IT Management Planning

1. ITManagementPlanning • It’snotjustlargebusinessesthatneedtodevelopaneffectiveandcomprehensiveITstrategy.ForSMEs,havingtherightsoftwareandsupportinplacecanimproveoperationsandprovideadistinctedge intoday’s competitive markets. • CalculatingthecostofnewtechnologyandworkingoutITbudgetscanoftenbedifficultwhenthere isnospecialistITadvisoronthepayroll.Start-upsmaynothaveITprovisionatthetopoftheirlist while they try to make their core business work and more mature organisations might haveingrained habits thatmeanthe theydon’texplore newavenuesofITmanagement andsupport. • PlanningYour ITBudget over theNext5 Years • ItpaystothinkaheadparticularlywhenyouaredevelopingyourITstrategy.Skimpingonthecosts and downgradingyour budget intheshorttermmay seem like agoodideabut itcould be doing more harmthangoodtoyour businessinthe longrun. • Particularlyifyouarenowlookingtogrowyourbusiness,youneedtoalignyourITprovisionwith your future goals and, without a qualified professional to lean on, that can often be a dauntingprocess. • Youwill need to developa strategy forsystemsmaintenance andsupportaswell asdecide whatnew technology youaregoingtointroducetohelpwithyourexpansionstrategy. • CloudVs ServerTechnology • Manybusinessesarestartingtomoveawayfromexpensiveandlabourintensivein-househardware to cloud based servers. Particularly for small to medium size businesses it has a number of advantages: • It incorporatesmore flexibilitywith lowerrunningcosts. • It cangrowasyour business grows. • Contractsareoftenshorter. • Youcanaccessyour dataonthemoveonlaptops,mobilesandPCs. • It comeswith inbuilt securitythat youcanbe confident will protectyou. • Buyinganewserverorreplacinganoldonemightseemlikeamorecosteffectivewayofupdating your IT infrastructure but, particularly in the long run, cloud technology will offer you a greaterdegreeof flexibility. • MoreBusinessesare Outsourcing • It’sallverywelltoemployanITplanningspecialistin-houseandhaveyourserveronsite,butitisa costly wayof runningthis aspectof your business. Outsourcinghas a number of advantagesfor smallbusinesses, the main one being that you can access affordable high level expertise that is tailor- madetoyour needs.

2. A virtual IT director can help you manage your IT infrastructure more effectively, developing a coherent and meaningful long term plan that takes into account how you want to grow yourbusinesswhilstalsoprovidinga secureenvironment tooperate in. WithM2Computing’sVirtualITDirectoryouwillhaveaccesstoarangeofexpertswhocanidentifythe right solutions for yourbusinessandhelpyoudevelopfor the future. For furtherinformationplease visithttp://www.m2computing.co.uk/