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- Building an Effective IT Budget: The Backbone of Digital Success
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Building an Effective IT Budget: The Backbone of Digital Success
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In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses rely heavily on technology to drive innovation, enhance productivity, and stay competitive. However, harnessing the power of technology requires careful planning and strategic investment. That's where an IT budget comes into play. An IT budget serves as the financial roadmap for organizations, outlining the resources and investments needed to support their technological infrastructure and achieve their business objectives. This article will delve into the crucial aspects of putting together an IT budget, providing valuable insights and practical tips to help businesses navigate the complexities of technology expenditure. So, let's explore how to build an adequate IT budget that aligns with organizational goals, maximizes ROI, and paves the way for digital transformation.
Part 1: Infrastructure
The first piece to look at is network and hardware infrastructure. Below is a comprehensive list of what most small and medium-sized businesses have or use and, thus, need to budget for.
Server(s)
- Since most servers are Microsoft-based, it means that they have an expiration date. For example, Server 2012 R2 expires in October of 2023. That means Microsoft will stop sending updates to the server’s Operating System. The updates are filled with security fixes and patches, making upgrading very important.
- SMB Cost: $4,000-12,000 once every 6-9 years.
Firewall
- The firewall, or the router, is the gateway to the internet. A firewall must handle your current internet speeds, accommodate future internet speed increases, block non-needed ports, scan for malicious traffic, filter foreign IP addresses, and so on.
- SMB Cost: $600-1500 once every 4-7 years. Security services in Part 2.
Switching
The switches allow businesses to add more hardwired devices to the network. A firewall/router only has a few ports.
- Switches allow businesses to hardware more devices to their network. A hardwired connection is more reliable and faster than a wireless (WiFi) connection. Switches need at least 1Gbp/s in speed to accommodate internal speeds. 10/100 switches should be replaced.
- SMB Cost: $100-900, depending on port requirements.
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Take the “SH” out of “IT” and have a backup and disaster recovery plan. It’s impossible to guess when a server crashes or gets hit with ransomware.
- Having a tested backup system is crucial.
- SMB Cost: $30-75 per month per 500GB of storage.
- Managed Wireless: Wireless systems are pretty set-it-and-forget-it. It is still good to plan for an access point dying at some point.
- SMB Cost: $150 per access point
- Power (UPS) Management. Servers, networking gear, and desktop computers should have a battery backup system if there is a power surge or a temporary drop in power. UPS devices prevent a system from an unexpected shutdown, which can result in a system failure.
- SMB Cost: $65 for a desktop unit, $300-900 for network/server units
- Phone (VoIP) System. Most modern phone systems are running on VoIP, or Voice over IP. These phone systems run over the internet. Phone systems are very stable and require little budgeting if a phone dies.
- SMB Cost: $4,000-10,000 one time. Monthly phone charges.
Part 2: Network Security
Network Security, or Cyber Security, is the most important item to budget for in today’s climate. The list below is not exhaustive, but a good starting point for budgeting for network security.
Firewall Security
Most firewalls offer additional security services on top of their stateful features.
- These services include intrusion prevention & detection, gateway anti-virus, geo-IP filtering, content filtering, etc.
- SMB Cost: $300-900 per year
Email Security
- Email is the main target for ransomware at the moment. Having an email service that scans all incoming emails is crucial.
- SMB Cost: $2-4 per user per month
- Endpoint Security. Having traditional anti-virus isn’t enough anymore. Businesses are moving towards Next Generation Anti-Virus / Endpoint Detection & Response software. This NGAV uses artificial intelligence to stop threats. This might be the second most important item in preventing attacks.
- SMB Cost: $5 per device per month.
- Multi-Factor Authentication
Although a nuisance, MFA is the most essential item on this list. MFA protects log-in attempts that are not YOU.
- SMB Cost: $2-6 per user per month. Also included in Microsoft 365 plans.
- Phishing Awareness Training. Users are the focus of phishing attacks, as it is easier for a human to make a mistake than a trained machine. Training users will assist in preventing these human errors.
- SMB Cost: $2-3 per user per month
- Patch and Update Management. Having computers updated to the latest version of Windows helps keep your machines up-to-date with Microsoft’s latest security patches.
- SMB Cost: $15-25 per machine per month.
- Password Management. Password requirements are more complex to remember. Some small businesses keep all their passwords on Excel spreadsheets to help remember them. This is an unsafe practice and can result in easy compromises. A password manager, protected by MFA, can alleviate the stress of keeping track of all user’s passwords. Most password managers also have administrative controls in place to manage employee’s passwords as well.
- SMB Cost: $2-7 per user per month.
Part 3: Cloud Investment
Microsoft 365
Microsoft Office (Word / Outlook / Excel / PowerPoint / etc.) has been integral to most business office users. With the constant updates and features coming to it, Microsoft 365’s business suite has made a lot of sense for most businesses. It includes more than just the apps. It includes:
- Hosted Email Exchange allows Microsoft to update email services and give almost 100% email uptime.
- Personal (employee) cloud storage
- Organizational cloud storage
- Security features
- Remote work solutions and more!
SaaS platforms
- It is much easier to move local software to the cloud. That way, software support, and backend services are covered.
IaaS services
- Customers requiring a server may look to virtualize their server in the cloud. Microsoft Azure allows businesses to put their entire customer server in the cloud for easier management.
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