Quick and Effective Ways to Spend Surplus IT Budget

This post was contributed by CentricsIT Account Executive Davis Fisher. Davis is a data center solutions expert who specializes in cost reduction and IT lifecycle optimization. He works from the CentricsIT office in Charlotte, NC (USA).

Are you reaching the end of your budget period with leftover funds left to spare? As IT buyers, it makes sense to use as much of your allotted budget as you possibly can for two reasons:

• You may not get budget approval for the same amount the following period if the board thinks you don’t need it, based on your current spending.
• You never know what unexpected needs you’ll have in the next period, so buying something now could prove beneficial in tight situations next time if you need to reallocate line items.

So Where Should You Spend Those Leftover Funds?

As someone who works with IT Procurement, IT Directors, CIOs, Infrastructure Managers, and so on every day, I can say that there are five areas within an environment where you should put the extra money.

1. Hardware Spares

If you have the means, it never hurts to carry extra gear on hand, especially for mission critical devices, for those peak seasons (holidays), or just to be prepared for a disaster. If you tend to forgo hardware maintenance warranties, then this is a viable option. Just make sure you are sparing parts that are tried-and-true as well as cost-effective. Getting something from a stranger on e-Bay can be notoriously unreliable.

2. Hardware Rentals

There are many reasons to go with a rental option. Proof of concepts (POC) and cloud solution testing are two great examples of how you could benefit from renting hardware. In addition, a short-term rental does NOT lock you in to a long-term hardware play with an OEM, which is always a bonus. In today’s IT era if you’re not testing and trying new concepts, you’re falling behind. If you are, that’s good; just be sure you’re using strategic hardware strategies to do so.

Davis Fisher Account Executive

3. Wi-Fi Assessments

Have an opportunity in the budget to check up on your Wi-Fi? Have you been planning on rolling out a new manufacturing plant or retail site and know you’ll need great Wi-Fi in the new location?

You can plan and execute on those needs now since you have the budget.

One thing I’ll note is that you should choose who you employ to help you do this wisely, as most partners either do consultation, implementation, OR the check-ins… But not many do ALL of that. CentricsIT takes everything from start to finish, and we make sure it’s tailored for you. Instead of calling three different vendors and going through that headache, why not just make one call?

4. Infrastructure Audit

Do you have silos in your organization? Most do. A current conversation comes to mind. A $1B communications company recently mentioned they have their wireless and their cable groups completely siloed, and each side has no idea what the other one has. That’s a problem when it comes to assets and determining where each one is in its lifecycle. Think hardware refreshes, maintenance, disposal, etc. You can’t do any of that without knowing the facts.

By doing an audit, you not only recognize inefficiencies, but you can take the proper steps in correcting them by obtaining this knowledge.

5. Asset Disposal

Take this chance to get rid of those old servers sitting in a closet or on your data center floor. Multi-locations company? Maybe you have assets in Chicago, Dallas, New York, Prague, and Italy? It would make sense to find a partner who can take care of all those locations, instead of coordinating across different vendors in each location, while also staying compliant with all the regulations surrounding hardware and data. CentricsIT checks all these boxes.

Teams should work together to determine where the extra dollars should go before your budget period ends so that you don’t find your budget tightening later or get yourself in a pickle when a disaster takes place.