July 19, 2024 | By christa

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Making The Most of Your Tech Budget Through Goal Prioritization

• Budget

Staying on top of the latest tech trends is a surefire way to keep your SMB on clients’ radars. It comes as no surprise then that 66% of businesses plan to increase their IT spending in 2024.

The hardest part of planning a tech budget is knowing where to start. Fortunately, by looking at where your business’s priorities and size are, you can establish where your business’s tech spending should go.

Trends and Projections

It is projected that the majority of IT spending in 2024 will go towards software and hardware. Following that is IT labor and costs associated with hosting/cloud-based services.

A 2020 survey revealed that 75% of small business owners viewed keeping up with technological advancements as important to their company’s success. But don’t feel alone if the prospect of investing in the latest and greatest tech intimidates you. The same survey reported 46% of respondents were troubled by the cost of entry with new tech, with 40% worried about new technical training costs.

One Size (Does Not) Fit All

How should these troubling costs be managed, then? What’s most important to consider when tackling your technology budget is the size of your business.

Business sizes are often divided into four categories based on the number of employees: small business, midsize business, small enterprise, and large enterprise. Larger businesses tend to be more developed. Doesn’t it make sense, then, that a small to midsized business would have different tech needs than a large enterprise?

Startups usually focus on building a customer base through marketing while midsized companies are more concerned with topping their competitors. Technology needs should reflect these goals accordingly.

Technology Should Grow with You

Understanding common trends and determining your business’s current goals should give you a better grasp on how to prioritize your tech budget. And since technology is an investment, you want to ensure your money is being put towards the best options available to you.

Any hardware, software, or services you purchase should keep up with the ever-growing standards of both your industry and the tech industry at large. Communicating with your IT service provider can help you meet this standard.

Whether they work in house, are a service provider you’ve hired, or a combination of both, your IT support service providers have an intimate understanding of your company’s technology needs and can provide insight regarding pricing and priorities you may have not previously considered. They will be able to guide you through what tech options will not only grow but help advance your business’s mission.

Following trends, considering your business’s size, and consulting your IT support system are all great ways to optimize your tech budget. They all help you set goals that prioritize where your money should go in consideration of where your company currently is and how you want it to grow.

LeadingIT is a cyber-resilient technology and cybersecurity support provider. With our concierge support model, we provide customized solutions to meet the unique needs of nonprofits, schools, manufacturers, accounting firms, government agencies, and law offices with 20-200 employees in the Chicagoland area. Our team of experts solves the unsolvable while helping our clients leverage technology to achieve their business goals, ensuring the highest level of security and reliability.