Somehow, December is upon us yet again, which can only mean one thing: a lot of businesses out there are currently trying to figure out how to hit the ground running as we move into 2020 in just a few short weeks.

Not too long ago, I sat down with a fairly new client of ours for a lunch meeting and we were discussing this very process. As someone who has been in this business for many years, it’s something I’m going through right now myself – so it was nice to commiserate with someone about all of it for an hour over a delicious meal.

But when the topic turned to budgeting, this client said something to me that I’d like to take some time to discuss with all of you today. He told me that the 2020 budgets for nearly all of his departments were accounted for, with the sole exception of IT. He said he didn’t really “see the need” to put too much thought in it because he saw IT as a way to “maintain the status quo,” so to speak. Other areas of the business were responsible for growth and innovation, so he’d rather focus his attention on those elements instead. He’d figure out his IT budget as he went along next year.

While he’s certainly entitled to his opinion… it is MY opinion that he is dead wrong. Because IT budgeting isn’t just critical to the health and well-being of your technology infrastructure. It’s absolutely critical to your firm’s long-term success for three major reasons that I’d love to take the opportunity to explore.

The Impact of IT Budgeting on Productivity

One of the many reasons why IT budgeting is critical to your firm’s success ultimately comes down to how it allows you to not only make more informed decisions but faster ones, too.

Updating your IT is something that you need to do on a regular basis – thanks to the rapid fire pace that technology continues to advance, there really is no getting around this. But waiting to update those IT resources – even if you’re only talking about a single app or tool – creates mounting productivity losses that cost you more money than you realize.

If you know exactly how much money you’re dealing with when it comes to IT and you know exactly how certain resources can help you accomplish your goals, you’re in a far better position to capitalize on these opportunities as quickly as possible soon after they reveal themselves. At the very least, you won’t be forced to watch those opportunities pass you by any longer like you probably are right now.

The Long-Term Impact on Costs

Proper IT budgeting also creates an invaluable opportunity to not only better control WHERE you’re spending your technology-related money, but also HOW at the exact same time.

Case in point: getting into a three to five-year, fully phased replacement cycle for resources like computers and servers can help keep your costs spread out AND can help keep security issues at bay at the exact same time. For example, some hardware manufacturers stop releasing firmware updates at around the five-year mark. This means that any vulnerability uncovered AFTER that date is one that you’ll be permanently exposed to.

So not only are you helping to reduce the initial capital investment needed to stay up-to-date with your technology in the first place, but you’re also going a long way towards making sure you don’t become the victim of a data breach or cyber attack as well. Truly, what could be more important than that?

If You Don’t Have a Plan, You Don’t Have Much of Anything at All

Finally, it’s important to remember that IT budgeting isn’t just about figuring out how you’re going to pay for new asset purchases. It’s also about guaranteeing that you’re getting the most out of the ones you already have, too.

Planning for regular maintenance, for example, can prevent a variety of different disasters – essentially all at the exact same time. You’ll be able to keep your equipment up and running, which means that your employees can continue to use these assets to be as productive as humanly possible. You’ll again go a long way towards addressing any vulnerabilities that could land you on the receiving end of a cyber attack, too.

Never forget that as a business leader, you’re making countless important decisions on a daily basis. But unless those decisions are based on actionable intelligence and insightful analysis, you can never be truly confident that you’re making exactly the right move at exactly the right time.

Your IT infrastructure is critical to your firm’s success, which means that your IT budgeting is critical, too. Without the second element, it’s almost impossible to account for the first – which means that accomplishing your goals as we move into 2020 becomes far, far more difficult than you realize.