According to a recent IDC survey, fears of an economic recession still loom. How can you target your company’s IT spending, getting the most for your dollar while staying within your IT budget? Read on to learn more about allocating your tech spending in the months to come.
How Economic Outlook Influences Technology Spending
According to Gartner, tech spending in 2023 is estimated to reach $4.6 billion. Yet an IDC survey paints a more cautious picture. According to the results of this survey, small to medium-size businesses are fearful about an economic downturn in 2023. About 60% of SMBs surveyed expect at least a moderate recession, and 20% anticipate a severe downturn. Does this mean putting the brakes on all IT spending? Not necessarily.
Allocate Spending Wisely to Meet Business Goals
Rather than stopping all new spending, SMBs need to consider purchases in light of how they support overall business goals. For example, automation is a current trend. How will it help your business? Which processes can be automated, and what business goals are supported? Automation can help save on labor costs, too. Chief Information Officers (CIOs) need to work with Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) to determine what purchases will deliver the best ROI relative to cost. A good first step is an IT audit.
Starting with an Information Technology Audit
An information technology audit involves investigating and evaluating your company’s IT systems, infrastructure, policies and operations. An audit helps determine what assets your company currently owns, and where these assets currently are in their life cycle. What assets are in depreciation, and need to be retired? Are any assets duplicated? Are you at risk from failure to comply with license requirements? Is corporate data safe from loss and compromise? An audit will help you identify weaknesses in your IT system and where you can streamline to cut costs. After performing an IT inventory, using IT Asset Management can be a good next step. This automated offering can give a clear picture of the health and effectiveness of your systems.
Making technology spend decisions involves your entire organization. For guidance in conducting an IT audit, contact your trusted technology advisor today.