IT and Planning

It's time to plan the budget and avoid falling off of a so called fiscal cliff within your realm. The budget might apply to a one person IT staff or a large enterprise wide IT department. Maybe someone requires a new laptop; this might have to be in a budget. This has to be sold or explained to non-IT people who might see the IT department as overhead. That means showing them numbers that make sense and keeping it simple for non-IT folks. The budget planner has to show what was done in the past year and how the money to be allocated for next year will be used.

The budget planner has to show the numbers to back it up. Here are some different scenarios which might be considered.

There is a need for new newer, faster computer hardware upgrade. Show how many computer users have been added to the server in the past year or since the server was installed. Show the number of printers added to the server. This might help justify the much needed upgrade.

A need for additional network routers and/or switches is required or performance will be unbearable. Show how many devices have been added to the network and why there is a need for more routers or switches to meet this growth in the coming year.

The help desk is getting too many calls and the wait time is too long or it takes too long to get an issue resolved. Maybe there is not a dedicated help desk and things are not getting done that require attention because too much time is spent on support. Show how many calls were taken this year compared to last year. Does the increase justify adding to the help desk? Possibly the support calls keep someone from getting their other work done. Maybe you supported only computers, printers and networks. This year they added support for cell phones, VOIP phones, and other devices on the server and or network. Show them the numbers.

Training for employees must happen to keep employees up to speed on current technology. Show how this training is going to solve problems, save money and help get projects done on time and under budget. For some employees training is a reward. Make a point that this will help improve employee morale as well.

New laptop or workstation computers have to be in the plan this year. Perhaps there is a plan to replace a number of computers every year. Show what departments or employees will get new computers this year. Show how long they are in service and why the need to be replaced. Tell how long they are expected to last before being replaced. Show that new software might require new laptops or workstations. In many cases it makes sense to roll out new desktop hardware at the same time new software is introduced. It may make sense to replace the computer with new software on it then to upgrade just the software on an old computer.

Of course to show them the numbers the budget planner has to keep track of them or count them. Computers, computer users, servers, routers, switches and phones can be counted. Help desk and support issues should be logged so they can be counted too. This can also help solve repeated problems and track employee performance. Now if the support issues are not logged make sure they are for next year.