Are you considering all the necessary technology categories when planning your annual budget?

Technology is essential for any modern business such as yours, but it’s easy to focus solely on routine services that keep the lights on. This could lead you to miss crucial budget categories, leaving you scrambling when unanticipated needs arise.

Keep reading to learn about three critical budget categories — projects, refreshes and accidents/incidents — that are often overlooked and how they can affect your business.

Never ignore these categories

Ensure your business has the resources it needs to thrive by taking the time to budget for the following categories. If they are not part of your budget plans, you might have to rethink your approach.

Projects

It’s easy for a small business like yours to neglect critical IT projects, such as securing your networks, but it leaves you vulnerable to attacks. Hackers can easily access your network if your employees use unsecured Wi-Fi. Risks associated with free Wi-Fi hotspots include network compromise, evil twin attacks and exploits. The best way to avoid these incidents is to provide your entire workforce with a secure VPN work setup. This allows employees to connect to a secure network, in turn protecting your company from potential attacks.

Refreshes

As your company expands, you must ensure your technology infrastructure can keep up. One method is to perform regular technological refreshes. This entails regularly upgrading your hardware and software.

While retaining legacy systems might seem like the easy option or more fiscally responsible, it can harm employee productivity and your bottom line. If your security patches are outdated, you may even be vulnerable to hackers.

By regularly upgrading your infrastructure, you can ensure your company is always using the most up-to-date technology.

Accidents or incidents

When it comes to accidents or incidents, cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to take advantage of businesses. For example, in the case of a ransomware attack, a cybercriminal may demand a ransom in exchange for the decryption code, which could overwhelm you.

Without proper backup, you may have to pay a ransom to avoid data loss — and you still might not get your data back. This can be a financial and reputational setback for your business. You can protect yourself against today's sophisticated threats by investing in the right security solutions.

Collaborate for success

When you try to cut costs, you might overlook crucial budget categories like the ones discussed above. Collaboration with an IT service provider, like us, can help prevent this. We can help you identify areas where you may be overspending/underspending and find more cost-effective solutions.

We can also help keep track of your IT budget and ensure no necessary expenses are overlooked.

We've created an infographic "How to Budget for Your IT Needs" to help you dive deeper into the concept of IT budgeting, which you can download by submitting your info below.