The format of remote office work and the related almost forced innovations have posed new questions, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. In IT circles, 2020 will be remembered for the change in the way business is done. Lessons learned combined with economic volatility are expected to affect technology spending going forward. 76% of businesses point to the pandemic crisis as a catalyst for fundamental changes in long-term IT spending plans. At the same time cosmic against the background of previous years. And as astrologers repeat, in the age of Aquarius, communications and technology will become increasingly important. But regardless of whether the star map excites us, purely economic forecasts on a global scale herald an accelerated digital transformation, leading to inevitable investments in security measures of all kinds. No matter how different they are for each company, it is still a combination of technology, software and complete solutions.

You can count on the team at Geletron for expert consultations that reflect the profile of your company and the needs graded by importance. But before that, let's start with some background information on the topic.

Basic criteria on which IT investments are based

The pandemic has already created a trend of investing in digital solutions, and this momentum should not be lost in 2021. It is estimated that worldwide IT spending will grow to 3.8 trillion dollars, which is definitely a serious upward trend. More organizations are realizing the importance of investing in new technologies and are rushing to find the right integrations.

Above all, view IT spending as an investment, not just a necessary set of tools to protect or enable communication. It is important that it meets these basic criteria:

Convenience – cloud migration turned out to be the solution in a remote work situation. And do you like it? Many businesses have already been able to appreciate cloud-based storage as simpler, more stable and far more secure than local data maintenance.

Reliability – is guaranteed by a reasonable backup and recovery plan. In the event of an unfortunate event, such as a ransomware attack, a reliable backup will help you get through this challenge with minimal damage. Evaluate backup frequency and retention period.

Security – it is key. Provide reliable, alternative data storage outside the system, for example, in cloud-based data warehouses and secure protection of servers and end devices. Then losses will be minimized.

What to start the analysis with?

Here are some ideas to start your analysis, such as:

• Replacing the old software – many businesses use software that has outlived its usefulness. It's more of a false economy, especially in the context of productivity-enhancing collaboration software packages. Microsoft Office 365 applications and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint are already included in the basic package, so just use them.
• Old hardware and old operating systems – laptop sales now exceed desktop sales, and it is even predicted that there may be a shortage of notebook computers in the near future, as happened during the two waves of the pandemic. If your 2021 IT budget includes buying laptops, you may need to act fast. Vulnerabilities in older operating systems such as Windows 7, which will end support in 2020, can pose a danger to businesses. Strategically plan the transition to the "Modern Workplace" with Microsoft 365 - a good example of an end-to-end solution.
• Cloud systems – they facilitate collaboration and data access, which can significantly improve productivity. If some of your employees work from home or you have sales staff who need to access information while on the go, cloud services are mandatory.
• Outsourced IT support – the service develops in parallel with the cloud, at the same time with an increasingly optimized price. Provides an opportunity to personalized, expert and timely assistance.

Advanced ideas

• Add software defined wide area networks (SD-WAN), to provide cost-effective, secure, business-class cloud access - anywhere, anytime. SD-WAN provides greater flexibility to manage growing demands by providing Internet connectivity to remote offices, cloud applications and cloud servers.
• Integrate cloud-based unified communications (UC). Combine the familiar voice and unified messaging features used in the workplace. UC features include instant messaging, video and web conferencing, call recording, and team collaboration tools. Since the services are managed by software, the UC features available are highly customizable.
• Activate multi-factor authentication (MFA) in relation to public access on your site or in the cloud. MFA is a low-cost, effective measure to prevent some of the most common cyber-attacks. Use MFA when connecting remote employees via VPN.
• Last but not least, consider including the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) decisions in their 2021 budget. With VoIP, any laptop or smartphone can become an office phone. This allows employees who work from home to communicate securely without using their personal phone numbers.
• S training and good awareness of employees phishing attacks or ransomware can be avoided, and this can prevent a breach in company data. 2020 has seen a significant increase in phishing attacks. This, combined with the increasing sophistication of these attacks, makes awareness training extremely important to protecting critical data.

IT budget planning

Planning a stable yet affordable IT budget is both a challenge and a necessity. Maintaining a current business continuity plan is now an accepted paradigm. Underestimated costs and timelines can cause unwanted disruptions and create unnecessary risks. However, this does not mean that every business should invest huge sums in its IT infrastructure.

Before deciding on an IT budget, you need to be clear about what you want to achieve with your systems. In this sense, each business is unique and requires a careful analysis of needs. Here are the basics to start budgeting for IT:

• License fees, such as subscriptions to Microsoft and other software
• Domain, hosting or server colocation fees
• IT service provider fees or in-house IT unit costs
• Content, resource and customer relationship management systems – CMS, ERP, CRM
• Wireless systems such as cloud-based storage solutions
• Purchase and maintenance of hardware - here the costs are predictable from the point of view of price and warranty parameters. When buying a new piece of equipment, look at it with perspective.

Answer some questions related to your medium-term development plan: How important is IT to your business? What is your growth rate? What changes have you experienced so far? What is your risk tolerance - minutes, hours? Then consider consult, inform yourself.

The precise formation of an IT budget requires a good understanding of the technologies implemented in your company and how they function. Even if you think you've taken into account even the smallest details, your budget should be flexible. You may have planned to buy 20 new computers, but what would happen if your main server unexpectedly went down?

In the current situation, small and medium-sized enterprises are projected to invest about 6-7% of their revenue on IT. The amount you want to allocate for IT depends on many factors. Most small and medium-sized businesses must weigh the benefits of incorporating new technologies as well as the potential risks to growth if measures are not properly implemented. If you are involved in e-commerce, your IT solutions will differ from those of an insurance company. A business with 3 or 4 employees will have significantly less IT costs than one with 50, 60 or more.

Realism in IT budgeting is a must and should be taken seriously. Make sure you have enough funds to fully take care of your information systems. You should not overinvest in this direction, and you should not lag behind the world. We are ready to help you with ideas for complete or partial solutions, and then implement them for you. Based on our past experience, we believe that you can trust us.