To CFOs: More IT Budget Considerations

By: Tiffany C. Wright on 8:40 AM

More on technology and your small business' IT budget.

• Where is the money allocated to your IT budget going? What kind of technology is available that will allow you to eliminate or significantly reduce your biggest technology cost?
  

• Go through a design/planning stage for your information technology (IT) network. Decide what you want the network to achieve. Get with your executive and middle management teams and determine your list of needs and wants. You just may be surprised what's out there. You then want to make sure your technology is aligned with your business objectives.
• Therefore, do NOT put your IT person in charge of this. Put your CFO in charge. IT directors are focused on what the IT needs of the business are, NOT what the business needs of the IT are. The CFO focuses on the business needs of the IT. When small businesses - actually all businesses - push the decision-making down to the execution level, the strategic component gets removed and a large portion of the software and hardware purchased becomes "shelfware". This means it sits on the shelf and is N
  

• Moving operations? If you are moving soon, that is an optimal time to review your IT operations and your IT budget. Why carry around obsolete equipment you don't need? Why move a network that you've had to continually patch to make work. Consider remote hosting or other similar options.