NEWS & VIEWS

Even the most powerful technology platform that money can buy is ultimately still just that — a platform. It's a tool and how you use that tool is all that matters. When leveraged correctly, IT budgets are more than just a roadmap for investment in technology — they're an investment in the future of your organisation that guarantees these assets are properly aligned with your long-term goals.

This is why IT budgets are both so important and, unfortunately, so hard to get right. 

In layman's terms, a cyber crime is simply defined as a particular type of criminal activity that is carried out A) by a computer and B) over the Internet. If you've ever had a work computer struck by a virus, have had an unauthorised intrusion into your network, or have fallen victim to a ransomware scheme, you’ve already experienced  a cyberattack whether you realised it or not.

There’s an old saying that tells us “you’ve got to spend money to make money” and that holds true especially in the context of your upcoming digital transformation. You’re about to execute a strategy that will see massive disruption to the foundation of technology, which you’ve been depending on for the last few years. You’re also about to leverage the full power of modern IT to your advantage, properly aligning what you CAN do with what your customers need you to do along the way. And disruption isn’t known for being cheap.

Even the most powerful technology platform that money can buy is ultimately still just that — a platform. It's a tool and how you use that tool is all that matters. When leveraged correctly, IT budgets are more than just a roadmap for investment in technology — they're an investment in the future of your organisation that guarantees these assets are properly aligned with your long-term goals.

To say that IT budgeting is of critical importance to most organisations is something of an understatement. Knowing that you have the funds available to make the right IT investments doesn’t just give your employees access to the tools and platforms they need to effectively do their jobs — in the modern era, it is exactly the key to superior performance and long-term success.

Regardless of the type of business you’re running or even the industry that you’re operating in, accurate IT budgeting is a mission-critical process. It makes sure you’re allocating the appropriate funds you need to keep your IT infrastructure up and running.

But it involves more than just making sure that someone remembered to pay the internet bill on time. Your IT budget provides the essential finances necessary to guarantee that your IT resources are properly aligned with your long-term business objectives, increasing return on investment, maximising efficiency, and lowering costs in one fell swoop.

This is part of why it’s so important to update your IT budget every year. Tech is the key to your organisation’s competitive advantage, but it also evolves at a rapid pace. If you don’t make a proactive effort to keep up, you’ll undoubtedly find yourself left behind.

So in terms of creating that all-important annual IT budget, there are a few key things you’ll want to keep in mind.