“Often overlooked in the SMB space, the “technology budget” can range from non-existent to open-ended afterthought. Using practical methodologies we believe that creating and maintaining achievable, justifiable technology budgets should be the norm rather than the exception, regardless of the size of the organization.”
– Patrick Torney – eDot
The following article written by: Tech Republic
Rather than an attempt to secure the maximum pile of cash, a well-developed and presented IT budget should be the numeric manifestation of your IT strategy that is well communicated and understood by your peers. If you do not have a well thought out IT budget one of the risks you take is that you may be forced to request and justify every IT expenditure as it arises, which makes for a lot of unnecessary meetings and increased time expenditures on everyone’s part.
Today, many smaller organizations to find themselves willingly migrating into a periodic budgeting process, as IT expenditures that were once simply spent as incurred, or justified with a 30-second hallway conversation, blossom into significant IT spending that can be consolidated and made more transparent through a budgeting process.
If you need assistance with the IT budgeting process, do not be afraid to get help from an outside consultant, especially if it is your first time creating a formal budget. Most are more than happy to help you through the budgeting process.
This insightful article fills in more of the details of the budgeting process and even provides a simple outline to get started.