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Your 2020 IT Budget is More Than a Dollar Amount
Your 2020 IT Budget either has its number solidified or you are in the final stages of approval. The challenge with your 2020 IT budget is less about the actual number assigned but rather about the projects and maintenance required to ensure your business either continues normal operations or enhances operations to achieve growth.
First and foremost, your expectations should be defined to ensure you are using your IT budget at an optimal level. If your expectations are to get a new server and keep your operating systems up-to-date, then you are missing the mark. Your expectations should directly align with your 2020 strategic goals. For example, rather than an expectation of getting a new server your expectation should align with the “why” behind getting a new server and what will that upgrade will do for your business and your IT Infrastructure? Keeping your goals front-of-mind throughout your decision-making process is imperative. It makes it more about technology improving basic business processes and procedures rather than just another component of technology.
From what we have experienced through years of helping businesses with their IT infrastructure, here are some areas that should be “non-negotiables” for your IT budget.
- Help Desk & NOC Services:
Your business should be able to utilize its IT support at any time. The importance of having a help desk is immeasurable when faced with an outage or emergency, or even a password reset. When something happens and you need support, you need the backing of a team. Relying on a one–person or small team to support your entire network is a business risk with potential financial ramifications if downtime is accrued. You employees should have a team of tech professionals at their disposals if the need to contact them should arise. This should be the case regardless of disaster, weather, or regional peril. - Cybersecurity Assessment:
As we saw in 2019, cyber criminals are developing more and more ways to infiltrate networks and commit sometimes business-ending situations. Ransomware is at an all-time high and there seems to be no end in sight. It is imperative to know what or who is in your IT infrastructure. A true cybersecurity assessment will detail any holes in your environment and can discover vulnerabilities.
Be proactive by securing your network and ensuring you have a partner in keeping your business protected. At NexusTek, we proactively monitor our clients’ networks 24/7/365. Protecting your business and data should be at the top of your priority list when it comes to budgeting. For more information on how you can ensure a high-level of security, contact us at the link below. - Business Continuity:
In the event of an emergency like a natural disaster or cybersecurity attack, your business needs to be able to continue with daily operations. Having your data backed up to the cloud with the option to spin up a replicated instance of vital systems will heavily reduce downtime when faced with an emergency. Let’s face the fact that life happens and downtime will occur in one shape or another. - Patch Management:
Ensuring that operating systems are running at the correct speeds and as efficiently as possible is another area that should not be overlooked. Software patches keep systems compatible with other technologies and ensure that all components of your IT infrastructure are communicating effectively. In addition, the patches that companies like Microsoft employ are vital in maintaining the security of your network. Have a specific rollout plan assigned to your tracked assets is a “meets minimum” requirement. If any server, laptop, firewall, switch or any other device is not properly patched, your IT team should know about it in real-time to address that vulnerability. - Productivity by Moving to The Cloud:
Is your business using technology to improve your bottom line and overall productivity on a daily basis? If not, there should be room in the budget for 2020. Ensuring that your business can be accessed from remote locations and is backed up to the cloud provides optimal productivity. From private cloud to public cloud, NexusTek has solutions for all cloud needs. For most businesses, migrating a physical server (more often it is a legion of servers) to the cloud is one of the most cost-efficient and scalable IT upgrade your business can employ. By creating a predictable cost-model to host all your applications while removing the need to maintain physical hardware is a question of “when” rather than “if.” At NexusTek, our account managers are always looking out for ways to make our clients’ daily processes more effective.
NexusTek helps clients with developing a technology plan that goes along with projected budgets. For more information on how to improve and secure your business in 2020 with the use of technology, Contact Us!