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Technology Budgeting

The beginning of a new year may also be a time to consider new technology. Or maybe it’s just a good time to be looking at the technology budget. When preparing the budget on new technology it’s important to look at everything that is needed within the project. Sometimes the proposal that is received from a vendor is only one piece of the entire project.

When looking over the total cost of a project, those cost can be put into one of three categories. Those are One-time cost, Annual operation expense, and additional support services.

The following is a suggested checklist when putting to getting a technology budget.

Hardware
• If purchasing new software is the current hardware adequate or is will new hardware need to be acquired?

Integration
• Is the new technology a stand-alone item?
• Will it need to be integrated into other current installed hardware or with existing software?
• Even it’s not being integrated into existing hardware or software, it is being incorporated in the way the company does business.
• Who is going to be doing the integration and what is that cost?

Site Preparation
• Are changes going to be needed in the physical location of the new technology?
• Is new or additional furniture needed?
• Is the electrical or telecommunication infrastructure adequate?
• Is the environmental system?

Training
• What is included in the training package?
• Who gets trained?
• How many?
• How much time will be allocated?
• Where will the training take place?

Documentation
• Are you getting any?
• What is included? Installation manuals? Operational manuals? User guides?
• It may be of benefit to have a user guide created specifically for the company and those costs would need to be included.

Additional required products
• Are any pre-existing hardware or software needed prior to installation?
• Does pre-existing hardware meet the new software requirements?
• Are upgrades or current hardware or software needed?

Installation
• Who is doing the installation?
• Are the costs in the proposal?
• Cost for after installation changes and modifications?
• Are other support people needed? Do they need to be on-site or on-call or would telephone support be enough?

After Installation Support
• What kind of support is offered after installation?
• When is the support available? 24/7? 40/5?
• Response time?
• How much free support, how long and how much?

Annual fees
• Are there recurring annual software licensing or maintenance fees?
• Is there a termination policy on maintenance contracts with an out clause?
• Who can cancel contracts and timeframe to do so?

These are just some of many items that may need to be evaluated when doing a technology budget.

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