Looking at IT Spending in 2013If you’re like most small businesses, your IT staff is already stretched thin and running on a tight budget. Things aren’t really expected to change all that much in 2013, although there is expected to be a shift in focus. While IT budgets will continue to tighten up, companies will need to shift their IT spending focus from hiring and recruiting new talent to building up a robust infrastructure to handle the growing needs of modern data storage. In this post we’ll talk a bit about why building up your infrastructure is a crucial move for IT efficiency in 2013.
IT Infrastructure Considerations
According to a recent survey by the folks at Spice-Works, IT spending actually increased in the latter half of 2012. Traditionally, this would probably be an indication that new staff was hired. However, this wasn’t entirely the case. While companies did take on new IT staff, the bulk of spending was geared toward building more robust IT infrastructure. This is largely due to the fact that the majority of new IT processes are driven by new technologies. Powering these new technologies is a matter of staying relevant and competitive. This includes everything from tablet PC management to cloud-based technology implementation.
The Pros and Cons of This New IT Budget Approach
For starters, focusing on infrastructural spending allows companies to prepare for new technology. By upgrading servers and data management systems, small to mid-sized companies will be better equipped to handle the technology of tomorrow.
The big downside is that if companies start only focusing on infrastructure they may spend themselves into a corner. For example, some companies, like Scale Computing, offer a scalable server solution that might be a great fit for a company’s IT needs. However, businesses must understand purchasing new technology may also present requirements that might not be so obvious at first. Requirements such as trained personnel for the new technology or backup solutions that better fit the technology are part of a large list of possibilities to consider. The best approach is a balanced one. There definitely needs to be a focus on infrastructural spending, but there also needs to be a focus on hiring the right types of IT pros to manage new technologies.
Tech Considerations
As companies build stronger IT infrastructural systems, they’ll need to adopt the technologies that are rapidly changing the way companies interact with and manage data. Going back to the Spice-Works survey referenced earlier, over half of the companies surveyed said they had company-owned tablets in their networks, and an additional 12 percent are expected to add more devices in 2013. Additionally, more and more companies are investing in cloud-based technologies. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of the companies surveyed use web-based tech. This is a big indicator as to how companies should be building up their IT infrastructure.
As spending shifts in the coming year, it’s important to see both sides of the coin. Building a more sophisticated infrastructure is crucial for most companies to move forward, but this all needs to be balanced by the need for the proper IT staff. If you don’t have the right kind of experts running your new data management and hardware technology, all of your efforts will be virtually useless. When determining your budget for 2013, don’t forget to look at the bigger picture.
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