover out-of-hours support.

Trust Yoozoom with your telephone systems, data backup, disaster recovery planning, support for individual workers and your wider team, procurement, repair of broken systems, and so much more.

Why not give us a call and have a chat with our friendly team to see how we can help?